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RE: Yes, IMHO it's a parlor trick inside a parlor trick....

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In Reply to: RE: Yes, IMHO it's a parlor trick inside a parlor trick.... posted by viridian on April 26, 2017 at 15:33:47

I appreciate your perspective, Viridian, but I can't help believing that we think of imaging in different ways.

To me, imaging is the the illusion of musicians occupying a physical space in three dimensions. This is what I hear—indeed, cannot HELP hearing—at a live concert, i.e., a symphony orchestra or string quartet located in front of me on a stage at one end of a concert hall. If home reproduction does not create some reasonable semblance of this, it is largely a failure, in my opinion.

I can't imagine anyone going to a concert and NOT perceiving the placement of musicians occupying a defined space. Is this really what you mean? I'm not trying to pick a bone with you, just trying to understand your perspective.
-Bob

Follow Ups:

I completely respect your preference..... - viridian 19:38:55 04/26/17 (2)
.....but it is not mine. I find that, when I close my eyes at the symphony the sound is much more generalized as regards the positioning of the instruments than it is with some of my friends stereos and many of the set ups that I have heard at shows.

For popular music the specificity is even more diffuse IMHO. So yes, that is what I meant.

I really liked the post by the gent further down the page that said that the greater specificity of high end reproduced music somehow compensates for the lack of having a visual in front of you as you do in a concert.

I'm not sure how that works - and it doesn't for me - but I find it quite intriguing that it works for him. And it really highlights that listening critically is a leared skill and we all learn somewhat differently. So what works for me, just won't work for that gent. I bet we could still enjoy a good concert and a nice glass of red together though!
- I think I see what you mean now - hesson11 10:09:48 04/27/17 (0)
  About the only concerts I go to are of classical music, and I think we're similar in that, when in the hall, I do not detect the very specific location of instruments on the stage that some claim to hear. What I think of as "imaging" is a more general sense of musicians performing in a space. Perhaps "soundstaging" would be a better way of describing it.
  -Bob
- RE: I completely respect your preference..... - 91derlust 01:43:05 04/27/17 (0)
  Agreed. That's the thing - people connect with/ relate to/ appreciate live music differently... or at least, we connect to different aspects of live music. Unsurprisingly, it's the same with reproduced music, though because we have some control over reproduction, our systems overtly demonstrate our preferences - they are voiced to connect us to those aspects of music we connect to. Well, at least that seems to be the case with music lovers.
  
  Audiophiles - those for whom music in service to the sound - may have a different take.
  
  Cheers,
  91.
  
  "Confusion of goals and perfection of means seems to characterise our age." Albert Einstein

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