2. speakers
  3. 1134959151

"Air, Extension, Resolution" Music or Hi Fi?

I have mentioned in other threads my efforts to tame the treble on my Tympani IV a's which has led to a number of upgrades:

tweaky resistors in line with the tweeters
MYE stands
a Musical Fidelity tube buffer
new tubes for the Audio Research SP11
new Signal Cable speaker cables and interconnects

Once in a while, with the right recording, late at night, the system sounds very, very good, and although not quite the midrange magic of my Apogess Stages with Jadis preamp and Aragon 4004 MK II, probably some of the best "sound" I have ever heard.

But to be honest, I dont find myself compelled to go and listen to the system and often, the system still sounds fatiguing.

Ever the audiophile, I have wondered if

Rives Audio room treatment and/or
Replacing the SCD-1 with a TURNTABLE

would really restore the passion that got me into this hobby nearly 30 years ago.

But reading an ad for Tympani 1-Ds on ebay a couple of days ago gave me a Eureka?! moment:

As much as the ribbon tweeters sound really impressive, with air, extension and detail that the non ribboned models clearly dont have...

...I am suddenly wondering if all of this comes at the expense of the MUSIC.

I cant ever remember, for example, listening to my Magneplanr MG-1Bs, for example, and saying:

"I stayed up all night listening to MUSIC, but sadly the experience was ruined by my craving for more "extension" "air" and/or "inner detail".

All of this is making me wonder if the evolutionary push for "transparency" "lifting veils" "inner detail" "resolution" is exactly what turns music into hi fi, and if I might enjoy a newly restored pair of Tympani 1D's more than my Tympani IVa's.

Just my latest thought.....thank you for listening.
cwlondon
schipo
1,268 posts
 
Air, Extension, Resolution" Music or Hi Fi? Food for thought. I guess the more we try to improve things with our systems, the less we enjoy them. What is the saying "to much of a good thing" maybe that's it. We expect so much, and when we receive less, we become dissatisfied with our gear and go the upgrade path, sometimes with no improvement for the better,or many time's for the worse.
sogood51
2,157 posts
 
To be honest, I don't think Maggies (maybe some do?) integrate as well as they should. When comparing my Apogee Duetta Signatures to a pair of Maggie 3.6's a couple years ago I first came to this conclusion.

First thoughts were that the Maggies had better "Air, Extension, Resolution" and that the laid back sounding Duetta Signatures had less of this quality... "rolled off" so to speak.

Longer term listening to the Maggies changed my mind though. My opinion as it turned out was that the Apogees integrated so well, that I was fooled short term into thinking in reverse. The Maggies in truth sounded as if their high freq's were floating on another layer of sound...not as well integrated into the picture.

I think this is one reason why Maggie owners play with toe and inside/outside setup so often. The Apogees on the other hand (at least the large models) do not require any toe or outside HF ribbon placement to get a good image...sweet spot is much larger also.

I hope Maggie owners don't get the impression I'm doing an Apogee-Maggie shoot-out here and trashing Maggies...I'm not...I like Maggies a lot!.

I do think the integration problem (as I hear it) that I mentioned above is what gives them "that HiFi sound" your talking about.

Dave
teajay
1,715 posts
 
Cwlondon, I have had MG-20's for over a decade and never found them to be "unmusical or lacking emotional involvement" at all. They just get better and better with finer gear upstream in my system. Yes, the ribbon tweeters are very revealing, but if driven with the right gear they sound musical not "hi fi" in a false sense. It might be time to update some of your pieces in your system, and if you are still using your Monster cable/IC's I think your really missing out on what your Tympani 1D's could really give you sonicly. I also think its time for a new digital front end to move you back to a more "musical/organic" sonic signature that you are looking for.
auaarons
94 posts
 
Is music your passion or is it audio?

Ever walked down the street humming a tune of your favorite piece of music? You hum "da da da ...." or however you did it, but you enjoyed that music very much even when you did not reproduce the exact sound of a musical instrument.

In essence, the music does not change whether or not your audio system can closely reproduce the timbre, air , soundstage, transparency, etc... close to a live performance. It does for very few pieces of music, but not for most. When your system can "reasonably" reproduce the sounds from all the instruments, the music is coming through.

I found the music as enjoyable with my $1000 system as the $30K system I gave up. It is liberating not having to constantly think how much better the sound will be if I spend more money. Finally, after I started cello lessons and touched real music, I abandoned the audio hobby.

Briefly said, not to bore anyone.
sns
3,684 posts
 
I experienced the same feelings as I built my present system over the past couple of years or so. My former system didn't have nearly the same resolution and detail yet was much more satisfying musically. Finally, after much trial and error with room acoustic treatments I can once again enjoy my system with both the head and heart. The room is a large percentage of your sound, and if that room is not right you are not hearing what your system is capable of.
I've probably taken the hard road in becoming informed as I've used a trial and error method to determine which treatments work best. If I had to do it all over again I would use Rives to design my room. It is also critical to finish all the room treatments before making any judgements. Absorption and diffusion are both necessary, and a somewhat large expenditure in time (if DIY treatments) and/or money is also needed.
With proper absorption and diffusion your bright highs can be vanquished, replaced by harmonically rich, palpable mids and highs. Believe me, you can enjoy extreme resolution and detail and not feel musically deprived!
I've also found that AC and speaker placement are also critical, get these three things right and you should be most of the way there to acheiving a musically satisfying system.
More to discover