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How Much Is Too Much?

i was musing over the recent review by m.fremer of the SF Guarneri Memento speakers as he described their wonderful sound; naturally for a small monitor, they "almost" reproduce the full impact of large scale classical music. they "almost" do justice to hard rock. and of course, they're ideal for smaller jazz groups and chamber music- so much so, that even with the $14k price tag, they would still be perfect for certain people. as i get older (i just turned 55), i am on the fence when i listen to music- i don't like it at realistic volumes as much as i used to. recently i auditioned Wilson Alexandria's, which really put the music right up in your face (i mean this in a positive way of course), whether it's Beethoven #9 or Bill Evans, AC/DC or Segovia. they are astonishingly resolving so you're not missing ANYTHING. you simply dial in the appropriate volume level for the type of music and sit back (you may want to grip the chair firmly for extra support). my impressions of those speakers spilled over in my head for days. ever since high school, i had a desire for a system that could reproduce music on a realistic scale. but NOW otoh, do i really want to listen to music hour after hour as if i was in lincoln center, or a jazz club, or a black sabbath concert? or would i rather listen to the guarneri's- maybe even turn DOWN the volume control on the amp every so often? or am i just getting too old and cranky? in addition to these other blasphemies, i can listen to my tivoli radio at my bedside for hours and not feel i'm missing that much, especially on jazz. so i humbly ask again- are there others here as well that, after you've heard alot of what a great (big) systems are capable of, you still want (alot) of music in your life, but increasingly you don't care as much about "slam" or IMPACT as you used to? come to think of it, if i go all the way back to when i was 9 or 10, my "system" consisted of a transistor radio with a 2 inch speaker; as i remember it sounded "good enough"- but then i started to want FM too...
french_fries
french_fries OP
815 posts
 
i forgot to mention one other thing- in addition to enjoying full sized systems AND compact-monitor systems (both in equal measure- i hope it's understood that my main system speakers weigh over 500lbs each), it may be purely psychological in my case, but i am fascinated by small speakers/systems as they disperse sound into a fair-sized room. i was laid up after surgery a few years ago, and sat up in bed listening to a JVC "Kaboom" box mounted on my dresser. my old rock and roll cassettes and many of my cd's sounded really great- the box threw a suprisingly wide stereo image as well. i wisely left the classical material in the living room, but it made a big impression on me. and THIS after all my years of upgrading to levinson, b&w, vpi,...
dan_ed
2,451 posts
 
Well. I think that most of the rock we loved in our youth, and I still love a lot of it today, sounds pretty good on the smaller speakers of a car stereo.

Now that I've found and am able to afford better equipment that is more resolving I find it possible/desirable to listen to music at lower levels. I have found that the more resolving and efficient my system gets, the easier it is to listen at low volume and not feel like I'm missing those background details. Prog rock, jazz, classical, country. It all works on a great system.

Much like Plato I do still find the urge from time to time to crank it up a bit. I've also learned to listen for the point where I'm overdriving the room.
kthomas
911 posts
 
When did everybody turn 50? Sheesh! :-)

I like watching concert videos at "live" levels. And, like others, I occassionally like to let it crank. Mostly, I listen at levels that make the music sound good and are appropriate for the time of day, etc.

I always worry when the review talks about the constraints of a $14K monitor, especially when it starts limiting the types of music that the speakers would be "suitable" for. I listen to music "full blast" much less regularly than I did in days of yore, but I still listen to a wide range of music, at all different volumes, and I still want a speaker system that sounds "complete" on all of them.
glenfihi
525 posts
 
We all go thru seasons in life. In my early years that little portable radio was the best I could afford and I loved it. Played loud it sounded distorted, but I was jammin. Now much better system, and at times it is nice to play it loudly without the distortion, and I am still jammin. It is still about the music, and in part the pride and joy of having a system you can afford and enjoy. {Protect your ears, you will want to listen for a lifetime.}
aporigine
36 posts
 
For me, the best comparison I can produce is that it's like when I owned a rather fast car. More than 99% of the time I drove it in a courteous, "don't notice me" manner. Every now and then I did like to let slip the dogs and hear'em howl. Highway on-ramps were favorite spots to serve notice upon the raccoons homesteading in the mufflers. But it was the car's effortless, accomplished driving style at ordinary, relaxed in-traffic driving that really made the sale.
I currently own audio components that can play inherently amplified music (rock) at ear-bleed levels. More importantly to me, they can, without objectionable levels of playback artifacts, reproduce a symphony orchestra running Wide Fully Open. (That's what WFO stands for, uh, right?) But a component didn't survive the audition if it didn't put me into the music at levels that don't require the kids to turn up the volume on Spongebob. I reserve the occasional sonic slamdance for times when spouse and kids are off shopping or something.
cheers apo
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