When is digital going to get the soul of music?

Don't bother paul, MRT is just unleashing a bunch of mechanical froggies in the audiopond. He just enjoys the spectacle of the audiocarps frantically chasing after all those useless toys. (Chuckles!)

I'm kind of limited on my speakers. I have to get decent off-axis response for my roommate. I have the original DCM Time-Windows. Finances are tight right now, but any suggestions are welcome. D-edwards, I don't understand why you would get rid of music. Analog(pre-1982 albums), even if lacking complete accuracy will get you off on music. There is no question in my mind about that. I understand that it takes tweaking, and people were not forthcoming in the tweaks necessary. You have to take each parameter of a turntable set-up and listen until you hear what it does. You use the objective parameters as a guideline. I am actually a horn-guy as far as speakers go. But boy, the off-axis response, unless you are rich, is terrible. I have to tell you guys this. Alex of APL Hi-Fi(who is modifying my Denon 3910 cd player) played a cd recorded from turntables, and his recording from a Gyrodec(with his AC Power for the motor and his homemade phono preamp) killed a Rockport with Van der Zeal(?, $12,000)preamp.

"I don't understand why you would get rid of music."

2500 records + 6-700Cd's in a growing collection is like 5-6 years of continuous listening 24/7 Its just being practical especially when most of the music I gave or threw away I had little or no real interest in playing especially since records are of secondary quality on my system.

from my perspective it was the practical thing to do.

If you think about it all of LP's shortcomings, poor channel seperation, noise issues, bandwidth issues, need for compression and equalization all are exact opposites of what CD performance is. The lack of channel seperation plays right into only having two front speakers even if its recorded onto Cd! Because a 24bit Cd has waaaaaay more resolution than some tired record and the CD is capable of an excellent copy of the LP, try to do it the other way around! There are obstacles like the level of technical knowledge in the average audiophile. Many audiophles have a great deal of experience but have framed this into a religious frame work not a technical framework. So facts and trends are obscured by pet theories and fashionable trends not facts.

In your case your time windows have a slight raggedness in the lower treble (which I'm sure you can hear time to time on records) because the tweeter is asked to do a little much. With a CD this can be considerably worse due to the nature of the source. Hardly the "sound" of a CD. I have a $1200 pair of speakers that do not have this problem, so it is not necessarily a cost issue, it is a design issue.

The fact is many many speakers are not "digital ready" even though that was a laughable phrase for most when it was a marketing phrase in the 80's. Harsh high and lack of control on transients play into making CD less musical.
Tubes and LP's blur the edges making it easier for equipment to track.

The soul of the music is incrementally easier to reach the less "noise" your system makes and the "louder" you can play the music without room acoustics and equipment deficiencies creeping in to interfere. There has been studies on this... It is science that allows us to repeat the conditions, which is why audiophile companies don't want you to know the truth about it.

D_edwards, you have very interesting ideas. I'm not sure that I can test them out as far as surround sound is concerned(finances, etc.). I do believe that many who read this could comment on it though. I do want to mention something though. It is the relaxation quotient of music. I am absolutely positive that analog has this(pre-1982 lp's). Why do we listen to music? Surely, relaxation is part of it. How well does digital do this? I'm not entirely sure myself, as Alex of APL Hi-Fi has made cd's from turntables that sound no different than the vinyl that it was recorded from.

D_edwards, you have very interesting ideas. I'm not sure that I can test them out as far as surround sound is concerned(finances, etc.). I do believe that many who read this could comment on it though. I do want to mention something though. It is the relaxation quotient of music. I am absolutely positive that analog has this(pre-1982 lp's). Why do we listen to music? Surely, relaxation is part of it. How well does digital do this? I'm not entirely sure myself, as Alex of APL Hi-Fi has made cd's from turntables that sound no different than the vinyl that it was recorded from. As far as scientific studies goes, have you heard about muscle-testing digital, and how it makes you weaker(just to mention studies)?