Does your system have jump?


PRAT, slam, musicality, attack, decay. All that is good but does your system have jump? Does it get up and go and take you with it? I think I've found a nice equilibrium again after some dramatic system changes. Nothing is ever as fast as real life. I thought tubes could not do instantaneous but with the way I have things set up, I think it was, as I suspected, in the preamp (a long journey may have now ended for me).
I went from VTL to SFL to Krell to Rowland to CJ to Spectral to CAT to BAT to Pass to Wavac to Ayre to to ML back to BAT and now I am home with Aesthetix. Which components seem to have delivered the largest return on jump for you?
classicjazz
Mt10425, Elizabeth is correct as I did jump on you. I am sorry for that.

Thanks for your kind words and for not responding in like manner.

As for defining 'jump', Philjolet seems pretty accurate and I think I stated something like that in my previous post above.

I would define 'jump' as having everything to do with the macro-dynmaic reproduction of music, but with some serious weight behind the punches.

-IMO
While my view is not definitive by any means, the notion of jump can be characterized as the ability of the system to convey the dynamic swings of the music. Thus one might construe the system as possessing the characteristic of jump in that it is able to transmit such qualities inherent in recordings. The problem of language of course is that people infer different meanings based on reference to varying experiences and value sets. There is a great book on jazz that describes this kind of music as that which has a "swinging feeling." Now who knows what exactly constitutes swinging? Yet perhaps we might say that we know it when we hear it.

For me the preamp has always been the weak link. I journeyed through many preamps and realize one, I prefer tube amps and two, overall synergy is best left untouched once one finds a happy equilibrium. As for what others have said, I like Rowland preamps for their timbral accuracy but the sound was a bit constrained dynamically.

As for music, it happens regardless of the system which is being used but in this hobby of audiophiliacs the question is not whether my boom box or iPod has jump but whether the object of our lavish attention is able to capture and convey this inherent aspect of music. If you read Aaron Copeland's primer on music, he observes that before anything came rhythm and I agree.
Classicjazz- Nice work. For a "non-definitive" post, it sounds simplistically accurate to me.
NO! the visit to the dentist can't conclude while the patient still has teeth we haven't pulled.

Classicjazz - you should try a DHT preamp sometime. DHT preamps tend to have a purer tone and faster attack. If you like small ensemble jazz in an intimate club setting you will especially appreciate the qualities of a DHT preamp.