[SteveFord]

I wonder if they've taken him captive?
I haven't seen any ransom notes but the US Mail ain't what it used to be.

[josh358]

To describe the sound when it's right is to echo Rooze's original post.  There are no speakers and no walls in my listening room.  There are only the boundaries of the recording venue.  Live recordings sound like the pictures included in the disc or LP look, with the instruments placed exactly there.  There is zero localization at the speakers, a problem that pops up on some studio recordings with normal placements, but not here.  Yet images are not amorphous blobs, if anything there is more delineation between performers, just in a more natural way.  I can hear the cowbell much more specifically even in the spaced omni recording, and the cardioid although wider and deeper, is more naturally placed.  To echo Rooze again, I don't think I could ever go back.

It was the closest I've ever heard a reproduction come to a live performance. Not like listening to speakers, but like being in a real acoustical space. I could still hear the flaws of the speakers themselves -- the IM, the response irregularities, etc. Particularly since I was overdriving my computer speakers, which were never designed to fill a room with sound. But *it didn't matter.* The sound was so lifelike that the distortion sounded like something that had been added to real sound, rather than sound that wasn't real.

I have a feeling this isn't going to be practical for most people, it really seems to depend on having a room of suitable size and shape and the freedom to the position the speakers where it works best, but it opened my eyes to the degree to which the "dual illumination" problem -- listening room acoustics superimposed over the acoustics of the recording -- is getting in the way of realism. I've been thinking ever since about ways to fix that in a more practical way, without much success. But it would be nice to get a better handle on exactly what works so that those who do have suitable listening rooms (and line source dipoles) can harness it.

[Letitroll98]

Do we still have mail?  And why?  Other than package delivery and legal documents I don't see a reason for it anymore.

Anyway, the only place keeping me hostage is the workplace, no time to run amok at the Asylum yet.  Yes, one needs to have some freedom of placement, therefore not practical for all.  However the best results for me so far have been close to locations traditionally used in the living room/home theater/sub as two channel type systems.  So there is hope for most.     

I'll be experimenting more today and tomorrow.  However it is Masters weekend, my other passion, so there's five hours a day gone.  Late night listening here we come.