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Post by ChrisB on Jun 3, 2015 13:53:20 GMT
Have you ever had one, either in respect of hifi or music?
I've had a couple.
The most fundamental one was when I realised during a loud rock gig that a hifi can never get close to reproducing that sort of experience. I accepted it was time to stop chasing an unattainable goal and just take the opportunity to enjoy the music more, no matter how it is presented. Moral of the tale? Lo-fi is better than no-fi.
This was the gig. And yes, it sounded a lot better than this!
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Post by MartinT on Jun 3, 2015 14:10:58 GMT
Have you ever had one, either in respect of hifi or music? Yes, similar to you but at classical concerts. Two in particular: Simon Rattle and the CBSO performing Mahler 2 and a much more recent concert of Durufle's Requiem had me convinced that there is no reproducing the visceral sound of an orchestra at peak climax within the listening room. It's great to try to approach it, but really the only thing you can do if you want that experience is to go and experience it live. |
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Post by John on Jun 3, 2015 17:05:56 GMT
For me it was listening to a Jazz vocalist doing Nina Simone covers At that point I knew the best I can get is a illusion of the real thing
The other one would be moving to Open Baffles it was just such a huge step up in SQ and scale compared to my previous set ups.
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Post by Clive on Jun 3, 2015 17:44:40 GMT
The illusion point is key. Folk talk about live music having no soundstage, which isn't quite the case but there is some validity to this. Hifi for me needs a great soundstage as it's part of the illusion. It may not be like live music but it adds to the illusion. It is about creating an illusion, not a close facsimile of the real thing - that's unobtainable.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2015 21:49:11 GMT
For me it was 30-ish years ago at the hifi show in the Heathrow Penta. At the time I was running Quad pre and power into Kef speakers of some sort. Most rooms I went into made me feel like I actually was not doing too bad with my set up.
Then I went into the Meridian room. At that stage they just had a CD player with their own badge, but they were importers for Mark Levinson. So the CD fed dual mono preamps with outboard power supplies, and a pair of monster class A ML's feeding (swear to god) a pair of Quad ESL63's on stands.
They were playing the last track of Brothers in Arms, something I knew very well. I actually thought it was a different piece of music! It was so utterly better than my system I actually started to laugh. And that alas was the start of the quest to spend more money than I thought possible.
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Barry
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Post by Barry on Jun 4, 2015 1:59:04 GMT
For me it was 30-ish years ago at the hifi show in the Heathrow Penta. At the time I was running Quad pre and power into Kef speakers of some sort. Most rooms I went into made me feel like I actually was not doing too bad with my set up. Then I went into the Meridian room. At that stage they just had a CD player with their own badge, but they were importers for Mark Levinson. So the CD fed dual mono preamps with outboard power supplies, and a pair of monster class A ML's feeding (swear to god) a pair of Quad ESL63's on stands. They were playing the last track of Brothers in Arms, something I knew very well. I actually thought it was a different piece of music! It was so utterly better than my system I actually started to laugh. And that alas was the start of the quest to spend more money than I thought possible. If those "monster class A ML's" were in fact the ML-2s, they were 25W/channel. The preamps were probably the ML-6s. I use ML-2s to power my Quad '57s (well I do in winter, as they dissipate 400W! In summer I replace them with a pair of Quad 510 monoblocks set to ~ 30W output). Anyway regarding the original post - everytime I attend a live classical concert it always reminds me that the 'state of the art' still has a very long way to go to even approach the experience of a live concert. Have you ever been out say shopping and heard a barrel organ in the distance out of sight? You just know if it is the real thing, rather than a reproduction through speakers, even though you can't see it. The accurate reproduction of dynamics is one of the most difficult thing an audio system has to do. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2015 5:58:50 GMT
You cannot approach a live performance with an audio system. A standard 2 channel reproduction system, regardless of how good, creates an illusion. You cannot reproduce large scale (orchestral) music, where the orchestra occupies a 3D space, and you hear not only that but the reverbrant characteristics of the hall, with two loudspeakers in a living room. Best summed up by Siegfried Linkwitz as a "phantom scene", that is the best you can hope for.
Mind you, I catch myself at a live concert closing my eyes and thinking "The imaging is lousy".....
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Post by dvh on Jun 4, 2015 10:00:52 GMT
Hearing a recording of Muddy Waters via a reel-to-reel tape recorder and a single Quad ESL57. His first 'whoo!' literally made me jump out of my seat. That was the first time I had one of those 'close your eyes and he's there in the room' moments.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 5, 2015 22:00:37 GMT
The first time I made a mod which was not easily reversible. What sounded good at first turned out to be one of those dead ends. I've learned since always to reverse a change, listen again, make sure I still hear an improvement, always leave a path back.
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Post by MartinT on Jun 8, 2015 6:02:51 GMT
Hearing a system using Infinity IRS Mk. III speakers. At that moment I remember thinking "I am SO FAR away from anything that can perform like this".
Today, thankfully, I'm quite a lot closer.
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 9, 2015 5:11:17 GMT
Townsend Rock/Decca super gold/Beveridge speakers in a dem hosted by Max Townsend.
"Ahhhhhh. OK. So that's what Frank Sinatra sounds like"
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