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Are my ears just fooling me?

I have been in this hoppy for a couple of years. I have been through alot of equipment, trying to find the sound for me (dont we all!) I have really enjoyed it but something is starting to bother me. I for some reason feel that every system I have ever heard cannot reproduce a saxophone with the body and emotion like when I hear it live. I am young but I have listened to and owned equipment all over the board. Most hifi gear I find is just really thin sounding to my ears, even with owning many tube amps. Is this normal? Does my ear just want to hear distortion with playback that really isnt there on the recording? I have never heard SET amps before and think they maybe down my alley...but is it just some more "ear candy"??
macd
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
Try the Sheffield Labs drum track recording - close your eyes and listen. If that sounds like somebody playing on a drum set with you in the room then stop worrying.

The biggest difference between live music and live instruments is dynamics and high SPL. If you don't have big enough speakers and enough power then NOTHING you do will ever come close to sounding like a real instrument. It will simply sound either thin and lacking body or, alternatively, overly distorted when you try to crank it. Loud, dynamic and above all CLEAN sound is what real instruments do so very very well.
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,468 posts
 
How picky are you? First what is your idea of a sax... Yamahas sound way different than old Selmers..for that matter new Selmers sound way different than old Selmers. Silver instruments sound different than brass.... different mouthpieces make each of these instruments sound different again. Have you only heard reproduced sax sound ...knowing that even at live events, saxes are sound reinforced... All this being said, what is your opinion of what a sax sounds lik?
telescope_trade
555 posts
 
Macd,

Well, you might want to look into a pair of....."gulp"
(I can't believe I'm gonna say it but) a pair of
Cerwin Vega XLS 215's. I have a pair coming to try for the
hell of it, but think they may be something special. And, it's one of those "big block motor" things that may get you
where you need to go!?!?
tan43
128 posts
 
I think you are on the right track with the Cornwalls.
Saxophones sound wonderful on my K'horns, and do so with little power.
In fact I am driving them with a 10wpc t'amp.
This is my wife's living room system and she does not want to worry about tubes.
The mid range horn with the 15" woofers seems to imitate saxophones and brass the best.
macd OP
103 posts
 
To answer the question of what saxs sound like IMO, whenever im at a restaurant with live jazz, I am always dumbfounded of how the sax fills the room with this amazingly warm and low "buzz" if you will. It is so engulfing and sends shivers up my spine. I do hear differences between saxs and players, but all in all, when the saxs dip low in real life I find them to have the presence that no speaker I have owned is able to reproduce IMO.
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