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production or reproduction

all components are imperfect, i.e., each has a sonic signature which can be identified after some duration of careful listening.

while many embrace neutrality or attempt to minimize the audibility of a sonic signature as their goal when configuring a stereo system, after one's best efforts, all stereo systems will exhibit some "color".

why not accept the fact that a stereo system has some "flavor", and therefore, select your favorite?

less color is not intrinsically better than more coloration. rather it is the conventional wisdom and opinion of many audiophiles that a consistent sonic signature is indicative of a less-than-ideal state of performance. however, since the goal of listening to music is pleasure and that the end result of our hobby is entertainment, coloration may not be so important.

since all stereo systems are imperfect reproducers of a recording, they are producers of something other than the
recording itself.

why try to achieve perfect reproduction when it doesn't exist ?
mrtennis
mikelavigne
2,199 posts
 
there is no wrong when it comes to music reproduction. OTOH if one chooses to pursue musical truth and something resembling the way live acoustical music really sounds then you need to pursue neutrality in a room, speakers, amps, preamps, and cables.

neutrality can be the result of having pieces of gear which have complimentary colors; or having gear which is all near neutral. there is no one way. synergy is what is essential.

only then can you have a way to judge how close sources and software come to your ideal. some software needs a bit of color to come alive; so ideally you would have multiple sources which compliment various flavors of software.

if the front end (room, speakers, amps, preamp, cables) is colored; one would become quite limited in what software would end up sounding special (which i have often observed in systems).....you end up just listening to a narrow type of music that works in the system. there is nothing wrong with that if it is intentional. but there is a wide world of music out there.
hens
173 posts
 
Mr Tennis, I think you'll find the most often stated advice throughout this forum can be paraphrased as "listen and then choose what you most like the sound of". For some reason you seem to infer that the advice here could be paraphrased as "buy the most neutral equipment, regardless of whether you enjoy the sound"!

I have one system which is tube based with speakers clearly having a midrange lift. It is an unquestionably coloured, but I love the presentation of this system on female vocals and jazz and that's why I chose it. I also have a less coloured ss system and I prefer this for classical music as well as most rock music.

I have no problems, however, with equipment manufacturers who aspire to achieve "perfect reproduction" (perfect neutrality) whether it is achievable or not. If I don't like how it sounds, I won't buy it. Or maybe I would and if I want the option of colouration, I can always find a 1980's graphic equaliser to satisy this need.
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,079 posts
 
I'm not searching for perfection, I just like getting a good rush every now and again.
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mrtennis OP
3,295 posts
 
hi viridian:

the term term "accurate" cannot be used in a comparative sense. a stereo system is either accurate or it is not.

in fact all stereo systems are in accurate. you can say one stereo system is less inaccurate than another, or one stereo system is more colored than another.

coloration is multidimensional. it is based upon more than just frequency response.
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