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The eternal quandary

Is it the sound or is it the music?

A recent experience. Started to listen to a baroque trio on the main system, harpsichord, bass viol and violin. The harpsichord seems to be positioned to the left of centre, the bass viol to the right, and the violin probably somewhere in the middle. The sound of the two continuo instruments is "larger"/more diffuse than I would expect in "real life". The acoustic is slightly "swimmy". Worse still, impossible to tell if the violinist is standing in front of the continuo instruments, on the same plane as them, or even slightly behind them (in a kind of concave semi-circle). Then that tiny little doubt creeps in: although you want to blame the recording, the acoustic, the recording engineer, the digital recorder, could it be the system that's not quite doing the trick? Could its soundstaging abilities be somehow deficient? After about six shortish tracks I have stop.

Later, I finish listening to the CD on the secondary system. No, the timbral textures are not as fleshed out, no, the sheer presence of the instruments is not as intense, and no, the soundstaging is certainly no better, but I listen through to the end, in main part I think because my expectations are not as high now, and I'm listening to what's being played, not how it's being reproduced.

So are we listening to the sound or the music? Is this why car radios, table-top radios, even secondary systems have a certain, curious advantage over the "big rig"? By having so many expectations for the big rig, are we setting it up for failure? Is that one reason why lots of enthusiasts are on an unending upgrade spiral? Does this experience strike a chord (no pun intended) with anyone else out there?
128x128twoleftears

Showing 3 responses by newbee

newbee
4,793 posts
 
Twoleftears, consider that it may have nothing to do with the quality of the replication of recorded music in the home vs the 'live experience'.

It has, to me at least, more to do with tonal balance and pitch. Timbre. At one concert hall I regularily attend unamplified performances, I would rather listen to the performance over a Bose system in a bathroom, than sit in the balcony, even with an oxygen mask. There it is very unbalanced - overly bright, no bass. Just like a lot of audiophile grade monitors. On the main floor the sound is, generally speaking very good, excellent and great!

Perhaps that raises the question whether I would be an acousticsphile and not a music lover? I think not, no more than I would love to listen to a voice or an instrument off key. Pitch and timbre, naturalness, and ease rules, live or canned for me anyway, music appreciation comes from a source that draws me in.
newbee
4,793 posts
 
I re-read your initial post. I do not have this particular recording, but I have a lot of HM's. Most of them are very good, but I would never call them rolled off or dull, in fact on some I found there was a tendency to close mic the instruments, which if not balanced properly could sound a bit bright, but not fatiguing so. Listen to some of Chiu's Prokofiev - the clarity of these recordings will not enhance the sound from a poorly balanced CD system (I really like these performances and recordings however).

Your complaint/observation leads me to think that the problem you experienced in your main system was due to a less than optimum mix by the recording engineer of the centered violin. Assuming each instrument was close mic'd and the engineer gave a little more emphasis to the violin because that would give a good central focus, then its acoustic envelope would overlap unnaturally that of the other two and become confusing to the critical listener with an audio set up with good resolution capabilities.

You probably didn't experience this with your secondary system precisely because it didn't have these resolution qualities. Back to 'Bose in the Bathroom' listening.

It's OK to judge the recording as difficient, after all that was NOT created by you so you're not to blame! :-)
newbee
4,793 posts
 
Twoleftears, 'Accuracy' went out the windows when we selected our speakers and their set up. Nothing you can do will ever recreate exactly what the engineers put down. Not even close!

Detlof, A 'benchmark' system! You are absolute right on! It doesn't have to be the 'best' in any 'audiophile analist's view for you to be able to distinguish whats in the pits and grooves, the good, the bad, and the ugly. Its only when you get concerned about whether or not the recording quality is 'audiophile analist approved' do you need the ultimate system (what ever that might be!).

For what its worth, don't go to the dictionary, I coined the word - a short form for an anal retentive personality type. :-)
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