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Striking a balance between musicality and resolution

As my years and experience in this hobby continue to grow I notice a divergence between those seeking extreme resolution and detail from their music reproduction systems and those in search of maximum musicality.

In theory, high-end audio systems should provide more than garden variety stereo systems. In my view that means more detail and information should be heard from a high-end music reproduction system than one hears from ordinary HiFi stereo systems set ups. BUT is there such thing as too much resolution and detail in a stereo system’s sound presentation?

Some people feel that a less detailed presentation that is easier for your brain to process has better flow and provides more enjoyable listening.

So there is the dichotomy. Should one pay more to hear less? Can a frequency response performance that is curtailed at both frequency extremes be desired and praised?

Those that seek a “more musical” presentation usually point to their belief that that is how they hear live un-amplified acoustic music in the real world. In nature, high frequencies attenuate and decay with distance from the source and sound waves get absorbed, diffracted, reflected, and diffused by the environmental factors and landscapes; so they are not wrong in stating that in the real world the sound of music is less detailed and extended. The issue is that when we listen to our music reproduction systems at home we are not listening to live un-amplified music in a concert venue, but rather professionally produced audio recordings typically recorded with close-microphones techniques.

So the question is, do we want our systems to reproduce the sound on the commercial audio recordings accurately or does one want hear the sound the way one thinks that it should sound?

Lucky for me, I have enough systems at home that I have been able to design, set up, and tune them for different targeted resultant sound, sound presentation, and sound qualities. For instance, my OKTAN6 ultimate horn system is a dissecting microscope, my Pinnacle horn system aims at extreme musicality, and my WAAR reference system is a chameleon, which can be adjusted to sound exactly how you want it to sound in real-time.

My “test-bed” system takes on the sound character and sound qualities of the components in use and it is excellent for evaluating what new components have to offer or bring to the table in terms of sound qualities. But with the Acapella TW-1S ION plasma super-tweeters extending the high frequencies, the TBI Emperor subwoofers extending the low frequencies, and the highly detailed & nuanced Digital Audio Denmark AX24 DSD dac streaming HQPLAYER as the source, the “Test Bed” system is a highly resolving system.

As with everything else in life, is there a happy medium or compromise that gives you the best of those worlds? I believe that there is and that great music reproduction systems can be tuned to strike a balance between musicality and resolution. If one listens to the evolution of my OKTAN6 ultimate horn system for instance you can hear that the fine tuning is driving the sound in that direction.

So during last night’s listening session I adjusted the sound of my “Test Bed” system to a more musical sound presentation. The “Test Bed” system is always in flux so it allows me to experiment, explore, tweak, tune, and have fun with it.

Here is an audio recording from last night’s listening session that captures the revised sound presentation and conveys the sound qualities that exemplify a more organic sound versus a more delineated & resolved sound presentation:
 

The Way It Goes

 

carlos269
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
15,052 posts
 

By the way Carlos the problem is not so much your systems, they sound good to me through youtube  and my own system, but the room  where they are is not  synchronised or tuned for them and  with them...this is the problem anyway for almost all people...

it is easier to create a good system synergy than create a dedicated room...

But a good synergetical system in an uncontrolled room  never sound  at his peak and never reach his optimal working......

 

 

« a room or a great Hall are the most impactful musical instruments»Anonymus acoustician cool 

 

 

 

carlos269's avatar
carlos269 OP
470 posts
 

@mahgister Think about what you stated, the sound of my systems sound good yet you are still concerned about the room. The sound that you hear incorporates the room contributions that I hear at the listening chair when I listen to my systems. The sound/music that is on the audio recordings that I post is the resultant sound at the listening chair location. This resultant sound is the composite sound of ALl the things that contribute to the sound including room acoustics, electrical power, audio components, speakers, and so on. The resultant sound is the cumulative result of everything that impacts the sound heard at the listening chair location/ listening chair position and that is why is referred to as the composite sound.

 

@toddalin high frequency room nodes are a new concept to me. Room nodes are typically low frequencies associated with the room dimensions. If you hear what you think you hear point it out next time and I will listen to try to hear what you hear. For the record, I hear no such thing either in the room or on the audio recordings of my Test Bed system.

carlos269's avatar
carlos269 OP
470 posts
 

For those who want to test or are concerned about room acoustics and interested in hearing how musical their sound reproduction presentation is, play this recording on your system and compare it to this one on my Pinnacle 4-way system with field coil horn tweeters & midrange, mid-bass horns, and augmented by a pair subwoofers:

Unstoppable

 

 

rauliruegas
13,376 posts
 

@carlos269  : It’s weird that you did not own FM Acoustics electronics when Huber primary audio business is in the Pro audio as recording studio market and where the home audio is his side line.

 

I seen that you are in tubes and love the T.Mayer ones that it does not matters silver everywhere the amps are coupled by transformers and the audio signal must pass through that’s for me forbidden. Por the audio signal paths always less is always more of everything to enhance the signal quality performance..

 

You posted here:

 

" 

hat exactly is different between what I do and what just about every audiophile attempts to do through component selections, room acoustic treatments, power conditioning, interconnection cables selection, grounding, shielding, mechanical coupling, mechanical isolation, and so on? 

I tell you what’s different, one approach is intelligent and the other approach is trial and error. ""

 

and in that wbf thread that is exactly what you showed: trial an error even with those silver Tribute. Trial an error.

 

You have not success there neither here because even gentlemans as Bozo trust in their aural memory. Btw, gentlemans as bozo had not successs in this forum instead a native Audiogo as @mikelavigne  with his aural memory always has the respect of all Agoners and has very good knowledge levels.

 

Even all those in your threads I learned something important from you: what not to do, unfortunatelly nothing that can help me to improve my room/system quality yet.

 I knew that you learned in 2020/2021 yhay good low bass reproduction enhance the quality of mid/high frequency. I did it in around 2004 and was one of my audio deep discovery.

 

Btw, I respect a lot your enthusiasm and passion for the audio/MUSIC.

 

R.

 

 

 

rauliruegas
13,376 posts
 

Carlos, I forgot to tell you that those PIO came from the second World War, not good enough.

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