"That to me is an indication of the LSA's transparency and faithfulness to the source, and a lack of transparency in The Dude. By transparency I am referring to lack or presence of coloration"
Let me further explain as I think my statement needs more context. I feel it is a matter of taste and not accuracy at all. The LSA plays the instruments more up front and forward - and I mean all of them! The instruments play on the same plane at the front of the speaker. Some may like this. However, to others it is a lack of 3D perspective or depth.
The Dude plays music with greater depth and not all the instruments play on the same forward plane. Some are more set back and not as "up front" on the performance stage. The performance has more perspective and depth. If the recording offers only a forward perspective for all the players, then the Dude reveals that. If the recording is more layered, then the Dude gives that deeper layered presentation.
I found the LSA made my favorite recordings all share that same forwardness for all the instruments. In other words, every recording began to take on the same personality with all the music coming from a plane at the front of the speaker. The whole of the music seemed to be traded off or lost as the vocals and instruments all competed for attention at the front of the stage.
When I attend a symphony or other great sounding live music events I hear instruments positioned differently on the stage with many of them at differing volume and intensity levels. The Dude seems to reflect that reality more. This is exactly what I mean in my statements above. To my ears, in my system, the Dude is every bit as transparent as the LSA, but the Dude seems to possess more fidelity to the space and dimension of the musical experience.
Rather than compare the two which only I can really do based on actual experience, I do find one topic very interesting. Some feel that an active preamp is adding warmth or coloration to obtain a richer sound that is somehow not really in the recording or live musical event. The conclusion given by those is that this richer sound experience is not as accurate or true to the recorded source. This can certainly be true of some active tube units, but not all.
In my experience live music delivers the whole of the instrument. Listen to a grand piano, cello, violin etc… or entire symphony in a great sounding venue and you will hear the rumble, resonance and totality of that instrument. You will hear the orchestra swell in full and rich momentum with a solid deep foundation underlying the whole musical event. Is that added? Is that coloration? I don’t think so. That is what I hear with the Dude. This is what I find missing with the LSA in comparison to the Dude. For me this is critical to reproduce in my home music system. Again, for me alone this is important and it may not be to others. Is a passive missing this part of the music? Is it missing what was intended to be there? Is it actually playing what is recorded and the recording does not sound like the live event? I suppose the last point is possible, but my desire is to hear instruments as they actually sound in a natural setting.
I am not sure a passive is by some mathematical or physical fact the best way to achieve live sound in our homes. Let’s face it; all gear and wire in our systems are reproducing or passing along electrical signals no matter the set-up; Active or passive, tube or SS, horn or ESL, simple or complex and on and on it goes. I don’t think that a passive or active unit is ALWAYS the definitive best means to hearing the wholeness of a musical event – not missing depth, bass foundation, warmth, dynamics, crashing of a cymbal etc…. I cannot accept a sweeping statement that passive units are the best means to live music recreated in our homes. They may be in a particular system to one person’s ears, but that’s about as far as we can take it.
Ok, have it Agoners!
