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"I am there" vs. "They are here"

Hi,
all of us in this hobby have heard the exclamation "I'm there" or "they are here!" a counless number of times. Usually these remarks are issued forth when one's audio system has made a sonic leap in the direction of naturalism.
However, "I'm there" and "they are here" are clearly two very different remarks.

Would anyone care to describe in detail what about the sound of a great audio system that inspires the listener to make one remark rather than the other.

Which one is a higher compliment?

Thank you,

David
wonjun

Showing 2 responses by rwbadley

rwbadley's avatar
rwbadley
143 posts
 
Subaruguru-

In your post back in '01 you touched on a subject that I had been puzzling over for some time.

Pinpoint imaging I felt would be the mark of an attractive 'I am there' sound. It turned out not to be the case for me. It seemed rather unnatural. Having been to many different live performances, I never noticed pinpoint imaging in any of them I could recall.

The last few months and a number of live shows with paying much closer attention verified my gut reaction. No pinpoint imaging seemed to exist. A full live sound, not pinpoint. A recent amp had an uncanny pinpoint imaging ability, and it actually (slightly) drove me nuts as it refused to convey the fullness of voice required as being in a natural setting. It actually sounded a bit thin.

Anybody else notice this? or am I just wacky...
rwbadley's avatar
rwbadley
143 posts
 
Zaikesman-

Thanks for the well written response.

What an interesting thing; to plunk a live trio in the spot where your system would be! What a let down (in a way) to find prediliction towards the reproduced version. That really says something positive about the quality of your audio system!

Re: the dynamic sound quality of your trio I have a hunch that were Satchmo himself to blow and belt a phrase or two that suddenly the dynamics of a live performance would be realized ;-)

RW
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