What does "Warm" mean?
In his post today Paul McGowan ([email protected]) had a pretty good post on the subject of warmth. Here is his definition: "The word usually points at a few related things. There's a slight rise in the lower midrange and upper bass — the region where male voices, cellos, lower piano notes, and the body of most instruments live. There's a softness at the very top, a rounding off of transient energy that feels easier on the ear over long sessions. And there's a sense of weight and body in the music, a presence that makes acoustic instruments feel three-dimensional rather than etched in air. When all three of those things show up together, listeners reach for "warm" because nothing else describes it as quickly."
Paul then goes on to discuss both the good and the bad of this set of characteristics. In general I associate warmth with harmonic distortion, but prefer it to the stridency or harshness that I associate with intermodular distortion. I think most people would agree. Since we all live with a certain amount of distortion, more in analog than in digital playback, I wonder what others think about warmth, or lack of same, and their tolerance or lack of same in their own listening preferences.
I keep my terminology for warmth to mean the Sun on my Face or a log well caught alight on the Log Fire in the colder months. When it comes to end sound, there is Transparency, which deteriorates into Tonal Richness. Each to their own on the cut-off point for each, when detectable and having a discernible, perceivable presence. |
Bill. I was thinking of Bob Fulton as I read this. Years age we had a small dealer in San Diego who sold Fulton products. Fulton visited a few times to give demos or talks. As I remember it he assigned a different color to each instrument in a typical symphony orchestra. Then he would say "that trombone doesn't sound purplish enough", or whatever color he described. At one time I had a copy of his color chart but that is long gone and I don't remember the details. As well as designing and building loudspeakers, electronics, and wire he made recordings of local music groups. They were decent recordings but amateur talent. As another connection with music he designed mouthpieces for brass instruments. A friend in my alumni club was in the marching band in college and later the alumni band, playing trumpet. No idea how we got on the subject, I may have ask my friend about Fulton since I'd heard that connection. To my amazement my friend said he played a Fulton mouthpiece. |
I agree with Paul’s description. I associate “warm” with more midrange and less high frequency volume. It’s interesting how difficult it is to describe the overall sound without referring to other senses like touch or sight. Funny though, I never heard sound compared to taste or smell. (Although there are sour notes, and music that stinks!) |
@pryso Yes we might have met at that small San Diego dealership. That is precisely where I met Bob Fulton. Definitive Audio. I was a Naval officer and worked there part time when I could. Later and for much longer I worker at Breier Sound Center too. |
