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:
Dear @toddalin " Sorry but looking to your crossover diagram parts I can see that you are using those " boutique " caps as Adyn, Clarity, Mundorf and the like that I know very well and that all those are way inferior to the WIMA Fkp1 nad MKP 10 and those Mills resistors are inferior too to the Vishay Powertron.
I don't want to disturb you and is only to share my first hand experiences in crossover job.
No pun intented and only a comment about. R. |
It appears that I have a “super fan” that has become obsessed with me, who has been devoting his time to reading my posts on various audio forums, and like a remora or sucker fish wants to attach themselves to me for scraps of attention. I find it weird that this person is now begging for my attention. To this person I say, based on your clear lack of understanding of basic concepts, I decided to not engage with you and will not waste any of my time in responding to things that you obviously don’t understand. I hope that I have made myself clear. Move on. Contribute to threads with what you have achieved, and provide supporting evidence when possible. |
@carlos269 : " who has been devoting his time to reading my posts on various audio forums, ""
Wrong again, you posted the link on that thread. Why did you when I’m not looking any single post from you in other forums.
Hey Carlos: do you think that you are so " important "? Come on¡
You are as simple as any one of us an audiophile with your own audio/MUSIC targets, that’s all. Yes, I know that in the same way that you manipulated the recording you try to make the same with all us and before us you did it in wbf with no success after 4 FOUR years and you received only one answer of one of the 7 gentlemans that posted in that thread and the answer was negative against YT. You have not neither success here in your manipulation with all of us that only show your lost respect for we all human being because no one of us are a recording that you can manipulate as you wish. The only other gentleman that is inside the YT strategy is @mihorn who is a seller that use YT for his promotions here and in his site.
Btw, me like almost everyone in this thread " lack of understanding of basic concepts.." only you have that " level " of knowledge. Twice in 2 different forums/threads with no success with because you are a loser with those concepts that only you " understand " or think you understand.
As in my latest posts you have no answer because you can’t win or ague gainst true FACTS that you just do not UNDERSTAND. I would like like to read your third intent in other forum, please keep in touch remember that I'm " your super-fan " R.
R. |
Dear @kerrybh : " Some of those folks on WBF have truly elite systems, although they don’t brag about it much. "
Yu are rigth. I was in that forum a few months in 2 different times and both times I just banned from the forum.
Btw, very good room/system you own, congratulations. I like very much the designs of Matsudaira that I followed for several years since Supex, Audiocraft and Miyabi and owned too MSL. Great designer. Once I owned around 120 different cartridges LOMC/HOMC/MI/IM/MM I still own around 40 and this means that I have 40 different kind/level of recording quality performance/presentations from the same system and even from the same recording. Yes, a lot of fun and MUSIC enjoyment.
Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS, R.
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Not in the budget. I have <$1,500 into the pair of speakers and <$6,000 in what you hear and that was with buying the Yamaha brand new in 2003. I buy most of my chokes, caps, and resistors on eBay, many of which were purchased used. A few pieces (e.g., Mills, Mundorf), come from Parts Express or... Let’s break it down: Yamaha RX-Z9 - $4,050 New in 2003 (First time they were 10% off the $4,500 list price. Now with >35,000 hours on it.) Oppo BDP-95 - $300 Used Merman speakers - JBL 2241H 18" in clone cabinets purchased used from a church -$650 JBL 2251J 10" - Ebay $125/pr ESS Heil Speakers - Ebay $400/pr Fabricate cabinets for the 10"s, fabricate stands for the Heils, make crossovers, misc stuff - ~ $400 Ultimate Sound: PRICELESS |
