grey9hound,
I agree with nearly all you just said. It is certainly factual. You are right that as an immersed player, I hear my closer musicians emphasized in comparison to the ones on the other side of the stage. But even the ones on the other side have more impact to me than if I was sitting in the audience several rows back. Everything is more detailed and exciting, although admittedly some things more so than others. I have had the experience of walking in from the back of the hall, late to the rehearsal, walking closer, then finally sitting on the stage close up. The balance is fine from far back, remains fine closer, but closer yields more detail and excitement. It is not just because things are louder close up. The tonal balance gets more brilliant at a closer distance.
The question of brilliance versus brightness is interesting. Brilliance is the ideal, and brightness certainly has a negative connotation. Brilliance is the utmost revelation of detail at all freq in a coherent manner. This is the true character of live, unamplified music. I will admit that I am creating more brightness with the EQ, which is the preferential emphasis of HF in sometimes an unnatural way. But the tonal balance of live music is brighter at a closer distance, although in live music it is natural. This is because the shorter wavelengths of HF are absorbed by layers of air more than lower freq. My electrostatic speakers are far less colored and more natural than most dynamic speakers, so I get away with the brightness which comes across as also more naturally brilliant. Still, even my speakers are not the real thing, although very close to it with accurate electronics and correct natural volume levels. There are compromises on the path to more brilliance, as some tonal aberrations creep in. Try this on your car radio system. Experiment with increasing the treble in the various settings. Without tone controls, the car radio is really muddy, but with some treble boost the increased clarity is worth the tradeoff in tonal balance. What good is "correct" tonal balance if the whole thing is equally muddy at all freq? I have gotten free tickets to concerts, but the far back seat had sound that was so muddy that I preferred listening to the sound in the car at the same volume level.
On a more basic level, I realize that most people prefer laid back sound. Why is this? I am certainly unhappy about being assaulted with too loud sound, whether live or from an audio system. But I want to hear all the detail in my music. Why wouldn't anyone else feel the same? We can enjoy music casually from the car radio or on youtube with the bad stock sound of the computer. But if you go through the time, trouble and expense of setting up and improving your audio system, why bother if you are not getting the most detail out of it? And you have to tell your family you need a dedicated room for audio, so they are put off. Don't interpret "detail" as a bad word--when you have a revealing system the detail just jumps out effortlessly and then you really enjoy the music more. It is more relaxing since you don't have to listen keenly to get it. How's that seeming paradox for someone who claims they want to just relax with the laid back sound of their system?
I agree with nearly all you just said. It is certainly factual. You are right that as an immersed player, I hear my closer musicians emphasized in comparison to the ones on the other side of the stage. But even the ones on the other side have more impact to me than if I was sitting in the audience several rows back. Everything is more detailed and exciting, although admittedly some things more so than others. I have had the experience of walking in from the back of the hall, late to the rehearsal, walking closer, then finally sitting on the stage close up. The balance is fine from far back, remains fine closer, but closer yields more detail and excitement. It is not just because things are louder close up. The tonal balance gets more brilliant at a closer distance.
The question of brilliance versus brightness is interesting. Brilliance is the ideal, and brightness certainly has a negative connotation. Brilliance is the utmost revelation of detail at all freq in a coherent manner. This is the true character of live, unamplified music. I will admit that I am creating more brightness with the EQ, which is the preferential emphasis of HF in sometimes an unnatural way. But the tonal balance of live music is brighter at a closer distance, although in live music it is natural. This is because the shorter wavelengths of HF are absorbed by layers of air more than lower freq. My electrostatic speakers are far less colored and more natural than most dynamic speakers, so I get away with the brightness which comes across as also more naturally brilliant. Still, even my speakers are not the real thing, although very close to it with accurate electronics and correct natural volume levels. There are compromises on the path to more brilliance, as some tonal aberrations creep in. Try this on your car radio system. Experiment with increasing the treble in the various settings. Without tone controls, the car radio is really muddy, but with some treble boost the increased clarity is worth the tradeoff in tonal balance. What good is "correct" tonal balance if the whole thing is equally muddy at all freq? I have gotten free tickets to concerts, but the far back seat had sound that was so muddy that I preferred listening to the sound in the car at the same volume level.
On a more basic level, I realize that most people prefer laid back sound. Why is this? I am certainly unhappy about being assaulted with too loud sound, whether live or from an audio system. But I want to hear all the detail in my music. Why wouldn't anyone else feel the same? We can enjoy music casually from the car radio or on youtube with the bad stock sound of the computer. But if you go through the time, trouble and expense of setting up and improving your audio system, why bother if you are not getting the most detail out of it? And you have to tell your family you need a dedicated room for audio, so they are put off. Don't interpret "detail" as a bad word--when you have a revealing system the detail just jumps out effortlessly and then you really enjoy the music more. It is more relaxing since you don't have to listen keenly to get it. How's that seeming paradox for someone who claims they want to just relax with the laid back sound of their system?