Should the best systems sound almost identical?

There is no standard for a sports car that manufactures are trying to reach. The reality is that audio manufactures are "stuck" building to personal taste on some level because approaching a perfect reproduction seems to be impossible. In audio there's loss at every step in the audio process, but the ideal state would be that you couldn't tell the difference between a live accoustic sound and the reproduction coming from your speakers.

Mapman - I had one listening experience with the Focal Grande Utopia's when I was purchasing my 836v's where my friend and I both agreed that when making the switch from the 836v speakers to the Grande's we preferred the 836v. We both thought that the 836v made us forget about the speakers themselves. Then we realized that we were at the wrong listening location for the Grande's. Amazing difference when we moved back abouta foot.

My take away was that the 836v was a pretty great value if there was any scenario where I could concieve of preferring it over the Grande.

The idea that we all have different hearing doesn't make sense in this context because if I spoke to you multiple times it would sound the same to you each and every time. If a speaker could perfectly reproduce my voice it would still sound like my voice to you.

I agree that it's likely that even if someone were produce the perfect speaker and associated system many audiophiles wouldn't think it sounded the best due to personal preference.

Charles1dad - Ears are always in the equation, but is a constant unless you somehow manage to changes ears. Personal preference matters in the real world because we can't match the original sound exactly.

An idealistic listening test for a speaker/system would be to have a singer in a room that is also being recorded. The recorded sound would be played back through the system on deley providing the A to B comparison. The best system would be the one that most closely matched the original sound at the listening sweet spot, but that doesn't mean that it would be the preferred sound in any other setting.

If I was Bill Gates I'd waste my money setting up some listening events along these lines just to see what happened. If money were no object it could be fun. It might even be possible for vendors to come setup in identical rooms so you could see which system most closely approximated the original sound.

Mezmo - While I think the ideal goal of sound reproduction is to have an identical sound to the original, I would agree that it's likely not physically possible to do it perfectly. If it could be done the majority would probably think it inferior.

Using cables as an example, if you ever did put a perfectly transparent cable into your system, how would you know?

The fact that musical instruments all sound slightly different (even though all strads have a signature sound that can be easily identified by some people) each individual violin sound the same as itself and the goal is to reproduce the sound on a specific instrument on a recording.

Assuming that because two violins sound different that it makes it "ok" for my system to make one sound like the othe isn't really any different than saying it's ok for a violin to sound like a trumpet as on my system logically.

A friend of mine was listening to a violin recording that I have and stated that it was a strad. I pulled the cover and he was right. He has a friend that is a great violin player that picked out Josh Bell specifically on Josh Groban's CD just from the style and tone. I don't claim to be that good by any stretch.

I also agree with the idea that designers are not trying to really approach the goal and are instead working towards a somewhat unique signature sound that a select group of people will prefer.

Stanwal - our systems are not musical instruments creating original sounds. They are intended to reproduce a recorded sound. How could the goal not be to perfectly represent that original sound?

In a good system you should be able to tell the difference between a bass and a bass guitar playing the same notes because of their individual sounds. In a perfect system you should be able to tell blindly which violin is playing which part of duet IF you can audibly tell them apart in a live acoustic environment.

Dekay:

"To understand what the "original/perfect" recorded/intended sound is you would have to use the original sound engineers brain and ears (probably while listening to the music through a variety of crappy sounding speakers used in the "original" studio, as well)."

Agree that the sound engineering process and equipment is part of the entire package and a contributing factor to why audio system will never be able to perfectly reproduce an original sound.

All:
If you're familiar with Regina Carter, she's a jazz violin player that had the opportunity to perform a concert and record a CD using Paganini's own violin. When she returned to her, I'm sure very nice, violin she described it sounding like a mouse in comparison. I've only heard that violin on her recording but plan to purchase another CD using that violin in the future to see how much of the wonderful sound comes from Regina's style and how much is the violin. The sound that I would describe from the instrument is that it has an almost cello sound in the lower register that is more full than other violins.

Here's an analogy that seems to make sense to me. Have you seen Top Chef, Master Chef, or Hell's Kitchen? From time to time the chefs are asked to reproduce a dish based on taste alone. The obvious goal is to recreate the exact dish, but I've not yet seen anyone do it perfectly. The interesting fact, that I had not really thought about until this discussion, is that the judges are trying to choose the best match, but it's almost certain that their person tastes will be a factor in which one taste "better" because they are more sensitive to a particular flavor. This is similar to audio because it's virtually impossible to recreate the original, but it's still possible to prefer the recreation more than the original.

Dekay:

I may have misunderstood, but it appears that you're talking about the recording process and I'm simply talking about the reproduction of an original sound.

You are correct that we'll never be able to really know what the original sound was on any given CD.

Tmsorosk - Audio systems would be a better comparison with various kit cars trying to replicate an original. Fiero had a few models that looked almost identical to a Ferrari, but they drove like a VW bug. Some people were very excited with this level of replication.

I think the industry has become more about "do the best car's drive the same" and are no longer working toward replication of an original sound, just their own signature sound.