"Power hungry" speakers
Eldatford -- few recordings are actually made at 0db, containing "optimum" dynamic range of the (digital) medium. Mostly thiongs are compressed and, as you note, processed. So, the actual sound level can go up & down -- accordingly, don't we often play with the volume control during the same symphony? OTOH, I read s/where that classical can have a dynamic range of ~110db (at a large auditorium). That's staggering for our rooms & equipment, let alone actually recording such ranges. BUT, a Mahler cd I have goes from ~65db (spl) to ~85 at listening position (so count in room reflections as well) in the same movement! Cheers |
Muralman: Is the "Current Trends in Multi Thousand Dollar Speakers" thread the one that you were talking about? As to Greg's comments, most recordings take advantage of sizable amounts of compression, particularly rock / pop recordings. This is less true in Classical recordings and you can always tell this when trying to listen to something in your car. Some passages are SO much quieter than others that it becomes difficult to hear them when you have the volume adjusted for "reasonable" listening during the crescendo's. It would be nice if the car audio industry introduced some type of switchable "compander" ( DBX type circuitry ) into their head units. I think that the reduction in sound quality would be more than made up for by the increases obtained by being able to hear the entire presentation without having to strain. Sean > |
