I experienced this same problem with complex music. While all components play at least a minor role, I found that the amplifier played the largest role in resolving this problem.
Solving the "complex music problem"?
I have noticed that, regardless of the system, simple music (i.e. music with only a few sounds at the same time, such as a solo instrument) sounds way better than what I'll call here "complex music", meaning music like symphony that has a lot of instruments all playing different sounds at the same time. I'm assuming that this is an inherent problem for audio equipment. In a live symphony, you might have, say, 15 different unique instruments (i.e. counting all the violins as 1 unique instrument), each of which is vibrating in a different way; but in a speaker, each driver might be trying to reproduce 10 of those sounds at the same time. So each driver is a single physical object trying to vibrate in 10 different ways at the same time. The result is that the music sounds muddy, all the different parts blend together and you lose a lot of the detail.
I have a number of questions about this that I'm hoping all you experts can help me with.
1. Is there an established name or term for this issue?
2. Do you think my diagnosis of the problem above is correct? Or is something else going on?
3. Although this is always a problem, it's a much bigger problem on some systems than others. Are there some types of components, or some brands, that are particularly good (or bad) when it comes to this issue?
4. To what extent is this issue related to the components you have as compared to speaker placement and room acoustics?
5. To me, this is a huge issue. But I don't see it discussed all that often. Why do you think that is? Or, perhaps, it is being discussed all the time, but people are using a term I don't recognize? (hence question 1).
Full disclosure, I asked a related question under the heading "need amp recommendations for more separation of instruments" and got a lot of super helpful responses. I'm very grateful to everyone who took the time to respond there. That discussion was focused on a solution to my particular problem. Here I'm hoping to have a more general discussion of the issue. I know it's bad form to post the same question twice, but in my mind, this is a significantly different question. Thanks.
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Room acoustics are key for ALL music, maybe even more important for simple music. Try listening to a solo piano in a reflective room, like cats fighting. Do you think a Norah Jones recording would sound better than the 1812 Overture (Lone Ranger theme) in a bad room? No. So, you get the room right. There is STILL a difference between simple and complex music in a good room that is a problem. I completely agree that the speakers have to be matched to the room to resolve the problem of complex music presentation. I agree with many of the work arounds presented like the big full range speakers @jayctoy uses, I also agree that quality electronics are important as the speakers can’t produce a signal they don’t get and it will sound mushed coming out. When I am listening to complex music I can send the stereo signal to my Sony Signature DAC which remasters the signal in DSD. My processor then upmixes the signal for my 9.2.7 speakers. I just listened to Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto streaming on Stingray Music through Plex tonight. Not a full scale orchestra but not a quartet either. It lifted me right into the hall they were playing in. Now, I sometimes will set my X-Box Series S to output in other formats. The other night it was Michael Buble with a HUGE big band recorded in Vegas streamed via Qwest TV on Plex. I set the X-Box to stream it in DTS 7.1 then upmixed it in my processor to 9.2.2. Fan f----tastic. The audience applause envelop you like you are there. The DTS renderer in the X-Box and the DTS-Neo-X upmixer in my Marantz processor layout notes and instruments in a way I have never heard in two channel with both dynamics and precision. For my taste in a complex music presentation wide channels are key, much more so than height channels. You get the idea. This is the youtube version of that video:
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Great question. I always just assumed this was a given… and a problem that speakers had difficulty dealing with. Only a few sounds… easy… lots of sounds at the same time… difficult. Assuming three individual drivers trying to reproduce the whole audio spectrum. Ideally you would use a thousand speakers with different diameters.. but crossovers would completely destroy the sound. So, I figured this is a problem that is addressed by better speaker technology allowing faster reaction and recovery to inputs… ok, a grossly oversimplified characterization, but at least gets my point across. |
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