Reproduced Sound and Real Life Cues

[rollo]

   So what is it about for you that reminds you of live vs recorded music ? Or what part of the reproduction makes you comfy ?
   We have bass guys, we have tonality freaks, we have top end guys [ me], we have presence guys, slam, sound stage size, volume and so on.
    For me if the top end is hrd, bright, metallic, beaming, I cannot get emotional impact. Just irks me.
     And you ??

charles
   

[rpf]

Tone/harmonics. Tone/harmonics. Tone/harmonics.

If the top end is bright/hard/metallic (worst fault in a speaker IMHO), then the above condition(s) have not been met.

[rollo]

   Some speakers get partial tonality meaning say midrange however the upper mid or lower treble are off. No ? Yes ?  Boomy bass sometimes as well.


charles

[BobM]

I think these days accurate TONE is more or less a given in any competent design. I rarely hear bad tone in anything not from Best Buy. I think making something sound real is more about natural dynamics, and mostly about those pesky micro dynamics.

[Werd]

The speaker cabinet. Adjustable by removing dampening and speaker cabinet material. If they built instruments using internal dampening and lousy wood like most speakers. Then the instruments would sound like garbage too..

[rollo]

The speaker cabinet. Adjustable by removing dampening and speaker cabinet material. If they built instruments using internal dampening and lousy wood like most speakers. Then the instruments would sound like garbage too..

   Agree however some designers like the box to sing along and others not.
   The audience claps, cymbal decay, a wood klavis hit, harmonic of recording space, etc all make it real for me. The small inflections known as micro dynamics give me the goosebumps.
   Macro dynamic swings as well. The swelling of Violas or Kettle drums being whacked with wood or metal.
    I do not sit there and try to pick these things out. That is not listening, that is analysing. No fun there.
  Listen to the performance and the emotion the writer has tried to convey. Meaning get into the music NOT the gear and how it does what it does.
   Now I would be a liar if I said the gear was not of interest to me. So I tweak to satisfy my gear head and at times just listen to evaluate the tweak. That is fun for me but not my main objective.
    That of course is the music we all love. The cost is the cost spend or do not spend. It is a personal matter not a requirement.


charles

[Nick B]

   So what is it about for you that reminds you of live vs recorded music ? Or what part of the reproduction makes you comfy ?
   We have bass guys, we have tonality freaks, we have top end guys [ me], we have presence guys, slam, sound stage size, volume and so on.
    For me if the top end is hrd, bright, metallic, beaming, I cannot get emotional impact. Just irks me.
     And you ??

charles
   

A harsh top end is tough to listen to and that has primarily been my setup for years. Most important is the midrange and how a system handles micro dynamics
Nick

[mdconnelly]

Walk by any music venue with music playing and you will always be able to tell live vs recorded.  The giveaway for me is always the drum kit.  The snap of a rimshot is a dead giveaway.  Transient response.

[Nick B]

Was just at the local Dickens Festival with my wife and was squeezing through the crowd. I heard a few notes of a violin and said to my wife how good that sounds. Well, it sounded good as it was live. Even in the midst of lots of background noise, the sweet tone of that violin easily stood out.