2. speakers
  3. 159485-102681

High Performance Audio - The End?

Steve Guttenberg recently posted on his audiophiliac channel what might be an iconoclastic video.

Steve attempts to crystallise the somewhat nebulous feeling that climbing the ladder to the high-end might be a counter productive endeavour. 

This will be seen in many high- end quarters as heretical talk, possibly even blasphemous.
Steve might even risk bring excommunicated. However, there can be no denying that the vast quantity of popular music that we listen to is not particularly well recorded.

Steve's point, and it's one I've seen mentioned many times previously at shows and demos, is that better more revealing systems will often only serve to make most recordings sound worse. 

There is no doubt that this does happen, but the exact point will depend upon the listeners preference. Let's say for example that it might happen a lot earlier for fans of punk, rap, techno and pop.

Does this call into question almost everything we are trying to ultimately attain?

Could this be audio's equivalent of Martin Luther's 1517 posting of The Ninety-Five theses at Wittenberg?

-----

Can your Audio System be too Transparent?

Steve Guttenberg 19.08.20

https://youtu.be/6-V5Z6vHEbA

cd318
plga
184 posts
 
Thank you cd318 and mahgister for your kind coments.

I have listened to a pair of Magnepans (I believe 1.7) only once and they didnt convince me much. They sounded a litlle bit harsh even that they were driven by a tube amp (Primaluna integrated EL34 don't remember the model) and in a pretty well treated room. Maybe it was the source (digital directly from the CD player with out any DAC or digital interface whatsoever), but I can perfectly imagine they must be hard on bad recordings.
If I recall it correctly, the soundstage was wide (maybe bigger than it should), but not much deep and with out good layering.

I agree, it must be resolution with balance, but if your speakers and electronics are good, tweaking and voicing properly should do more good than bad to the reproduction of music, any song considered.

Warm regards


highend666
352 posts
 
All you need is a $1000 Bose Acoustic Wave Music system two or even a very cheap vintage system to make you happy BUT you can spend a lot more if you just want to brag about it !..... 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  

 
 
                                                                                                               Amen
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,684 posts
 
«Silence is all we need when plants speak» -Jagadis Chandra Bose

Most people who own a sophisticated audio system were not bragging, except in some ill spirits minds by the way....

And it is not necessary to pay big money at all to own a top audio system either....

«Be subtle, be out of existence for a moment» -Groucho Marx
ebm
9,311 posts
 
 Steve the Woody Allen DUDE knows next to nothing about real high end audio.
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano
2,814 posts
 
Maybe, just maybe, Magnepans, Quads and the like for all their high reputation, are not well balanced, but tweaked to achieve a certain end.

More to discover