Progressive Rock

great thread . . . I'm a prog freak from the 70's and most of my music collection (ie about 40%) is prog, with the balance being Jazz, Folks, Classical, Bluegrass, etc.

I had concluded recently I would set up my main rig for optimal acoustic/jazz/voice listening. My premise is most prog doesn't challenge a system because of the quality of recording that is typical, and previously mentioned. That said, I have found that prog needs deep bass, and must play loud - so that's been my primary prerequisite. In tuning my systems for prog listening I've found that the power amp and speakers are more important than the front end. My old Infinity Monitor IIa speakers that I drove with a Phase Linear 400 in the 70's were wonderful for Prog, and still are. I still have the Monitors, but am driving them with a Bedini 100.100. They are flat from 22Hz to 26kHz. My Totem Sttafs image wonderfully and I can listen to them all day for most music, but weren't as satisfying for Prog because of the absence of deep bass, until I added a Rel Storm III. I'm still afraid to play them really loud so I don't consider them optimal. I'm experimenting with other speaker/amp combinations to see if I can improve on the Monitor/Bedini system.

The majority of my collection is rock and I have built my system accordingly. I have the VR4 GenIII spkrs that Tvad mentioned mated with an Ayre V-1x amp and modded Meridian CDP. I'm currently on a tube preamp search & am now auditioning a Thor.

I was at the CES earlier this year & had a very heavy bass track on a rock song that I carried with me & asked to be played & guess which room it sounded the best in? Yep, with the VR SR's. Interestingly, Albert was using big tube amps (VAC) to power these, so synergy is key.

As important as synergy is, personal taste should be what dictates your choices but if I had $12k to spend on spkrs, I would also audition the Avalon Eidolon, which can be had used at that price and also the Montana KAS, along with the VR SR's.

I will preface this by saying that I'm not real bright, but how does one build a system to reproduce one particular style of music? If a system accurately reproduces Pink Floyd, or King Crimson is there any reason it would not do so for a Mozart piano concerto or a Carl Orf cantata?

How are these different?

Nrchy,

This is where the controversy enters the picture.

In theory, no. If a system "accurately" reproduces Pink Floyd, or King Crimson, there not a reason it would not do so for a Mozart piano concerto or a Carl Orf cantata.

It all depends on how you define the word "accurately".

I would say the emphasis w/rock would be a spkr. that produces plenty of bass, so a large floorstander would fit the bill. Some folks might opt for standmounts w/sub but I've never liked the integration. Depends on personal preferences.

Then in order to deliver the music in excess of 100 dB's w/o distortion (if required), one would need to have an amp capable of doing the job. Not meaning to deviate into an amp thread or any other component, let me just say not all amps (components) are created equal & some will do the intended job better than others. Again, remember it's all about personal tastes.

The source would need to be on the warmer side of neutral to cover up recording flaws & the cables would follow this pattern. Of course this IMO and that's how I like to listen.

I agree with your precept that the system doesn't know what it's playing, so a good sounding system should be able to reproduce all music accurately but different genres of music emphasize different aspects of sound reproduction & not all stereo gear does all of these things the same way.

It basically boils down to individual taste & I believe the more we personalize our systems, the more it tends to be in line with the type of music we prefer.