|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
75.161.8.216
In Reply to: Re: Quad Speakers posted by hahax@verizon.net on April 26, 2007 at 20:49:18:
Well, in my view it is useless to argue about subjective impressions. What you hear is what you hear. My guess, and it's just a guess, is that to some extent perceptions of decreased or increased dynamics is related to linear frequency response - in other words, a slight boost in certain frequency ranges may lead to a perception of increased dynamics, and conversely a dip in the same range may lead to a perception of compressed dynamics. For example, horns, which tend to have relatively uneven frequency responses, are often touted as having great dynamics. Just a guess. Certainly, within its loudness limits, an electrostatic speaker should have very linear dynamics, objectively speaking.As to David Chesky, one of the reasons for quoting him is that, unlike most audiophiles, record producers actually HAVE listened to the original live sounds as well as the recording, and thus should have the best idea of what is on the record and what compromises have been made. Everybody else is just guessing.
Follow Ups:
Well then in reference to Chesky because he does recording, I suspect Gordon Holt would not be in total agreement with him. Gordon recorded the Boulder Symphony for over ten years and finally felt he got accurate reproduction(sounding like the live performances he recorded) when he finally got a set of ATC 50 powered monitors and they sound nothing like a Quad 57.
I have a lot of respect for both Chesky and Holt, as I'm sure you do. One reason why I used to pay more attention to Holt was that, unlike most reviewers, he used his own source material as references, which I felt made him more reliable as a reviewer. I've never heard the ATCs so have no comment on their sound. As I said before there's no arguing subjective impressions, and certainly no arguing subjective preferences.
It isn't frequency response because I get the same reaction to a dynamic speaker versus a non-dynamic one when I'm out of the room and frequency response is certainly different then.
Actually the whole question of what makes something sound live from the next room is a very interesting one, and most people have had the experience of hearing something in another room and knowing immediately it's live and not recorded. Most of the traditional speaker parameters - frequency response, dispersion, etc. would seem to be screwed up by the trip the sound wave takes from one room to the next. Maybe time coherence and lack of dynamic compression of the first arrival sound has something to do with it. Then there are the speakers that some say sound MORE live from the next room than when you're in the same room. I have NO idea what's going on there!
I've felt the reason a speaker sounds 'live' from out of the room is correct change in level(dynamics both macro AND micro) because that probably isn't screwed up by leaving the room like frequency response, etc. I've discussed this with Gordon Holt and he agrees.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: