[Tyson]

I thought my super-tweaked, custom, fully active triamped system sounded pretty darn good.  Then I went to a wedding of a friend 3 days ago.  They had a violinist performing the music for the ceremony in an open air space with natural (rock formation) re-inforced acoustic space (gotta love Colorado!).  Man, that just put my system to shame.  Not even close, the beauty, harmonics, mellowness and intensity just kicked ass. 

[jimdgoulding]

Our systems reproduce recorded music some of which is better than others.  I listen to a lot of large classical works and often the orchestra sounds convincingly likelike and in context BUT seldom comes close to real scale tho ye olde volume control can be somewhat helpful in that regard.  If I had a larger room (and the disposable income) I would look at Magnepan 3.7's with some serious amplification.  One (jazz) album that does come pretty close to scale even on my small system is the Mapleshade label's recording "Sound Roots" and the horn players are standing.  Nice trick.

[John Casler]

I thought my super-tweaked, custom, fully active triamped system sounded pretty darn good.  Then I went to a wedding of a friend 3 days ago.  They had a violinist performing the music for the ceremony in an open air space with natural (rock formation) re-inforced acoustic space (gotta love Colorado!).  Man, that just put my system to shame.  Not even close, the beauty, harmonics, mellowness and intensity just kicked ass. 

What you just described was the "sound" of the instrument and the "acoustic space".

As long as your "acoustic space" = "your room" overlays the recorded acoustic space, then the experience will never come close.

ANY sound you hear, that does not come straight from the speaker to your ears (DIRECT) is distortion to the original recording and will change it.

So if your REFERENCE is "live" music as perfromed in the "original" acoustic space, you need to subtract the room distortions.


It is the difference of:

1) Bringing the performance to your room

vs

2) Bringing the performer to your room

Both are worthy goals, but they will have differing results.

[JLM]

THE reference is unamplified live music.

Frankly a single violin is a rather easy challenge.  (I hired a harpist to perform at our wedding, but our event acoustics doesn't compare, and again an easy challenge.)  I agree with your findings completely.

I enjoy music and hearing it well reproduced in the convinience of my home.  I currently have $4-5000 invested in my system, but it makes you wonder why we spend $$$ on audio.

[werd]

People seem to bag out on the hifi experience over real life. What you get with recordings are excellent playback musical events. Most musicians aren't that good and don't live up to what we hear in our houses -  especially in classical.

Graf Mourja's violon artistry in "Piece in style de blues" off  Violon Vagabond comes to mind. We just don't get that finesse and beautiful encounter from most musicians. It costs money to hear music played like this live (its not cheap) and it doesn't happen very often.

[JLM]

werd, I don't understand "bag out".

I think you're 2nd point was that live performances are rarely as well rehearsed/performed as those in the recording studio.  To that I agree 100%.  We are spoiled by hearing almost exclusively the very best performers performing pieces carefully selected to fit their skills that they've rehearsed until its perfect.  And of course we complain when a live performance doesn't match pre-recorded perfection.

An easy "cure" for all this "perfection" for me is routinely going to church.  We previously attended a mega-church with contemporary music.  Every week they had different performers rotating in and out, material varied weekly too.  All kinds of instruments, even an unamplified violin played by a child prodigy.  And the sound system was so much better than typical PA stuff as it had been optimized to the space (they'd spent $250,000 to upgrade it).

[highfilter]

My reference is in the hands of the artist.

I'm not in the camp that wants a live performance in my living room, because half of the music I listen to isn't natural and comes from a place the artists create themselves.

I find it more interesting when an artist can create a unique musical space that takes you to a place this earth cannot. I just build a system that tries to keep up with their magic, as best as I can afford.

Thinking Autechre, Black Lung, some Brian Eno etc.

I enjoy acoustical music and vocals too, but I'm not crazed at getting them close to a reference natural sound, because most of the time it's not going to happen because it wasn't captured to do so in the first place. As long as the emotion and artistic imagery are there, 

[Steve]

My reference is live, un-amplified music.

Cheers.

[rollo]

My reference is live, un-amplified music.

Cheers.

