What is Musicality?

Nilthepill, your comment is not off topic. It is exactly what the topic is all about. I also feel that musicality is IN you. The quality and/or synergy of your system creates the technical side of musicality. Most people find they enjoy their music more if they can afford better equipment. Each of us has to define what it means to have a musical system and I think that a short look around Audiogon will show that there are almost as many opinions about what makes a system musical as there are Audiogon visitors. Much depends on what you can afford. Some people are in the position of wishing they had a "more musical" system but they just cannot afford it -- yet. Others make poor choices when they purchase equipment -- I have done this myself in the past -- or are unaware of the value of certain choices that might make for a more "musical" system. One example of this is a friend of mine who "doesn't believe" in cords, cables, plugs and receptacles. He has a modest budget and "doesn't believe" that one choice over another could make a dramatic difference to the sound his system produces. He is a very musical person but has not yet discovered the value of this side of the audio world. But he wants to test one of my cords in his system to see if it will improve the sound. So at least he is open to the possibility that this kind of change could have a positive effect on the musicality of his system. I have found that even small changes can have a dramatic effect on the quality of sound. Change a plug and it can sound like you changed a component. This is very much a process of trial and error. The goal is to minimize error along the way -- not always an easy task.

Hello everyone, In my last posting I forgot to add a comment made by my friend -- the one who doesn't believe in cords, cables, plugs and receptacles -- about my speakers. I have the Totem Rainmakers but they will be soon replaced by the latest Merlin TSMs. When he heard the Rainmakers in my system he felt they were a very poor speaker because of the mid-bass "boom/bloom". Well, the "boom/bloom" was there alright but it was not the fault of the speakers. After he headed home I did a bit or research. I top-loaded each of the Rainmakers with about 30 lbs. of sand and replaced the stock plugs on the end of the Master Couplers with Oyaide plugs. My system was transformed with the "boom bloom" completely gone. The Rainmakers are actually an excellent speaker in their class if they are paired with the "right" equipment and tweaked appropriately. This goes to show how much we have to experiment to find that elusive synergy that will allow our systems to produce the most musicality they are capable of producing.

Musicality - the term, since you asked, is a description of human characteristics (applied to persons not components). Persons of greater musicality however, typically will possess the ability to discern musical nuances (and possibly component nuances) better than persons of lesser musicality (or at least, easier than persons with lesser musicality). This is not to suggest that a person of superior musicality can, should, or will enjoy or appreciate music and equipment any better than persons of lesser musicality. Now this only applies if you want to use the (word) in its proper context. I am not suggesting that when the (word) is used out of context that the "intended hypothesis" is lacking or incorrect. In that case, the wrong word was selected to convey the given hypothesis. That doesn’t mean the hypothesis is invalid…I’m just saying!

Oh, and by the way, using the word in proper context, I am not a person of great musicality. With that said, music is a significant part of my life, I am an audiophile and I appreciate all faucets of the industry. Mozart was a man of great musicality; to a lesser degree so was Michael Jackson. Anyway, “musicality” is not a great word for describing audio components. How about simply using the word, “musical” since I believe that is what people actually mean anyway. Again, I’m just saying…!

2chnlben, This is exactly it, IMHO. Musicality refers to the human characteristic. Musicality is often used erroneously to describe equipment but as long as we understand this then we know that people mean musical when they are talking about the musicality of their system. And, of course, this does not mean that a person who is less musical will enjoy music any less than a person who is more musical.

Sabai - One factor is missing in this discussion. It's passion for music. I think it accounts for 99% of music appreciation. I know people who are interested in one genre of music like Opera or Classical and don't care for the rest of it. At the very beginning of Jazz many musical people refused to even call it music. Generation of my parents was not much into Rock and Roll. I would say that interest in music is everything while musicality is far second. There is also a lot of music that has no melody at all (or melody has secondary importance). I know few people who are very musical (remembering phrase and singing or humming in tune) but not really into music (wasted gift?). They enjoy music, but not enough to buy CD/LP. Again - passion for music is everything.