Music Standards vs. Audio Standards? Do those standards actually exist? I imagine Audio Standards have something to do with pink noise…or white noise…or, to be inclusive, "blacker blacks." (!) Speaker preference is an utterly personal and taste driven thing, and you can bet two people claiming to be either "audio geeks" or "music lovers" might not agree on what's right, and why should they? If a speaker masks some element of tone by being too bright or too dull or no bass or whatever it simply means it's not meshing with the rest of the system or room or yo MAMA, or maybe the designer had his (or her's) own ideas about tone and they're not yours. Signal goes in, sound comes out tainted by design. I'm a tube head (SS subs though …is there a tube sub?) for my primary listening through speakers reviewers have called "not bright" (like me), and these speakers have been praised for their mid-range by somebody (they're correct by the way). Brightness appears in them anyway if the music contains it…not surprising, and after many hours of full range (and de-ranged) time spent with my rig I can hear a system at Goodwins that costs more than my car and it sounds "meh"…and perhaps too bright. Back to the drawing board Magico and Boulder! (heh heh...now Rockport…oh yeah, uh huh) I mix live concerts here and there and go for "less is more" flatness to fool people into thinking they're having fun…usually this works well.
Music Lovers Speaker vs. Audiophile Speaker
In my quest for a new set of speakers to replace the Paradigm 5se I've had for 25+ years I've come across a couple of terms I'd like clarified: the musical speaker and the audiophile speaker.
What's the difference?
I can think of two analogies, both of which may be way off mark.
One is the "mp3" analogy. mp3's dumb down the music, but capture what a music lover may consider to be the important stuff. The audiophile version is the CD.
So in this case, the musical speaker doesn't perform as well as the audiophile speaker, but it is at the right price point or has other features (particularly finish) that the listener desires.
The other analogy is the "radio station" analogy. The station doesn't dumb down the music, but it does intentionally change the sound to suit the audience. Classic rock is bass heavy, and dynamic range may be compressed to raise the overall level. An easy-listening station will have a lighter sound with different frequencies emphasized.
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What's the difference?
I can think of two analogies, both of which may be way off mark.
One is the "mp3" analogy. mp3's dumb down the music, but capture what a music lover may consider to be the important stuff. The audiophile version is the CD.
So in this case, the musical speaker doesn't perform as well as the audiophile speaker, but it is at the right price point or has other features (particularly finish) that the listener desires.
The other analogy is the "radio station" analogy. The station doesn't dumb down the music, but it does intentionally change the sound to suit the audience. Classic rock is bass heavy, and dynamic range may be compressed to raise the overall level. An easy-listening station will have a lighter sound with different frequencies emphasized.
Comments ...