How do you judge your system's neutrality?



Here’s an answer I’ve been kicking around: Your system is becoming more neutral whenever you change a system element (component, cable, room treatment, etc.) and you get the following results:

(1) Individual pieces of music sound more unique.
(2) Your music collection sounds more diverse.

This theory occurred to me one day when I changed amps and noticed that the timbres of instruments were suddenly more distinct from one another. With the old amp, all instruments seemed to have a common harmonic element (the signature of the amp?!). With the new amp, individual instrument timbres sounded more unique and the range of instrument timbres sounded more diverse. I went on to notice that whole songs (and even whole albums) sounded more unique, and that my music collection, taken as a whole, sounded more diverse.

That led me to the following idea: If, after changing a system element, (1) individual pieces of music sound more unique, and (2) your music collection sounds more diverse, then your system is contributing less of its own signature to the music. And less signature means more neutral.

Thoughts?

P.S. This is only a way of judging the relative neutrality of a system. Judging the absolute neutrality of a system is a philosophical question for another day.

P.P.S. I don’t believe a system’s signature can be reduced to zero. But it doesn’t follow from that that differences in neutrality do not exist.

P.P.P.S. I’m not suggesting that neutrality is the most important goal in building an audio system, but in my experience, the changes that have resulted in greater neutrality (using the standard above) have also been the changes that resulted in more musical enjoyment.
bryoncunningham
I would still like to hear from someone with the appropriate credentials regarding the proper use of these words in ordinary language...

I believe that 'English majors', especially those who have gone on to teach in our schools, are perfectly qualified to offer advise of the proper use of words.

Your repeated calls for someone to definitively answer the question of how to define the terms 'neutrality' and 'accuracy' is odd to me. Who do you think is going to answer? If it is "those who have gone on to teach in our schools," why would their answer have any special authority to you?

I have taught at the university level. Are those "appropriate credentials"? I am a writer by occupation. Does that make me more qualified? I studied the philosophy of language in the course of my Ph.D.. Does that make my opinion more valid to you? I suspect the answer to these questions is no. Because I suspect that your appeal to authority is not really in earnest.

And if it is in earnest, and you really are looking for an "authoritative" answer to the common usage of the term 'accuracy', then look no further than a dictionary, as Mrtennis suggested. There you will find multiple definitions that confirm that the use of the word 'accuracy' in terms of degree is a FACT of the English language. People are entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.

bc
The latest part of this thread reminds me of one of my favorite Peter Schickele quotes, in his PDQ Bach stuff: "Truth is truth. You can't have opinions about truth."
Truth is truth is a good place to start. I will attempt to communicate that truth. All measurements must have a standard; that means some components must be designated as neutral. Since I can't think of a scientific method of doing this, these components would be determined by a panel of distinguished audiophiles. Those components would communicate the truth we know in our minds.
Orpheus10, I can only imagine trying to determine the "panel of distinguished audiophiles!" I guess I think this effort would be innocuous and irrelevant. I, of course, entirely agree that science cannot contribute here. I think all the following adjective might apply-neutral, real, transparent, dynamic, like being in the recording venue, not smeared, involving, detailed, having pace, having ease, etc.
Well without being at the recording venue all is moot. The only way to tell is to hear a song live in your listening room record it and play it back.
Know a guitar or violin player? Have him or her sit inbetween your speakers and play. Then record it and play it back. It will be closer than you think. No recording processing, no stamping of such or digital transfers. Nada. Just a pure recording. You can try, digital or analog recording methods and discern the benifits of both formats.