Rock and Roll Snobbery

Seems perfectly logical to me that systems would not be for all music types. Look at musical instruments themselves. Some violins are better for classical, some as fiddles for country music, some for Irish folk music. There are all kinds of guitars for different kinds of music. And so on and so forth.

A system put together with low distortion, wide dynamic and flat frequency response components should be able to handle all types of music. However, such a system is by necessity somewhat expensive (say, $8k plus). It's usually below this price point (and the exact breakpoint is open to argument) that compromises start to set in that may favor one type of music over another. Classical/acoustic oriented system below the breakpoint will most likely favor tonal accuracy over deep bass and maximum SPL capabilities. Pop/rock systems will favor systems that go loud, have a mid-bass punch (80Hz to 120Hz) and a forward midrange. Bluntly put, pop/rock music does not demand as accurate a tonal reproduction as classical/acoustic based music. Whereas, a cello should always sound like a cello, an electric guitar can sound like alot of things. Prior to the guitar signal even reaching tape, the musician has usually added harmonic distortion, digital reverb/delay, massive EQ and dynamic compression. The guitar sound is then usually processed further as part of the mix down. Hence, it's hard to say exactly what is fidelity in pop/rock recordings. Furthermore, most pop/rock recordings are not mixed to be played on high resolution systems. The producers, engineers and the musicians make assumptions about how their music is most likely to be heard (MTV, car radio, boombox, etc.) and they tailor the sound accordingly.