Are you a tone guy or a details-retrieval guy?

[Dynamics]

My attitude and preference is definetely detail, if the speakers have a decent rich bass balance which a lot do anyway. That's probably why I like cyrus. Using the right cables can take off the harshness or any sharp lispiness or edginess out of the treble.

But as regard tone I always think that's something extraneous to what's needed beyond a certain point. So talking about how far you have the bass knob (if you have one) I'm probably a zero bass person or minus one or two, but my treble knob if I had one, would be at plus one or two.

Too much richness in bass tone mask the ability, for me, to hear detail as it will mask it out, also how dynamic the music can sound on and off. Since if you have rich tone always on and a subtle dynamic sound, you are less likely to hear it. So what makes music real for me is the detail and dynamics of the sound. Dynamics obviously being how on and off and quickly the music gets to a drum beat and back down again. And detail to hear all the layers well and also it brings on naturalness the more real it is. But my impression rightly or wrongly is that the tone of say a violin, doesn't have the knob at plus 4 or 5 which I know is sometimes people's preference. I'm not critisising anyone, but this detail and dynamics ideal is just my preference.

[ff1d1l]

I'm an imaging and dynamics guy....tonal accuracy will come out right, generally speaking, if imaging is good - too skewed a FR and the imaging is in your face or non existent. And get these right and detail is usually sufficient unto the day.

[magiccarpetride]

My attitude and preference is definetely detail, if the speakers have a decent rich bass balance which a lot do anyway. That's probably why I like cyrus. Using the right cables can take off the harshness or any sharp lispiness or edginess out of the treble.

But as regard tone I always think that's something extraneous to what's needed beyond a certain point. So talking about how far you have the bass knob (if you have one) I'm probably a zero bass person or minus one or two, but my treble knob if I had one, would be at plus one or two.

Too much richness in bass tone mask the ability, for me, to hear detail as it will mask it out, also how dynamic the music can sound on and off. Since if you have rich tone always on and a subtle dynamic sound, you are less likely to hear it. So what makes music real for me is the detail and dynamics of the sound. Dynamics obviously being how on and off and quickly the music gets to a drum beat and back down again. And detail to hear all the layers well and also it brings on naturalness the more real it is. But my impression rightly or wrongly is that the tone of say a violin, doesn't have the knob at plus 4 or 5 which I know is sometimes people's preference. I'm not critisising anyone, but this detail and dynamics ideal is just my preference.

In real life performances when a band/orchestra is playing, one can often experience moments when certain instruments overwhelm other instruments. A dramatic crescendo can momentarily flood the overall sound, and then it is more of a gestalt experience than being able to discern and follow each individual instrument. The group sound of all instruments is greater than the mere sum of the participating parts.

If a good sound system is put in place in order to give us the illusion of listening to real music performance, the above experiences must be approximated. Meaning, there comes a point when imaging and resolution and details take a second fiddle to the overall tone of the performance.

[Dynamics]

In real life performances when a band/orchestra is playing, one can often experience moments when certain instruments overwhelm other instruments. A dramatic crescendo can momentarily flood the overall sound, and then it is more of a gestalt experience than being able to discern and follow each individual instrument. The group sound of all instruments is greater than the mere sum of the participating parts.

If a good sound system is put in place in order to give us the illusion of listening to real music performance, the above experiences must be approximated. Meaning, there comes a point when imaging and resolution and details take a second fiddle to the overall tone of the performance.

I took your the question of tone to mean the bass/treble tone or balance. if the sound is going to be loud in all areas or if one instrument dominates in a orchestra for a moment, that will happen regardless of whether the speaker is detailed versus offering better treble/bass tone. Its in the recording. So I think the point about detail is it makes the performance more natural because you are more likely to discern the layers when they are there in say a piece of music that doesn't have one sound dominating momentarily. E.g. an acoustic piece with guitars and other instruments and vocals. I don't think you can ever take detail to a level where it's too much, therefore, so long as it's bass and treble balanced, not either too much bass or too much treble. I don't know how detail would take a second fiddle to the bass and treble tone as it's quite different I'd say.
Imaging to me means how the speakers image the stereo performance, so it's never out of kilter with detail or bass and treble.

[magiccarpetride]

I took your the question of tone to mean the bass/treble tone or balance. if the sound is going to be loud in all areas or if one instrument dominates in a orchestra for a moment, that will happen regardless of whether the speaker is detailed versus offering better treble/bass tone. Its in the recording. So I think the point about detail is it makes the performance more natural because you are more likely to discern the layers when they are there in say a piece of music that doesn't have one sound dominating momentarily. E.g. an acoustic piece with guitars and other instruments and vocals. I don't think you can ever take detail to a level where it's too much, therefore, so long as it's bass and treble balanced, not either too much bass or too much treble. I don't know how detail would take a second fiddle to the bass and treble tone as it's quite different I'd say.
Imaging to me means how the speakers image the stereo performance, so it's never out of kilter with detail or bass and treble.

My definition of tone is similar to the 'tone' in visual art. The overall quality of the perceived sound. It could be dry, wet, greasy, oily, metallic, glassy, chalky, etc., etc.

[Dynamics]

But out of interest how come in your original question you were pitting tone as you put it being the overall quality of the sound, against detail. Detail is part of the overall quality of the sound and therefore tone.

[brucew268]

A few years ago I tweaked my setup to present details better and I could notice certain inflections of voice or leading edge & harmonics on piano that many systems just can't reproduce. I loved it for a while, but eventually noticed that the result had given me leanness in mids (vocals and the body of violins, guitar, piano, etc.) and a frequency balance that de-emphasizes bass rhythm & tone. I more and more came to miss those things, but was not willing to give up speed, nuance, detail, and depth of soundstage. Without both, music just does not stay interesting unless listening to lo-fi. I now focus my efforts on both details & tone.

[alphaGT]

I hear people call certain stereo pieces colored. Tubes are colored. Horns are colored. Box speakers are colored. Etc. honestly, if it sounds good to me, I not overly concerned.

But detail, to me detail needs to be evenly distributed. Overly bright, or sounding brighter than live music, is not greater detail to me, it may make detail easier to hear, but it isn't adding detail. When a man blows into his trumpet and you can hear his spit moving through the pipes! That's detail! When you hear every note the bass player is playing, and can easily discern the kick drum in a crowded mix, that is detail. On a crowded passage and you hear a violin swelling up in the background, that is detail. No need for it to be bright or brittle or boomy. If one instrument is obscuring others, that is not detail. A high midrange that makes vocals and horns sound great, but bass and drums suffer behind it, that is not detail, that is an uneven frequency response. If cymbals and flutes are air apparent but are preventing you from hearing that violin swelling in the background, that is uneven frequency response. True detail is all the way across, you are not being beat over the head with it. You can listen in, and hear deeper if you want, but you don't have to. That's the kind of detail I want.

The infamous visit to the salon when I heard the Martin Logans, I was comparing two CD players. And I played some Jethro Tull, Crest of a Naive, I think? And on the cheaper deck it sounded amazing, but on the more expensive deck, at a certain point I heard a violin swelling up in the background, I listened to this disc 10 times before leaving the house! And had just heard it on the same system in the cheaper deck , now I'm hearing this violin for the very first time. That is detail.


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[struth]

Damn. I missed the damn fiddle lol

[alphaGT]

Damn. I missed the damn fiddle lol

It wound up costing me an extra grand! Danged fiddle!


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