1) Don't hurt my ears.
2) Fill the room with sound.
Top two most important sound qualities
In case you didn't know, it's 2023 and this website still hasn't implemented a polling feature, so I can't define a selection of sound qualities to choose from and see results in a grouped, organized fashion. Boo hoo!
If you had to pick two of the typically referenced sound qualities that are most important to you to optimizing the enjoyment of your system, what are they? You know what I mean, right? Could be a certain frequency range and some particular quality that you for in it, or any quality that applies across all frequencies, etc.
(Note: "Sound qualities" mentioned here do not include anything that refers to physical attributes of your system or listening room, such as acoustical treatments, types of components, types of source material, physical tweaks, etc. It's only a reference to subjectively appreciated qualities.)
Showing 3 responses by cdc
Thanks for that. Those were my 2 points when at my low point in hi-end audio. Currently. . . . how to describe? I like a system which lets me connect to the emotional and musical content of the song. Auditioning, I put in a song and don’t really listen for anything. It plays tunes, nothing stands out, and I don’t think about the system. The 2 things I aim for are:
1) Top to bottom even. - Flat frequency response. - The more full range the better. No sound below 70Hz is not "even". - No integration problems between drivers. - Meaning well designed crossover (better yet none) - No change in sound quality between drivers. - Potential problems like: Metal tweeter and poly woofer / Ribbon tweeter vs. cone midrange. - No change in tone going from low volumes to high volumes. - Harmonically correct. This again relates to even sound with higher level harmonic in balance with the fundamental. Resulting in instruments and vocals sound like themselves.
2) Immediacy - means the music’s is "there" and you can feel what the musicians are trying to convey. What they are thinking when they play. Achieved by, IMHO- minimal crossover components, clean power, not trying to fix one problem component with another, and minimal system components in general. This encompasses: - Transparency. - Clarity. - PRAT. - Soundstaging. - Dynamics / lack of compression. - Black background.
It’s all about choosing where to compromise and no system can do it all. The more differences between songs the better. Also better spatially means the system is dong something more right.
Looking at this list, I come up with something like Quads or single driver speaker run with a chip amp or SET? Maybe horn speakers or omni like MBL / Ohm / 3D mutli speakwr systems. |
@kota1Thanks for showing up. I was trying to explain your system "immersion" concept when making suggestion on how to achieve. @edgewear
Well said.
Pretty much. You can do things like go with metal drivers to compensate, But on another recording it may be "too much of a good thing". Reducing components, clean power supply, or going with horns is a systemic way to reduce the loss.
True be told, I came up with these two when recently auditioning mini-systems for work. Maybe partly cos they mix songs to sound good on a boom box??? The home stereo (typical set-up we all use) obscures those qualities. Distractions due to: 1) Produces too much detail 2) Room effects If I stick my head directly between the mini-system speakers, I get the same "detailed" effect as listening at home. So I know is a feature of setup. My epiphany came when, as @tubeking1 said about emotions. I was just working, listening to LCD Soundsystem, not really thinking about the music when OMG it just hit me. I could feel the coldness, the emotion, the poignant beauty or whatever they were trying to express.
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