Rap music on high-end speakers

I have been reading this chain and a philosophical discussion on aesthetics (what is beauty, are there defendable or identifiable musical values that are recognized by everyone? or is there nothing and so anything is good if I say it is good, etc.) of some length would be needed to sort this out. When I was in art school many years ago I remember reading the "Art of Zen and Motorcycle Maintenance", "What is a Masterpiece" and other such books in an attempt to understand my judgement of what is good, what has value, and WHY. An important book in my pursuit of understanding musical values is Aaron Copeland's book "How to Listen to Music". My personal views are that, while I may enjoy for sentimental or emotional reasons listening to some music with immature or poor musical values (such as old Yes or Deep Purple or whatever you want to put in here)I would maintain if you are really passionate about music and interested in GROWING then you will seek out, experiment, try to understand and educate yourself on more advanced ideas about music and ultimately be more satisfied with the aesthetic experience.

I'll recommend Dynaudio 3.0, and by the way i'll take Rap over Garth Brooks at any time.

Tru,

I don't listen to rap/hip-hop. However, my son does and he had DMX on my system. I have JM Lab Electra 915.1's and I was surprised at the micro-details I could hear on this recording. And, I thought his vocals were presented nicely.

I've heard the Proacs and was impressed with their bass punch and extension. Never heard the Wilson Cubs so I can't comment.

I think alot of "Audiophiles", including myself, get a little self-righteous at times but threads like this hopefully can help with tolerance of other music types.

One of the worst things about Hi-Fi is the limited genre of music that most audiophiles promote. I find that I can't walk into a Hi-Fi shop without some dealer mentioning the same old 20 to 30 year old rock recording that was recently remastered. Especially if they find out you don't listen to just clssical music.

The truth is a lot of audiophiles are completely out of touch with new music. Be it Rap, Trip Hop, Post-Rock, Electronica, legendary independant record label bands or even techno remixes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan- you won't find new music being auditioned by a dealer in a hi fi shop.

What you can find is music that has a much better recording than performance. Or music that you have heard a million times. I love Kind of Blue, Dark side of the Moon and good recordings the Bach's Brandenburg symphonies but c'mon!

There is so much new music out there that is incredible. There is a ton of older undiscovered music that was influential on the mainstream bands. Anyone listen to the new Neu! re-releases? And yes it is something to sit in the dark and really dissect the musical lines, feel the composition and how your system is reproducing them. Why are people so uncomfortable doing this with new music?

Good performances are always enhanced by good equipment. Isn't that the point of this hobby?

-Karl

I was auditioning some speakers awhile back. Everything was good at first. Put in some Stevie Ray Vaughn, then some female vocal stuff. Speakers sounded great and everyone around approved of my selections. Then put in Rob Zombie and guess what happened... yep, bad looks and worse sound. I was listening to Soliloquy 5.3 speakers being driven by some expensive YMB and McCormick gear.

I had just experienced my first case audio-snobbery. I guess in order to be an audiophile you have to like ONLY music generaly accepted by middle-aged, british gentlemen.

The speakers I was auditioning sounded fantastic with blues, country, classic rock and vocals, but not so great with the hard bass, and computer distorted sounds of really Hard Rock. So if you find a speaker that does all of them great, let me know.

I can't believe these audiophiles are always in the mood to listen to the same type of music all the time. You know I bet even Harry Connick, Jr listens to some Led Zepplin or Pearl Jam now and then.