Sound-stage, imaging, focus......

Tend to agree with the Onhwy61. IMHO good soundstaging is two things - 1. A good proxy measure of a systems accuracy and resolving ability, and 2. An audio means of making up for the fact that at a live concert you literally see the players - precise imaging allows you to more easily imagine the same experience (have you ever noticed how drummers seem to have extraordinarily long arms - must scrape the ground when they walk - no offence drumsgreg).

An large orchestral recording is a tough call for the playback system to reproduce. I really love those CD's (jazz ones!)that have technical information printed in the pamphlets for the actual recording session itself. Whether close-mike technique or other description on how the other mikes are used, great stuff. With that true audiophiles can really hear (feel?)how the systems measure up. I call on all recording companies should look into that sort of marketing method and also benefit all audiophiles.Phil.

Hi Rayd, From your post, you look like a music lover. You did the right thing going after realism, instead of hifi. You're right, there is no etched pin point imaging in real music. Neither is there any tight artificial bass, in real life. I guess most people have never heard a stand up bass to know how fat and loose it really is, neither does it image very well. Natural, realistic, musical presentation is what's important in a music system for a music lover, all the other hifi artifacts are for audiophiles. rgds, david k.

Dkarmaeli, I resent your implication that audiophiles don't love music too. We do, it's just they we enjoy BOTH aspects in a recording, where "music lovers" don't really care what they're actually hearing their music on...could even be a boombox.

Yes most recordings have imaging and sound stage that is "Hi-Fi". However, live large scale orchestral music CAN have very distinct imaging if the hall is dry and the instrumentalist is playing to stand out from the section. For example, the violin at the end of the third movement of the Brahms First or in Sheherazade. However, usually the music calls for bowing or intonation such that the sound is as a choir of instruments. You can easily locate the position of the section but it is hard to pick out the individual instrumentalist. I have heard the Chicago Symphony in Orchestra Hall from the first balcony hundreds of times. With your eyes closed you could pick out a soloist with accuracy approaching + or - two chairs. You can also clearly hear the relative depth of woodwinds, horns, trumpets. In Orchestra Hall the imaging is worse on the main floor. From the conductor's podium (I got there twice during Solti recording sessions) the imaging pin points to how the players are holding their instruments! At the opera with the pit and a greater degree of reverberation, imaging is blurrier but relative left to right and depth is still pretty clear. The early Reiner recordings do an excellent job of capturing the true sound and layout of the CSO in Orchestra Hall from a relatively close audience seat. Try Zarathustra or the Bartok recordings. It is VERY difficult to get your system to reproduce the imaging but it can be done. If you can't hear the clear and consistent sound stage with these recordings you have a system problem because it's not subtle. Since these are available on premium vinyl and CD they are excellent for checking out both your sources. The Solti recordings with the CSO used many spot mikes and Decca reording tricks plus most weren't made in Orchestra Hall. These recordings sound like the CSO, namely you can tell it's still Herseth on trumpet, but they don't have a consistent natural sound stage. BTW in addition to electronics, room acoustics and speaker placement is absolutely critical. If you can't close to point image in mono your system won't image in stereo. re dkarmeli, Maybe in jazz the double bass is always fat and loose. However, played live, in the opening and final movement of the Mahler 2nd, the Rite of Spring or Wotan's Spear motive, the bite of the double basses of the Chicago Symphony will rip your scalp off (the composers wanted it that way). If on a recording I can't get that, as a music lover, I have been cheated of the composer's intentions.