How does solo piano help you evaluate audio gear?



A pianist friend just recommended this article and pianist to me, knowing that I'm presently doing a speaker shoot-out. My question to you all is this:

How important is solo piano recordings to your evaluation of audio equipment -- in relation to, say, orchestra, bass, voice, etc.? What, specifically, does piano reveal exceptionally well, to your ears?

Here's the article:

https://positive-feedback.com/reviews/music-reviews/magic-of-josep-colom/


 

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About 50 years ago Bud Fried(Irving M Fried of IMF speakers) told me he thought the 3 hardest things to reproduce in order are male voice(we are so familiar with it and it goes into an upper bass region speakers often suck on), female voice(again we're so familiar with it) and piano because it has such a huge dynamic ranger which is often very short duration demanding linear level changes that stop and start very quickly stressing a system and especially speakers hugely.

Bud used the term dynamic linearity. He didn't just mean the ability to play clean and loud. He meant the ability to accurately follow all level changes, small to medium to large. I find this to often be the achilles heel of systems that otherwise sound clean and tonally accurate, the difference between a wonderful wide band radio and something that at times lets you make believe it's real. My main source for this is a Kissin piano 'Pictures At An Exhibition,.

Great post that say it all simply and better than me... Thanks...

 

About 50 years ago Bud Fried(Irving M Fried of IMF speakers) told me he thought the 3 hardest things to reproduce in order are male voice(we are so familiar with it and it goes into an upper bass region speakers often suck on), female voice(again we’re so familiar with it) and piano because it has such a huge dynamic ranger which is often very short duration demanding linear level changes that stop and start very quickly stressing a system and especially speakers hugely.

Bud used the term dynamic linearity. He didn’t just mean the ability to play clean and loud. He meant the ability to accurately follow all level changes, small to medium to large. I find this to often be the achilles heel of systems that otherwise sound clean and tonally accurate, the difference between a wonderful wide band radio and something that at times lets you make believe it’s real. My main source for this is a Kissin piano ’Pictures At An Exhibition,.

On this topic, any good piano songs that I can add to my speaker evaluation playlist?  

as a sometimes recording engineer, i can assure you the piano is a beast to capture…a 2-3 microphone compromise….. the piano does not move like a vocalist…can and do….but hey, that’s part of the fun…

enjoy the illusion, just get a dose of the real thing..now….then…

Jim