what is good sound ?

"..the kind of reproduction of sound that makes a persons haid stand on end or raises goose bumps..."

What makes this happen to me, and I even tear up, is when I listen to Eva Cassidy sing 'Over the Rainbow'. This music is so emotionally charged (for me). Its not technically a great recording by a long shot, in fact the recording techniques can be distracting if thats whats important to you. Its the performance! Judy Garland's version is beautiful, but it puts me to sleep - just some dreamy kid.

I've never heard Eva live, don't know if how I hear her is anywhere close to live, but what I do know is I don't need to worry about buying new stuff to increase my appreciation of her music. I can just close my eyes feel the emotion she is expressing by the way she sings ....

and, come to think about it, maybe if I were to STOP listening to live performances I may well forget what they sound like (the sounds of live instruments played in an appropriate space). I'll probably then be much happier using equipment that doesn't come close enuf to 'audiophile apporved' because I can convince myself that I'm as close to 'live' as I can get.

Maybe the lesson to be learned is, if you're really into music, it can pay to be ignorant. Think of all the money you can save. Buy more music.

By now, got to go listen to Eva.............:-)

Jax2: Accuracy isn't subjective. It's either accurate or it isn't, at least to varying degrees, and perhaps few people are able to make that determination. You have to know what an instrument is supposed to sound like before you can know if a reproduction provides a reasonable illusion. You are, however, right when you say that one person cannot judge for another person what sounds "good." That person may hate the sound of an accurate system.

9rw, Pardon my again intruding on your post to Marco, but I can't resist. As it is now I'm ROTFLMAO. One just can't be "accurate" if you quality that statement by "at least to varying degree". Thats a cop out! 'Accurate' is an absolute term, like 'unique', you really can't use a modifier, it is or it ain't. If it ain't the degree to which it ain't is dependant on personal choice.

Don't take this personal, its not! It's just that I find that so many of the folks who use a 'live' reference either in reviews or commentary are salemen of something, equipment more often than not, but sometimes it's just their persona.

Peace, my last post on this subject...........

Newbee: It's no intrusion at all. Of course there are varying degrees of accuracy. It's nothing like being unique -- it's either unique or it isn't. You're right about that. Take two pairs of speakers that are identical in every way -- waterfall plots, frequency and transient response, etc. -- only one pair is down 3 decibels at 40 hertz and the second pair is down 6 decibels at 40 hertz. The first pair is more accurate than the second pair. And so it goes.

when considering 2 speakers which are attenuated in the bass, one may be down 3 db at 40 hz, and the other may be down 6db at 40hz. both speakers are inaccurate.
accurate is analogous to scoring a grade of 100 on a test.

thus, there are degrees of inaccuarcy, e.g., one speaker is less inaccurate than another. i believe the word accurate implies perfection. all components fall short of that. i could be wrong. one may be using the word in a different way.