Fidelity

Hi Tim,

I would generally agree with many points that Uppremidfi has made but make the definition even more concise. "Fidelity" would refer to the ability of the system to faithfully reproduce what has been captured in the recording. We assume (hope, pray?) that the recording team, mastering engineer and pressing plant have done their jobs correctly and the recording does contain an accurate representation of the sound of the instruments in the recording venue. If the playback system has "fidelity" it will show exactly how accurate the recording is. With the best recordings such a system will sound very close to the sound of the original instruments. With a recording of lesser quality a "faithful" system will conversely show the limitations of the recording.

A system that exhibits colorations or individual components that possess a particular "personality" by virtue of their design or by accessories that have been used inappropriately will not be able to have "fidelity" to the recording and will add those colorations to EVERY recording that is played through that system. That will take us further away from the ultimate goal of perfect audio reproduction.

Best Regards,

Barry Kohan

Uppermidfi,

A lot of us "golden eared freaks" can tell the difference between different brands/version of instuments on recordings. In addition, we are able to hear the recording venue. Some of the extreme "golden eared freaks" can even tell you mike type and positioning from a recording.

I go small clubs, classical concerts, quartets, etc to hear what live instruments sound like.

The holy grail of hi-fi is to recreate the performace in your living room.

Later,

Thank you. I appreciate your answers.Reubent: I like your advice. I do enjoy myself. My connection to music has always been emotional and so I do not make much headway with any analysis of my system.However, I do find audio related subjects really interesting, even if my understanding is a bit limited.Bright star audio: This is where I always get hung up! I do like my system the way it sounds now but I know it adds its own sound to the recording. Warmth, mostly. I think often that my ears are too easily appeased- a little lazy.

Let me rephrase that...

The holy grail of hi-fi is to recreate the recording engineers interpretation of the performance in your living room as acurate as possible.

Hi Tim,

I'm sure many of us neurotic audiophiles here (myself included) are envious of you that you can just sit back and enjoy the music that comes out of your system without dwelling too much on what the system does do versus what it doesn't do.

As a manufacturer in the high end sector (vibration control products and loudspeakers) I see it as my duty to push the envelope of what an audio system is able to achieve and my comments on audio forums reflect a sensibility that an uncompromising attitude is required to do so.

Tim said:
"I do like my system the way it sounds now but I know it adds its own sound to the recording."

At the present state of the art ALL audio components (and therefore systems) either take away or add to the signal captured in the recording (and probably some of both). I believe that we can only move steadily forward toward perfect audio reproduction by ensuring that our systems (the individual components, accessories we use and set up procedures) do not alter the signal captured in the recording. It is sometimes a difficult doctrine for many people to apply because the effects of coloration are beguiling and seductive.

I do believe that we should enjoy the music that comes out of our systems (otherwise what is the point?) but I also believe that same type of emotional fulfillment we experience when listening to live music can only be consistently replicated in the home when the system is not making its own contribution the signal it is reproducing.

Best Regards,

Barry Kohan