2. speakers
  3. 1342021282

How to get the impact of a live concert?

Yes, I know, big speakers, lots of power. : ) But I really am looking to "feel" the dynamics of the music, like you would at a concert. I'm not only talking about bass, although that is certainly a part of it. My wife and I were at Dave Matthews Band concert last night and it always amazes me, how impactful music is when it's live. Obviously, I understand they have a LOT of power driving a LOT of speakers, but they were filling the whole outdoors (outside venue). I'm only trying to fill my listening room. Would a good sub help? Different speakers?

I currently have Gallo Reference 3.1's and Klipchs Forte II's (Crites mods) driven by a Musical Fidelity Nu-Vista M3.
ecruz
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,823 posts
 
In order to compare apples/apples live/in-house, ie just how the music sounds, it helps to close your eyes, and just listen. After all stereos only reproduce sound, not all the other things mentioned FBOFW at a live concert.
wolf_garcia
6,591 posts
 
In the early 80s I stuck 300 watt 15" bass guitar speakers in my Altec A7s...either JBLs or Electro Voice ...now THAT handled the thump. The "phased array" stuff you hear in most large concerts are interesting designs...usually stacks of class D self powered boxes with a couple of beefy 10s and one or two horn drivers in each, along with high power subs with 15 or 18 inch drivers. Much more bang for buck compared to the older stuff, and about 10 times the power.
audiofeil
4,011 posts
 
A bottle of Boone's Farm and a hit of orange sunshine.

Now that's impactful

Woo hoo
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,079 posts
 
WOW! Did that bring back some memories!
stevecham
3,340 posts
 
It's all about physical compression that happens in the speakers and the room itself that reveals playback vs. live experiences to our ear/brain and there is simply not much we can do about it. It's simply physics that imparts this limitation. Loud won't cut it, it just exacerbates the compression factor. Every room and speaker system has an optimal or maximal loudness level beyond which this compression just increases (usually experienced as "beaming" from the tweeter/midrange drivers). Most speakers have an enclosure or driver limitation, or both, beyond which compression increases logarithimcally and again, there's nothing we can do about it. Some absorption can help reduce phase cancellation and increase dynamic range in the room, but again, only so far.

I have simply accepted this and have learned that if I want live, I go see and hear live.
More to discover