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It's All in Your Head

I commented in an earlier thread that the emphasis on components, cables and room treatments obscures the fact that the music all happens in your head.

This is from John Atkinson at RMAF 2012 reported on Stereophile:

"Stereophile editor John Atkinson used everything from a drumstick to a cowbell, both sounded “live” and played back on the seminar room’s stereo system, to convey the message: “Nothing is real. How the recording art affects what you think you hear!” As John proceeded to point out that the brain combines information from separate left and right loudspeakers into a single stereo image..."

"I showed that it is a fallacy to assume that “the absolute sound of live music in a real acoustic space” resides in the bits, pits, or grooves, even when such a live event existed. Making recordings is an art, not a science and there may only be a coincidental resemblance between what is presented to the listener and the sound of musicians playing live, even when all concerned with making the recording were trying to be as honest as possible. Even the fundamental decision of what microphone to use moves the recorded sound a long way from reality..."

What we aim for when we put an audio system together is a pleasing facsimile of the original musical performance that happened in a studio or at a live venue. But, ultimately, the music's all in your head. It sounds like it's in the room because that's the way our brain makes it seem. Music is essentially a spiritual experience mediated by the brain.
Systems that are not in the "best" category may reproduce music in a way that moves us but the "best" systems have the ability to involve us on even deeper emotional and spiritual levels.

Getting really close to the essence of the performance means we need "special" gear. That's what "gear chasing" is all about -- trying to get closer to the essence of the performance on deeper and more satisfying levels. "Gear chasing" that involves trying to reproduce the actual performance is an illusory pursuit. Many audiophiles have observed that the "best" systems are not necessarily the most expensive ones. This has also been my experience. But it will still take quite a bit of cash to put together a system that enters the realm of the "best".

All of the above is IMO, of course.
sabai
rpfef
110 posts
 
This notion that you get more emotional response on a good system always comes up against this fact:

I have had many (I mean very many) deep reactions to music heard above lots of distracting and masking road and engine noise on a junky car radio.
I also have a $25K system at home. When I listen to the same music on it as I had heard in the car, I by no means experience any greater or even different feelings.
Although it is apparent that I am hearing a much more realistic, lively, undistorted, and physically satisfying rendition at home, the joy or the sadness the music elicits in me IS NOT GREATER than what I feel with my hands on the wheel.
When I was 17 years old and had a Webcor portable record player ($39 at Macy's) some nights I would lie in bed and weep over Mahler's Ninth Symphony. You think I would have wept better if I'd had my current system?

People were screaming in the streets after hearing "Hound Dog" in the family Chevy. Most of the folks who made Elvis and the Beatles rich were responding with emotions both profound and powerful to songs they never heard very well.

Yes, I get excited with the sounds coming from my beloved stereo but the thrill is much more of the senses than of the emotions. I would guess that the system-related emotional charge is the exhilaration of hearing so excellent a system in my own house.

I have a musician friend who says, "As long as I can hear the notes, the sound is good enough."
chayro
2,998 posts
 
Human beings are easily fooled. You can sit in one of those "flight simulator" rides at Disney - the seat tilts, you see a picture of a racetrack, you hear some noise and you swear to god you're moving when you aren't. Also, not to give offense, but look at the respone someone may have to pornography. It may only be a picture, but the person has the same reaction as if it were real. The body's physiology acts as if it were real, but it isn't. I think the idea of building a good system is to capture as many of the tricks of fooling the brain to make our senses react as if it were real.
tpreaves's avatar
tpreaves
2,686 posts
 
Musica delenit bestiam feram, or something like that !!!!
onhwy61's avatar
onhwy61
5,242 posts
 
I think the idea of building a good system is to capture as many of the tricks of fooling the brain to make our senses react as if it were real.
If true, then it's possible for some people to have a very low threshold to be fooled, hence the stereotype of the professional musician with the not very good system. On the other hand some audiophiles need massive amounts of stimulation provided by state of the art components in dedicated acoustically treated rooms with numerous tweaks in order to, so to speak, get it up.
acman3
4,271 posts
 
For me at least, I don't enjoy a fat base.

Good discussion and analogy, but can we make bad sound, sound good? An unattractive girl attractive? More to this once you get past the surface.

Real to me, with all it's warts ;), has been better than the illusion in music and women.

Art, science, spirituality .......LIFE
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