How do you know when a stereo sounds good?


When do you know your system is pleasing to listen to? How do you conclusively prove to yourself that your system sounds good to you? How do you determine that you enjoy listening to music through your stereo? Do you have a suite of measurements that removes all shadow of a doubt that you are getting good sound, sound that you enjoy? Please share.

128x128ted_denney

Thanks great post!

 

But there is 2 part in acoustic management for a small dedicated room...

1) Balancing diffusion/reflection/ and absorption is conventional passive materials treatment..

2) active mechanical control with Helmholtz resonators and diffusers are the missing part of your acoustic description...

And you mix together many things that perhaps dont work with some which work... I own a grid of cheap Schuman generators i myself modified and it work...But the audible effect, at the same time subtle and powerful, could be hidden by a not so much refine room or a problematic system, for example with speakers not isolated mechanically from vibrations or in a house with a too high electrical noise floor ....

In the race to reach a good S.Q. people rush to EASY solutions, and some begin to try Shuman generators but it is not this that we must begin with  in the first place....It is way better to eliminate vibrations from the speakers for example....or like you justly said manage material acoustic  passive treatment...

 

The problem is people are ready to pay for costlier "tweaks" BEFORE learning the basic acoustic...

My best to you....

 

When you take the time to learn how audio works, and then instead of wasting your money on things like magic fuses, over priced cable, AC noise isolators that do nothing, Schuman toys, teensy acoustic resonators, and all manor of stuff that does little or nothing, and spend time and money on the stuff that matters oh, like acoustic panels, bass control including sub arrangements, achieving an in-room response that is effective, learning to balance direct/reflective sound, and speakers that don’t distort ... then you may have a system that sounds good.

However, you know you really have reached the pinnacle when the owner of an audiophile tweak company goes out of his way to insult you on audio forums.

There is no right or wrong in this hobby. There are only personal subjective preferences to what makes music sound good to each individual. I don't understand why that is so hard to understand and accept. 

There is no right or wrong in this hobby. There are only personal subjective preferences to what makes music sound good to each individual. I don't understand why that is so hard to understand and accept. 

Because while there are rights and wrongs, or at least valid and false claims. That is what is hard for many to accept. It's fun to believe in magic, but magic is illusion. It is not real.

There is not right or wrong in people attitudes...They are free and had the right to their own experience and justification...

But in audio there is right or wrong about   to manage the way to reach a good S.Q.

For example basic acoustic installation active and passive is way more important than the choice between 2 good pieces of gear for an upgrade....

How do you know your gear qualitative peak without putting them in an optimal environment?

 

Who want to upgrade "blindly" or partially deaf because he does not know what his speakers/amplifier/dac are able to do in an ideal room, who want upgrading based on publicity and without any control on mechanical, electrical and acoustical working dimensions?

 

hilde45

I think the purposes of the OP’s questions were to see if anybody had an explanation different from "I just feel it and know it." I agree with you that the vast majority of the answers will likely be that one, but that doesn’t mean someone might have a different way of saying it or a different perspective. To you, there’s only one answer and the question was meaningless, but you can’t know ahead of time what the other answers will be. Maybe someone will surprise you with an answer you hadn’t yet considered.

And you still didn't explain the science fiction part of your reply.