Rap music on high-end speakers

audiogon did not print my last reply, so you know what they say, if you dont have anything nice to say . anyway i like the old sugar hill gang, whoever did planet rock. and someother older rap, but i would not play it on a high end system. i have a system in my theater with a jbl pro 4719 sub with a krell strapped down . i am using jbl pro horns with micrex tubes on top. that would be good for your rap. i dont know why you would listen to any of that newer trash . sugar hill gang had something to say. what do rappers have to say today. nothing i want to hear. anyway it is a free country, good luck in your quest. by the way sean ; well put.

Karl, most older "classic rock" ( Beatles, Stones, Who, etc ) was done in a time period when the majority of speakers were sealed. For instance, look at AR, KLH, Advent, Jensen, etc... These were all major forces in the industry back then. As such, box tuning is FAR less critical. It is almost hard to make a sealed and stuffed box sound "boomy". Vented / augmented boxes were really just making headway into the mainstream back then. With the advent of Thiel / Smalle parameters, they took off rather rapidly. None the less, companies were not TRYING to produce high Q designs that created huge undamped bass peaks or treble response that made your ears bleed at thirty paces. Yet, there is a HUGE market that WANTS that type of "sound" today and it is primarily for the hip-hop / rap crowd. With that in mind, poor designs of any type are JUNK, regardless of what type of music you're listening to.

Take into account that i am also talking about the AVERAGE "fan" of a specific genre of music. After all, when you think of a specific group of people or products, you typically look at what the "average" represents or how it is viewed by the masses. While it is true that there are extremes or fringe elements to EVERY group, those ARE the extremes and are less likely to be recognized or accounted for. That puts "audiophile hip-hoppers" in the minority and basically out of the picture. The "average" hip-hopper does not seek out "audiophile" grade equipment or sonic characteristics. If they did, "rap" and "hip hop" would NOT have the image that they do. Instead, the "average" fan strives for maximum "thud", poor tonal balance, sizzling high end, etc... Someone that is a rap / hip hop fan that does not go that route is ATYPICAL and therefore not included in the generalized comments that i made.

For the record, i live next to a village that had the lowest annual income per person in the United States. I get to see the REAL "ghetto gangsters", "rappers" and "hip-hoppers" EVERY single day as i drive to work. I did not grow up on a farm or live with my head stuck in a hole in the ground. The "exciting" things that are glorified in those "songs" are a REAL way of life for some of these "Thugz for Life". Peddling dope on street corners, threatening neighbors with death if they call the police, shooting some "ho" that smoked your last rock or drank your last "40" are REAL things there. As such, i can't condone that type of behaviour and don't want to glorify such things. Nor will i support it financially.

If you think my views are tainted by living near the above situation, think again. I live in the suburbs. I can drive 20 minutes into Chicago or 20 minutes out to cornfields. I would consider that a pretty "well rounded" perspective of both "city" and "country" living.

To each their own.... Sean
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That puts "audiophile hip-hoppers" in the minority

And audiophile jazz cats, and audiophile funkaholics, and audiophile classic rockers, and audiophile spacerockonauts, and audiophile electronics whizes, probably even audiophile classical connoisseurs. As for the rest, I'm sure your East Egg perspective is charming, but to judge an entire genre of music based on anecdotal evidence of mass behavior is at best irresponsible.

If the question is real and not just bait (haven't had time to read the responces) try a pair of EV s-15 three way. there is a high end model and the basic. Use them for mids and highs along with subs for pa mains and they stomp. don't need the subs for home use....or do you.

Sean and Raguirre. Well said.

Seek out good music, there is some in every genre even if its not coming at you loudly as a car rolls down the street.. It's that same insane "ghetto" music that created Louis Armstrong and Kraftwerk.

Audiogon is a fringe group of people. Audiophile= Fringe. Try explaining a 500$ interconect to a non-audiophile. Further subspecializing... Audiophiles with web access and interest = Audiogoner. All with a wide diversity of opinions about music. Amazing.

Try Vandersteen's.