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Re: even better, in the February issue

Posted by Bruce from DC (B) on February 1, 2007 at 07:15:15

In Reply to: Re: even better, in the February issue posted by hahax@verizon.net on January 31, 2007 at 19:56:19:

Maybe Cordesman's argument is one for the return of classic tone controls to preamps. At some point in the 1980s, tone controls got to be a dirty word in audiodom. Then you could correct for the engineer's failings, but only when necessary.

Ultimately, there is no escaping the listener's dependence upon the sonic taste (and playback equipment) of the mastering engineer. If the mastering engineer's taste is for a "ripe, rich" sound and he/she is using speakers with a ripe, rich sound built-in, then the listener who plays back that recording through speakers with a ripe, rich sound is going to experience a seriously over-ripe sound!

That said, one of the notable differences between the sound of unamplified instruments -- even close-up -- and their playback is how much "fuller" they sound in the midbass. I'm thinking for example, of a string quartet that I heard in a very small auditorium (that seats maybe 50 people) where I was maybe 15 feet from the players. Frankly, most audioplayback makes the cello sound like a slightly-lower voiced viola . . . but it's not.

So Cordesman is not at all off-base, in my opinion. Which leaves the question as to why recording engineers end up with a sound that is, comparatively speaking, "thin."

Of course, if you're going to reproduce that in a room of any size at volume levels much above background, you have to have a speaker capable of generating that much output without wimping out into distortion which will have the overall sonic effect of "leaning out" the sound as you make it louder.

But that's an argument against a lot of standmount speakers and in favor of speakers that are potent in the mid and upper bass range, not necessarily for tilting their amplitude response to favor that range.

Maybe Cordesman is just nostalgic for the classic "New England sound" of the acoustic suspension speakers from AR and KLH that he came of age listening to, as I did. Because that was the way they were balanced sonically . . . a little ripe and rich.

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