I was speaking with an engineer for Von Schweikert and remarked that a lot of exhibitors (exclusive of Von Schweikert, Legacy and Estelon) tended to play the same genre of music - heavy with bass and beats. He opined that the idea was to play the music their potential customers listen to generally to give them a basis for comparison among the various speakers. I don't really agree with that - too much loudness and noise, selling their bass capabilities - particularly in the Focal room which put on a disgraceful demo of their Utopias. A din of people all talking too loud and too many things going on at the same time. If I didn't know the quality of their speakers, I would never have purchased from them. I don't really listen to classical that much but when demo'ing speakers, I use two very challenging orchestral and choral pieces. I figure if a speaker can do a good job with those classical recordings, they can handle any type of music. I also noticed that a substantial number of exhibitors used VAC as their electronics (all out my price range)
The Music at AXPONA 2022
I didn't take any notes or data sets--but....that said...
Did it seem to you like at least half of the rooms played obscure audiophile music? What's up with wind chimes, sound effects, electronic psychedelia, and so on, being so popular at the show? It seems to me there are TONs of well recorded offerings that could be played from many genres.
I like the avant garde, but at a show wouldn't it make more sense to stay on the highway of golden age jazz, folk, blues, rock, hip hop, classical?
What I struggled with is there are so many superbly produced and engineered recordings available, why veer into such a direction?
To be fair, there were many rooms with great musical selections. Yet, it's hard for me to imagine folks saying, "hey, what's this track involving a waterfall, chimes, and percussion? I need to hear it at home."
Disclaimer--I realize there is some subjectivity to this and I'm certain I've got some "weird" music in my collection. It just seems there's a big selection of music being played that alienates people. And that's saying something as many hifi enthusiasts have diverse tastes in music.
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- 51 posts total
- 51 posts total