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Speakers that are very accurate sounding but don't produce an emotional connection.

I have listened to a few speakers over the years that impressed me with their accuracy and presentation of the music, but just did not create an emotional response or connection. I have often wondered what that quality is in some speakers that produce an emotional connection with the listener. This quality has been identified by audiophiles, as "magical", "engaging"  "just right"  "euphonic"  "natural"  "true to life". " "satisfying"  "musical"....  I am sure there are at least 50  other  adjectives that could describe this "quality" of  sound . 

Considering the various aspects  of achieving  good and accurate sound by component synergy, is there a way to explain this so-called magical element that often eludes so many of us??.  I don't think such a feeling is temporal, conditioned by personal moods, or the phases of the moon or sun.  

Like to hear from members who have given some thought to the same issue.    Thanks,  Jim   

BTW, I know the thread is a bit out there, but  I don't think the topic is pointlessly pursuing the genie in the bottle. 


sunnyjim
nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,838 posts
 
To put a finer point on what I said before, the speakers I now have are very engaging, emotionally. They weren't at first. It took the right stands and placement (directly on them with no footers) and then the merry-go-round with cables before they hit all my buttons and yet I feel I could get more out them with some costlier cables but as of right now, they are very convincing. It's easy to get lulled into reverie.

All the best,
Nonoise
sunnyjim OP
927 posts
 

To Chrasani 37.  I am sure I got your blog name wrong.  Nevertheless, I have not heard anything recently that knocked me out.  Two years ago, I heard a pair of YG Carmel  (original ). They did many of things that reviews claimed, especially the TAS review.  From my perspective, they sounded commanding in how they present and handled the music. Unfortunately, the shop owner has/had a bad habit of playing what he liked, which at moment, was jazz piano. The Carmel speakers just delivered the sound in full, no gaps of incoherency or variations in sound level.  The sound was real, in the room, and visceral.  Did  it create an emotional connection, only to the extent that I was awed by its fullness of presentation. It was neither soft nor understated or sound like a "performance", it was just there,  independent of the anomalies of showroom acoustics.

The YG Carmel is in a class by itself.  But as far as engaging, I have to give a nod to two speakers of years past:.... the IMF TLS-80, and the a few years prior to their debut, the Rectilinear 3. a speaker that  even if playing in a room of people talking and laughing, the sound just drew you to it. Call it natural, euphonic or whatever,.... the sound came across as "just right" even over the chatter of people in a large room The IMF TLS 80 was that and more with a compelling depth to the sound which was stunning, especially driven by the Crown 300B amp,  ARC, or any McIntosh  amp of at least 100-200RMS.  The McIntosh fattened the sound a bit, but not to any point of distraction or incoherence.      

melbguy1
1,438 posts
 
Early model YG speakers, B&W Diamond speakers, Wilson Alexia, Crystal Arabesque mini come to mind..

To respond to a previous member's comments about the YG Carmel, the new Carmel Mk2 is a completely different proposition & sounds musically engaging to me. I didn't like the original Carmel, but I like this one. With that said, I think the Magico S1 Mk2 will have the wood on it.
ivan_nosnibor's avatar
ivan_nosnibor
1,047 posts
 
Not at all too "out there" of a topic...but, for me, too, it’s just been pretty doggone hard to ever reliably identify any real cause. Although they can certainly be pointed to as exhibiting the effect sometimes, it’s not just limited to speakers either...amps, amp/preamp combinations and amp/speaker combinations, as has been mentioned, have sometimes seemed to exhibit this problem, but also TT’s and/or carts (perhaps more particularly, it may seem, among some of the post-CD designs) have done this as well. Even some rather expensive systems based on these components from time to time have been reported to leave some listeners a bit cold - very competent sounding, but, somehow just too sterile or un-involving. This particular anomaly to me doesn’t seem to have any clear common denominator. Sometimes it looks as though it might be a setup or synergy type thing - a user problem, and sometimes it seems as though it might be a problem with particular gear - a manufacturer problem...as though it may have been designed with possibly a little too much emphasis on engineering and perhaps not enough on listening evaluations along the course of its development...or maybe simply designed by some people who aren’t exactly clued in on what real music sounds like...or who are at least not considering what would pass for a musical sound, anyway. Everybody may have a different take on what is musical, or how much emphasis should be placed on which musical aspects, or whatever. I would like to think that as a relatively experienced listener that I have a rather good grasp on that at this point, at least for my own purposes anyway, but I also know that my own definition of what is musical is not quite the same as what it was even ten years ago, nor was it then the same as it was ten years before that. Everybody’s experience level keeps changing over time and at any time, of course, there are any number of people in this hobby who have been at it longer than me, are just starting out or are anywhere in between. I’d say it’s probably the same with manufacturers...at least with the good ones who are determined to not just reach a certain plateau and stay there... But, I can only guess that the phenomenon you point out, Sunnyjim, is one for which there is not really any single cause.
rhyno's avatar
rhyno
649 posts
 
there is no lifeless speaker without a lousy amp close by
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