'Coloration' usually refers to a tonality. 'Richness' in the midrange is a common coloration caused by the presence of a 2nd harmonic in tube amps.
The ear hears harmonic distortion as a tonality.
It is also the most sensitive to bird song frequencies, and uses odd ordered harmonics to determine how loud a sound is.
As a result it is more sensitive to these harmonics than any other phenomena of sound; much more so than human vocal ranges!
So if the equipment makes odd ordered harmonics, even in vanishingly small amounts, we hear it, and have words for it: harsh, bright, hard, clinical, etc.
We hear lower ordered harmonics (2nd, 3rd and 4th) as richness. The ear finds these harmonics less objectionable; in tests people will not complain even if 30% 2nd harmonic is present. That is not entirely true with audiophiles- hence the 'tube coloration' of Elizabeths post.
Thus the tubes/transistor debate, ad nauseum.
The other part of the coloration issue relates to the Voltage and Power Paradigms, the link to which I dropped in on my first post in this thread.
If you mix equipment from the two camps, you get a tonal aberration. This is the amplifier/speaker matching conversation that we also see a lot.
The ear hears harmonic distortion as a tonality.
It is also the most sensitive to bird song frequencies, and uses odd ordered harmonics to determine how loud a sound is.
As a result it is more sensitive to these harmonics than any other phenomena of sound; much more so than human vocal ranges!
So if the equipment makes odd ordered harmonics, even in vanishingly small amounts, we hear it, and have words for it: harsh, bright, hard, clinical, etc.
We hear lower ordered harmonics (2nd, 3rd and 4th) as richness. The ear finds these harmonics less objectionable; in tests people will not complain even if 30% 2nd harmonic is present. That is not entirely true with audiophiles- hence the 'tube coloration' of Elizabeths post.
Thus the tubes/transistor debate, ad nauseum.
The other part of the coloration issue relates to the Voltage and Power Paradigms, the link to which I dropped in on my first post in this thread.
If you mix equipment from the two camps, you get a tonal aberration. This is the amplifier/speaker matching conversation that we also see a lot.