Do you play an instrument? Helps in speaker eval?

I've played in orchestras and bands since 6th grade. However my experience mirrors Wolf's regarding how it sounds when I am playing as opposed to when someone else is playing.

Musicians are frequently more interested in the notes being played than the actual sound, but if given the chance most of them I have met would love to hear things on a good system...

...I'm not so sure..... I've been sitting in symphony orchestras for many years, and for ME....the sound of instruments are vastly different between on stage and in the audience perception. My violin sounds very much more harsh and noisy when I play it right under my left ear, than the way it sounds on my recordings. Instrumentalists all know that....just the other day, the oboe player was choosing a new instrument for himself. He had two different brands/models, that felt very good to him, and asked me to sit in the auditorium and give my opinion on my more favored sound. Needless to say, they both sounded like oboes, but the difference between them was astonishing.

Hi,

Yes, I believe having played instruments...acoustic instruments -- piano and sax -- in my case...create points of reference in my assessment of a system/loudspeaker.

agree w Wolf on this one. I have not heard an audio system that gets everything equally right. Since I play a nylon string guitar, and particularly enjoy music on that instrument, I tend to gravitate towards system balance in which classical guitar "sounds right" to my ears. none come very close to the real thing in a small room, ime. Guitars do not sound the same from the playing position as they do from an audience position - they are designed for performance, after all, and are directional; some are designed for projection. you almost never hear a classical guitar concert without some amplification, and sound reinforcement does not compare to my (or anyone's here) home system.

I have a thing for cool sounding recorded drums. There, I said it. Also, have you ever listened to a recording a Respected Reviewer used while reviewing speakers or whatever in $300,000 worth of gear, and hear all the same things on your more modest rig? I have...and it's comforting. If anything, a musician might notice things when they're "right" mostly from years of trying to avoid "wrong."