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Forward or laid back

To quote a recent comment by a member: "The most salient characteristic (to me) is that the acoustic presentation of some of these speakers seemed quite forward (row D), whereas that of others was really quite laid back (row M). There was also, quite often, a second correlation between that forward presentation and a (relative) brightness in the treble. As far as I can tell, these features are often preferred and indeed seem to be aimed for in the voicing of many models during their development. To my ears, speakers in this category were the Treos, O/93s, and Veneres. Somewhere in the middle were the CM10s and the Liutos. A bit more laid back were the Dynaudios and the Vienna Acoustics"

You may be in the minority but then so am i! However, little do these audiophile misanthropes know that they do not or can not hear or appreciate the sound of an orchestra or a vocalist in a natural concert hall setting!

I agree again on another point. I can not STAND most of these so called " reviewers" who have lynched the press with their stupid ass observations about live acoustic sound and what it is to appreciate its truthfulness. Every word they utter is punch, Liveliness, BOOGIE (lmao) , exciting, drive etc, etc. Is that how a frickin orchestra or a female ( operatic) voice should sound??? I read their source material used and I want to throw up!! ( not because of the music per say , but that this is the material they use to evaluate loudspeakers??? ( Maybe they've picked the wrong hobby..?) They can spend their money on these components and fool themselves into believing this hobby they enjoy (high end audio) is fulfilling their supposedly objective needs; which is all well and good. It's not , however, the" real " sound of unamplified music. 
I guess, in the final evaluation, their " employers" no little either, or why would they adhere to or accept the rantings  of kids who are engulfed in this music for evaluating music reproduction in the home??????
So admittedly, not having heard everything of the newest designs around today, I can still proudly look back and thank a few people ( some gone now) who have truly..... contributed to the development of natural sound reproduction: Nelson Pass, Spencer Hughes, Peter Walker, to name a few!
PS. I used to publish a small subscription newsletter review myself in the early 1980's.

128x128imaging1
ahendler
416 posts
 
I always wonder what people mean when they refer to accurate. As soon as you set up mikes to record an event so called accuracy is gone. The sound I here in the control room is totally different then the live sound in the studio. Recording is an art form. It is the creation of a performance envisioned by the artist, producer and recording engineer. In my case as the engineer it usually was always what I wanted. .Also regarding accuracy the mixdown also sounds totally different then the master multitrack. The mastering engineer  again changes the sound. So accurate to what. It is all an illusion. The in room speaker response for a speaker is different in every room. Bottom line is you find a speaker that you can emotionally connect with on music you love. Period.  By the way the Magico's are the real deal
Alan
imaging1's avatar
imaging1 OP
57 posts
 
Interesting observation. I suppose you could go another route if need be. A direct feed say, of a bbc or American broadcast of a live orchestra, operatic or jazz, pop concert . Now the big caveat:most likely the engineers TODAY.... Will not use a cross pair, blumlien microphone technique. It is not in fashion anymore. You can buy some older EMI recordings from the late 50's or early 60's but the mikes, in either case, are there naturally. 
Martin Colloms, however, many years ago, tested each speaker with blind ( curtain covering speakers in the listening room) live vs. recorded music and instruments in his hi fi choice publications. Some of those reviews were eye openers at the time.

Try if you can one time to get a broadcast of exceptional quality ( any microphone technique I guess) and listen to it through your audio set up with a pair of Spendor BC1's or a Quad 63 properly angled toward your listening seat. You might be astounded by what you hear... They used to call it real " drama". The stereo effect is something no less than thrilling!
ptmconsulting
1,000 posts
 
It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so.
 - Mark Twain

ahendler
416 posts
 
HM1
 You are right
I come home from my live symphony concerts and turn on the stereo and marvel how close the sound is to the live event. By the way I use Maggie 3.6's setup so the speakers literally disappear from the room. It is much easier to hear how close you can get with a single instrument. However as musicians will tell you if you know the live sound you fill in what is missing in the reproduced sound. Still with a single instrument 5 different mikes will all sound different but will still pass the test "Is itlive or is it Memorex"
Alan
ahendler
416 posts
 
The setup For my 3.6's is called the Limage/hk setup. You can do a search for more info.
Alan
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