2. misc-audio
  3. 164848-102842

Learning To Listen

I’m frequently astonished when I hear the description of a soundstage by someone who really knows what he’s talking about. The Stereophile crew, Steve Gutenberg, and countless others hear—or claim to hear— when one violinist’s chair is out of line from the others and when the percussion players were forced into the bathroom because the studio was full. Issues like where the mices were placed, who stood where, and where the coffee pot was located are child’s play for these guys. 


Is it “mices” or “mikes?”


This seems to be a skill, like juggling, which one could learn with a little knowledge and a little practice. Some of the super listeners have said as much. But search though I might, I can’t find the key to the kingdom, the door to the fortress, the . . . all right, I’ll stop beating that particular horse.


But if someone could point me to the Cat In The Hat, The Horton Hears Who, the McGillogoty’s Pond of the subject you would have my eternal gratitude.




paul6001
redwoodaudio
415 posts
 
I’ve been helping a friend get into the hobby lately. He doesn’t have very good listening skills, but his system is getting more transparent. I’ve found it’s easier to start with the differences between speakers when getting him good listening experience. Then later on he’ll have a better foundation for listening to amps, dacs, cables. Speakers can be so dramatically different it really makes it easier.
Post removed 
paul6001 OP
98 posts
 
It happened! My first time! But it was over so fast.
Anyway, I borrowed my father’s car, picked up Mary Jane, and parked up on Cobb’s Hill. Then. . . No, no, not that story. The imaging story.


So I found two guys out on the interwebs who, without knowing each other, agreed on a number of points. 1) It’s rare. Very rare. 2) It usually only happens with acoustic music played by a relatively small number of musicians. So the list has been cut to to jazz quartets and quintets. Chamber music, too, although I don’t listen to much of that. Live music was also good, they agreed, and not necessarily live acoustic music.  3) it doesn’t happen often but when it does, it’s sublime, it’s the tops, and  it’s worth all the waiting


They each had a system for setting your speakers up but I didn’t use either and I don’t remember either system well enough to tell you how to set up the system. I had pretty much given up by now so I just put on what I wanted to hear which, at the moment, was Richard Thompson’s live album made in Austin a few years back. (Genius.) He does all of “Mock Tudor,” then throws in a few hits from over. “Semi-Detatched Mock Tudor.,” I believe. Brilliant.


In my apartment, you have to move a stool to sit in the sweet spot. (It has other attractions.) I didn’t think anything of it until I noticed Richard essentially standing on the coffee table. It’s Paul McCobb so I was worried for a moment but Richard was weightless. The drums were just above him. I didn’t get a sense of fore/aft but there was clearly a sense of vertical dispersion. The two other guy were dispersed to the left and the right and I could see them on either side of Richard. This was it!


Steve Gutenberg seems like a pretty excitable guy and I could easily see him transforming that experience into words like “3D” and “holographic.”


First, Mary Jane, then the sound stage. I’m on a roll.  


More to discover