If a " system " cannot do this, I move on........


I have been advocating on here for some time, that horn speakers ( properly designed, tweeked, executed and set up ) are the only speakers that my brain and ears find acceptable, for the enjoyment of music listening. My listening standard has been live, unamplified music, for now over 50 years. I have also stated on many occasions, that as an audiophile ( as well as being a music listener ), that we are hindered by the recordings themselves, minimizing what we actually are hearing. There has been much talk lately about engineers using " auto tune " ( specifically with vocalists ). Adele ( I am a fan ), with her new hit " Easy On Me ", does not use auto tune, and I am thrilled. Besides being a great singer, she sounds " natural ", less processed. Most recordings in the past 20 years, have used this other electronic " equalization " if you will, that we find embedded in out prescious recordings. The strive for perfection, that " audio nirvana ", we all seek, with the purchase of a new speaker, amplifier, cables, etc., gets us only so far. So yes, dynamics and details are very important to me. Tone, coherence and spatiality are also very important. But the reality is, our recordings, by the time we receive / hear them ( whatever format ), have been severly altered from being close to the real thing. Yet, audiophiles continue to spend big bucks on their gear, their rooms ( their systems ), to get to that place of enjoyment. The title of this thread, " If a system cannot do this, I move on ", has a specific meaning. What I listen for, most of all, with every recording I listen to, is an engagenment between me, and the performers. Following the individual rhythms and musical lines, by the artists, is the number one factor I strive to hear. My system allows for this. My question is : how many of you actually listen for this, or even know what I am speaking of. My personal experience listening to so many high priced systems, has been very disappointing in using this criteria. I am not anticipating this thread to develop into a very large or popular one, but I have not participated in Agon for a while, and I just wanted to shine a light on a subject that is crucial to us and our time listening to music, which some of us spend much time doing. Enjoy, and be well. Always, MrD.

mrdecibel

I don't believe it is necessarily efficiency that makes a good horn system sound real(with good material). It's dynamic linearity, level changes from micro to macro that arenot compressed(well minimally compressed). I suspect a good horn system or high efficiency system has a head start here but it's not exclusively due to high efficiency. After all 10% is super high efficiency and most of the input still goes into heating up the voice coil even with high efficiency.

 So I guess I'm partially agreeing with you but believe there are other ways to do it also.

I think this problem with recordings is why many audiophiles criticize systems that are "too revealing".  They don't like bad recordings being exposed.

I agree with Mr.D that flawed recordings are the bane of life-like sound! But it has always been so! Most audiophiles miss the forest for the trees in their search for that "perfect" component that will reveal audio nirvana (not the band!).

Recommended: the classical recordings engineered by Lewis Layton for RCA in the Fifties. The Sheffield Labs direct-to-disc LPs by Doug Sax. 

Mustn't forget the excellent recordings by Donald Fine for Mercury Living Presence!