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

Hence the term"Recording Artists"

Recording art

Hey everyone. I appreciate everyone’s comments, positive and negative, as well as my return to Agon, posting. As we all know, anyone on this site, is surely adimant about certain things related to this hobby. I do not judge the preference that folks have ( there was a time I did, when I consulted in helping people build a better system suited to their " tastes " ). Are horns up front and in your face ? Not in my room. They do have a dispersion characteristic that minimises side room bounderay reflections, at least with me and my system. Their dynamics brings out much that is lost due to the recordings ( again the staple of our hobby ), and I appreciate that, especially coming from my live musical background, so shoot me for that. Adele not being talented ? Really ? You might not like her music, but come on people. I also love Sarah Vaughn, Billie Holiday, Barbara Steisand, Krall, Barber, and hundreds of others, so shoot me, again. If someone is using mini monitors, and they feel they are getting the most out of their music listening....I am thrilled for them. The entire point of this hobby, and my post, is getting to that point of enjoying our music, without ever thinking about what is missing from the experience, as so many do, leading to the upgrade bug. On another thread a while back, I had mentioned the recordings by the genius of Tony Minasian of Tonian Labs, stating that if all recordings sounded this way, we would not need to spend a fortune on gear to compensate for what is not there ( the Sheffield mention was a good point of a great recording ). But, I cannot only listen to SOTA recordings, because my listening pallette would be empty of so much enjoyment. I never said Adele’s recording are great....but I do feel her voice and vocal talents are. Are some people not understanding that it is the " talent " of our favorite musicians, that makes this hobby what it is. A band I have loved forever is Jethro Tull. Recordings are poor, but the MUSIC is wonderful, exciting, a joy for me to listen to. I know many people who could not listen to this band on their systems, because technically, the engineering is not up to snuff. That is their loss, imo. There are many posters on this thread that get what I am saying, but a few are still lost, based on my understanding of their words. So again, Enjoy, and be well. Until my next post....Always, MrD.

@mrdecibel,  Nice description of what many of us heard as teenagers when our listening preferences were being formed.  The sound of Altec and Klipsch horn speakers in the 1970s is what did it for me.  

As many have pointed out, Klipsch speakers in particular really benefit from upgrading their stock capacitors.  They have also made some improvements in their Heritage line over the years.  However, I can’t say I like the sound of their “modern” tower speakers vs. their old school designs.  Again, personal preference, but even they have proven not all horn speakers are created equal.

Recently, I finished a modified Altec Model 19 project giving the 416A woofer its own reinforced cabinet and tried new and old compression drivers and horns to find the most enjoyable combination.  So even if you’re in the horn camp, there are different flavors for your own preference. 

Trying different capacitors in Zilch’s Z-19 crossover actually surprised me as to how much it could change the sonics of the speakers, for good or bad vs. what I was looking for.  (But this is for any speaker, not just horns, though they tend to reveal the differences more.)

But it’s not just the electronic altering of the recording that engineers use to get a certain sound, it starts with how the room is setup acoustically with room treatments.  I would suggest that horn speakers are more in need of proper acoustic room treatments to sound their best, especially in reflections points between the speaker and listener.  

Engineers also affect the sound with the instrument or vocalist’s position in relationship to the microphone.  Given the horn’s by-design directed sound distribution, their placement in the room and to the listening position, especially toe-in, also seem to alter their sound more than all-cone speakers. 

That said, I’ve heard capable horn speakers sound bad when the room, placement, etc., is not set up correctly.  I’d even say they can be made to sound worse than a non-horn speaker in a poorly prepared listening environment.  This could be why some people are anti-horn.

So, while horns may need more attention to detail to sound their best, the rewards can be as you described.  Thanks for reminding us it’s about enjoying the music.

Got my speakers.  They were horns, cause that's what I had before.  These are much better.  But when I put them in two years ago, I had lots to do.  Get the digital right.  Treat the room.  Move speakers around.  Adjust subs.  Still, it wasn't quite there.  I got rid of the harshness with the above, but soundstage was flat and I still got that fatigue.  Finally, when it happened, it was like the sea had parted.  Taller wider deeper soundstage.  The notes decaying, visualizing where they recorded the record, hearing individual parts of individual strings plucked.   No, these horns don't sound forward to me.   I know, you can do this with other speakers, but I like the efficiency, the dynamics, details, So it took me a couple years to wring all of this out of my system.  I think I'm there, until I find something else to improve!

And thank you, Mr. Decibel, you were one of the ones who welcomed me to this forum and offered suggestions. 

I am not going to sugar coat this.

I have spent time on the recording side, the live performance side, and home system side of music. I was asked by my brother to apply my skills and knowledge as an ex aerospace/defense engineer to the recording/playback issue you are describing.

It turns out making a great recording is usually not an accident, but making exceptional recordings is rare and usually is just luck. However, there are a few recording engineers who know at least some of the secrets. The big secret is "high performance cabling". If you want to push the limits even farther then the connectors on the equipment needs to be upgraded and some equippment may require recapping. Endorsement is a big issue on the recording and performance side so I won't tell you who I have done work for.

But just like in the Audiophile world the question is what makes for a "exceptional cable" and which cables sound the best. It boils down to what is good enough for the job.

In my cable design studies I have attempted to reduce the difference between a live performance and a recording of that performance. My lab was a recording/playback room with typical "Rock Band" equipment and I can barely play an instrument and off to the side I had a electronics lab with fabrication capibilities. When accuracy and noise control are pushed to the limits of available materials, previously unheard detail and emotion are uncovered in the music and it is like you have never heard the recording before.

I did find something I did not expect in my studies. Some peoples brains reject what others call an improvement. The people who's brains accept the increase in performance appear to be addicted to the sound created. I am one of those people. In case you were wondering my design work only looses a cable shoot out on price, The competetion will reduce the price until they sell their cable.

There is one problem with my cable designs, it will uncover every inadequacy (or lowest performance item) in a system and I expect the owner to blame me. Therefore I highly suggest only one brand of cable in a system, mixing causes problems. Ray Seda wrote a review in two articles describing this problem of mixing cables.
Tom
Audio Union