  Yes, but in my room. Ya know a guitar, violin or horn player. If so sit him or her in the middle of your speakers and play a tune. Record it play it back and see what your missing. You may find very little is missing.
   Find a cymbal, snare, triangle and do the same. Best yet a singer. IMO the recorded music is the culprit not the room or gear.
   We had a club meeting at a recording studio where we were able to listen to the event being recorded and direct playback. Both digital and analog playback were almost alike . The digital feed was truer to life. Then we played the digital feed to analog tubed gear and then to SS gear. There was a distinct difference to be heard. Some liked the SS others the tubes. Subjective yes but a true comparison .
   A live events room acoustics play an important role in the sound.  Ever hear the same group outdoors and then indoors ?? A huge difference.
  For me I play the trumpet in my room the volume and dynamic is a great comparison . Check it out.



charles

[jazzcan]

I really enjoy the sound of the instruments in chambre music ensembles, especially the French Horn.

At home I try to "tune" my system to replay piano trios well.

Rich

[werd]

werd, I don't understand "bag out".

I think you're 2nd point was that live performances are rarely as well rehearsed/performed as those in the recording studio.  To that I agree 100%.  We are spoiled by hearing almost exclusively the very best performers performing pieces carefully selected to fit their skills that they've rehearsed until its perfect.  And of course we complain when a live performance doesn't match pre-recorded perfection.

An easy "cure" for all this "perfection" for me is routinely going to church.  We previously attended a mega-church with contemporary music.  Every week they had different performers rotating in and out, material varied weekly too.  All kinds of instruments, even an unamplified violin played by a child prodigy.  And the sound system was so much better than typical PA stuff as it had been optimized to the space (they'd spent $250,000 to upgrade it).

They "bag out" or complain compared to live.

[bummrush]

IMO the recorded music is the culprit not the room or gear.
  EXACTLY

[timind]

My reference is in the hands of the artist.

I'm not in the camp that wants a live performance in my living room, because half of the music I listen to isn't natural and comes from a place the artists create themselves.

I find it more interesting when an artist can create a unique musical space that takes you to a place this earth cannot. I just build a system that tries to keep up with their magic, as best as I can afford.

+1 on this. 

[Steve]

  Yes, but in my room. Ya know a guitar, violin or horn player. If so sit him or her in the middle of your speakers and play a tune. Record it play it back and see what your missing. You may find very little is missing.
   Find a cymbal, snare, triangle and do the same. Best yet a singer. IMO the recorded music is the culprit not the room or gear.
   We had a club meeting at a recording studio where we were able to listen to the event being recorded and direct playback. Both digital and analog playback were almost alike . The digital feed was truer to life. Then we played the digital feed to analog tubed gear and then to SS gear. There was a distinct difference to be heard. Some liked the SS others the tubes. Subjective yes but a true comparison .
   A live events room acoustics play an important role in the sound.  Ever hear the same group outdoors and then indoors ?? A huge difference.
  For me I play the trumpet in my room the volume and dynamic is a great comparison . Check it out.



charles

Hi Charles,

Yep did that when we were kids (analog only back in those days). Still have a trombone and violin in house. Are you agreeing with me or am I misunderstanding what you meant? My apologies if I did not expound thoroughly.

Cheers.

[JLM]

The female voice has been called the ultimate reference (very familiar, wide frequency range, and good dynamics).

[lonewolfny42]

The female voice has been called the ultimate reference (very familiar, wide frequency range, and good dynamics).

And it's high pitched...... ....link... 

[bhobba]

Some of my favorite speakers are those made by Mike Lenehan of Lenehan Audio.  His reference is live music and he attends rehearsals of a local philharmonic to ensure he knows what that sounds like.   All his speakers are tuned by ear and that is what he aims for.

Thanks
Bill

[rollo]

Hi Charles,

Yep did that when we were kids (analog only back in those days). Still have a trombone and violin in house. Are you agreeing with me or am I misunderstanding what you meant? My apologies if I did not expound thoroughly.

Cheers.

Agree 100%. Live unamplified is the ticket.


charles

[Bill Baker]

Live performances are propably everyone's reference but we all know that it is imppossible to recreate or reproduce the same results from recorded music.
 Far too many things get in the way with the main factor being the recording itself.
Live performances give us perspective and something to reach for. We can only hope to come close.

 I also believe room acoustics take us further away from a live event presentation.

[John Casler]

I might tend to think that my reference is "both" live amplified and unamplified performances.

You will often attend both, and your system should be able to reproduce both.

As well I find many studio performances absolutley exceptional and when I can hear the individual recording booths for the performers, I know I have nailed it.