Forgive me Father.. aka confession of audio heretic..

Good remark! I should finally find time to do it but since, primo - some brands I use are most probably unknown to most people here, secundo - I've already done something in regard to the description of my system somewhere else I will choose an easy solution - let me start with my good ol' speakers (scroll down if you have some time, I bet you will recognize my avatar easily ):

What has produced the greatest sound improvement for you?

My amp will soon be replaced by one of the Devialets, I have about 2,5 thousand CDs and 4x more hi res material - SACDs and 24bit files, I use JRiver software, CA740 CD spinner, Siltech SQ86 interconnect and QED flagship Genesis Silver speaker wires in bi-amping configuration. That's more or less it, I think

 

Lol, i get ya man. I didn't watch the last two so i guess i can't disagree and if i had, maybe i still couldn't disagree

 

If only this were true! Roughly 90 percent of audio reviews I've seen in recent years are all but worthless to me because they do not even come close to acknowledging that classical music exists. When they tell me what EDM or grunge or rock recordings sound like, they tell e absolutely nothing. And that's what pisses ME off!

 

Wow; story of my life. Have saved many a live mix myself. Audiophiles; what a breed we are, regardless of our music/speakers/you name it we favor. Used to be a soundman assistant, and got payed for it to boot (woulda done it for free TBH)

 

Glad you mentioned one of my fav classical pieces. Yeah in case of the 1953(!) recording I'd rather be there (for a moment, I don't think I'd be satisfied by home systems SQ in those times!) although I would also never agree to get rid of the CD from my collection..

Yep, as for dynamics of many instruments - no way, even most serious hi end gear won't replicate that!

Some say my system is merciless for recordings, if a recording is shrill or overbright it will immediately show it. I say it's just true to the recording - play some fantastically recorded stuff and you are in another (audio) universe

Will check her out!

 

If you are in Columbus and want to see a show at a great sounding venue.

Southern Theatre | Columbus Association for the Performing Arts

 

But there are labels which produce(d) great sounding music on a regular basis so I guess it's possible to create a methodology of a good recording.

Do you suggest that private concerts with some sound tweaking in person could be a solution to the problems with the live sound we talk about here.?

 

I'm not fully sure that I understand the question.

Bill

 

It was just a joke. Cheers!

 

Let me know what you think

 

Sure.
BTW do you know Mari Boine.?

 

@-Sphinx-, if you are going to talk about your system, we would all love to know what it is, but your profile information is still missing. Probably an oversight. BTW fun thread!

 

@Tim Irvine Would you kindly scroll to the top of this page.?

Or maybe I will just quote myself (again) not to make things difficult for you.

 

I never had this thought til now but reading the initial post brought it to me I don't care about sound quality at shows other than am I able to hear the band aka is it loud enough. I am there for the music not audio, at home obviously I listen to music but I also care about the sound quality. And I am generally happy with that quality as I am not looking for live sound just the sound of recorded music played back well. Plus at home I can relax on the couch no one around to bother me and no one I need to impress.

 

Sorry. Mea culpa. However it is standard to post it on your profile.

 

Can't say 'same here', not only I pay attention to the SQ but also always try to find the optimum place in the hall, being an ex-dealer and having some experience with different room acoustics helps with that a little.

Mea culpa

 

Hmm, I always care about the sound at shows. But I mostly see jazz shows in small clubs or classical music in 3K seat or less venues acoustically designed for classical music performance. I wouldn't avoid seeing an artist I wanted to see because the concert is taking place in a lousy sounding venue (though at this point in my life I do avoid shows in venues larger than around 3K seats, and outdoor, multi stage festivals, those I just don't really enjoy anymore). But I've lived around the Metro NYC area for more than half a century -- I have a decent notion of which around her are good sounding venues for which kinds of music, which are OK, and which are lousy, and I do get more excited by the opportunity to see someone in a room I know to be a good sounding one vs. seeing them at a different venue.

 

As a lifelong New Orleanian, calling that Jazz irks me! New York pretentious crap only appreciated by pretentious audiophiles!

Not sure why she grates on me, while I can listen to other similar artists all night.

As for live, I've heard really good and really bad. As a child of the 70's growing up with huge arena shows, plenty, plenty bad. But we do have many, many small venues here that can sound amazing if you get a good spot. Seeing someone who's music you love in an intimate setting can be absolutely amazing (including the sound quality).

Rodney Crowell - Manship Theater, Baton Rouge

 

The reason why an orchestra (not mentioning other genres for I have already expressed my views on acoustic jazz and amplified jazz or rock concerts and sound defects accompanying them) sounds better on the home system, at least on mine and to my ears, is very simple: our ears don't have a chance to be in an optimum spot during a concert. None of us has the ability to eg float 3m above the podium, slightly in front of an orchestra or a chamber ensemble or a solo instrument for that matter. OTOH main mic(s) capturing all the details and nuances of the performance with eventual additional mics recording the ambience of the hall, contemporary mixing and mastering possibilities simply don't give us a chance to get equally good sound in a chair of a concert hall, which what's even worse can sometimes be located to close to the stage, sometimes too far and sometimes even behind it.. Frank Zappa once said there is no more amazing feeling than hearing an orchestra from the conductors stand. I've never heard it from this place but the recording mic can be pretty damn close to it and I believe due to this we also have a possibility of glimpsing to at least some degree what he was talking about.. Also close micing during studio recordings allows to capture details which are inaudible when being 10-15m or more away, shouldn't be surprising to anyone, I guess. If we add to it ambience of the recording space the effects can be breathtaking, I think we all know that!

I would like to be well understood - I love live music, I've attended countless concerts in recent years, mainly jazz and classical. The experience of live participation in a music event can't IMO be compared to anything else (well, maybe creating music, even on amateur level could compete with it..), it's just that at home it ..sounds better.

The sound of live music treated as a goal, the Holy Grail of the audio world is just a
fetish which doesn't deserve this position.

Period.

And what do you think/hear, guys.?

 

To me, listening to a recording (particularly vinyl) means listening to an artifact from a particular time and place. It's the sound of that era, and I've got a piece of it I'm brining back to life with my equipment. I suppose I could like that more than the live act, if that's what I'm in the mood for. Or if the wax brings out something the performance can't. In other words, they are different, not better or worse. I also don't buy that default "like live music" analogy.

 

I really value realism!

Where can I get one of those glass hurling components? Music Direct?

 

Why is that an optimal spot for hearing an orchestra? All that 18th and 19th century orchestral music was written with the presumption that it would be heard in a concert hall from somewhere out in the hall. That hyper detailed, spot lit, recorded sound of mics at that spot probably aren't delivering the sound that the composers imagined. Now, I happen to like a modern detailed brighter orchestral recording just fine, but I don't presume it's necessarily the "optimal" POV.

 

I don't think so. Concert halls IMO were 'invented' simply to allow a bigger group of people to listen to the music. Many composers were also conductors and they heard their pieces from a conductor's spot.

Even if so I don't really care, for me it's all about artistic/aesthetic value, after all also many performers' performances are far beyond what their creators - composers could imagine.. Also in this case I don't mind..

 

Forgive me if a audio system doesn’t sound great playing
Black Sabbath
Hawkwind
Monster Magnet
Deep Purple

I don’t care how great you tell me it is playing wimpy female vocals then it’s crap.

 

Have you ever discussed it with eg a fan of opera.? (that's not me to make things clear!)