What is Imaging?

Imaging is about the places were the instruments and voices are located. When the quality of the system is better the stage is better and also the quality of imaging. And yess depth is an essentail part for the absolute sound. Because many recordings you can listen that every part of the recording has not the same place in depth. When there is depth instruments and voices become more 3D. The level in resolution, blacks and air is important how precise instruments and voices are touchable. What I said many times; instruments and voices are in real very small in proportion. You need the right cables and sources to get the realistic proportion. When I am right you use a Pass Labs poweramp just as I do. Pass Labs give a wide and eeep stage, but instruments and voices are not very sharp focussed within the big square a Pass Labs can give as a stage. That is why you alwaya need to know exactly all the different properties each part of your system owns. At shows you hear often that instruments and voices are projected too big. The simple reason for this is that they use cables which are not able to give a small and direct focus of instruments and voices.

At big concerts there is not a lot of imaging. But at a concert of the Rollings Stones I was stunned by the dynamics ( best ever heard) and the fact that instruments were so much better separated than most other concerts of big artists. But in a small concertroom with a very good acoustic I listend to jazz music. Separation and depth was stunning. Even for live it is possible. A month ago I was at a concert of Joe Bonamassa. The drums came from behind. The separation of instruments was very good. I seldom could hear his guitar play this precise from the rest.

I have many Chesky cd's. In the past I love the way of recording. But some time ago I listend again and I did not like them so much anymore. These days the level of recordings is even higher. This makes the older Chesky recordings less special.

Rnm4,

Very well expressed. I agree entirely. If you close your eyes at a live performance of classical music, for example, it is very hard to pick out individual voices in a massed choir or individual instruments. I enjoy that my system is able to do this, but the imaging that it creates is very different from the actual sound of the performance.

"So, it is just location and separation, not depth/realism?"

Sure it's depth and realism and dimensionality too. Sometimes you hear systems with great spacing between the performers laterally and back and forth, with quiet spaces between the instruments but the images just sound flat. I think it was HP who used to say "painted images on a painted sea." You want those images to have body and dimensionality as well. When you are sitting in your chair, you want to not only be able to point to that saxophone, but you want to be able to feel like you could get up and walk around it because it's so dimensional sounding. It's all part of imaging.