Should your system influnce the music you enjoy

[John]

I remember a few years going into a HiFi shop and trying out some expensive speakers (dealer to remain nameless) It did a great job with some of the music and a poor job with others But in the end it just took away the enjoyment of one of my favourite albums. I cannot remember the salesman words but basically it was something on the lines that buying this system would change my music tastes. I remember he instantly lost the sale in that second but to be quite honest I would of not bought the said speakers.

[Reid Malenfant]

"Should your system influnce the music you enjoy"

Absolutely not :eyebrows:

If it works with one music type & not another then it's flawed plain & simple :rolleyes:

A good system will actually let you enjoy not only your own music more but should increase the types of music you'd listen to ;)

You don't need details do you, it's just bloomin obvious :lol:

[John]

Yes tend to agree Mark but some people before warm others enjoy bright etc this may effect playback on certain music For instace Jeff Beck Live at Ronnie Scott would sound pretty bad on bright system
A system that geared to sound great with chamber music might not do realistic kick drums or deep bass
At some level there will be compromises in a system that might effect overall enjoyment of certain music styles.

[Reid Malenfant]

This says it all (http://music.uk.msn.com/photos/photos.aspx?cp-documentid=150256291), damn if i didn't nearly p*ss myself laughing :lol:

Midi system & crap speakers anyone :eyebrows:

[Reid Malenfant]

Hi John, if it's neutral then it shouldn't show any preference & should do everything equally as well as anything else. If it doesn't then it's "voiced" or whatever they call it & frankly it's not what i'd invest in ;)

I like my system to do everything in equal measure, flat frequency response, lack of phase problems & a critically damped response.

If i can't get a flat response from the speakers due to driver & enclosure parameters i'll happily use electronics to even it out.

As i might have said previously on here, you need to sacrifice the holy cow of flat response speakers & get them flat & in phase with simple electronics ;) Just my opinion :)

[Effem]

A system that geared to sound great with chamber music might not do realistic kick drums or deep bass


So why not have two systems? :eyebrows:

My musical tastes are for the clean lively fast stuff with good quality percussion where the kick drum hits you right in the stomach, where you feel it as much as hear it. Lovely.

Every now and then though, I do enjoy the quiet, intimate and sophisticated sound, so I have a valve amp here that gives me exactly that. The main system CAN do it but not quite in the same way the "bottles" achieve it with delicate phrasing and nuances in abundance. Give it some heavy Led Zep and it's a different story.

Neither of these are "faults" with either, more a horses for courses thang.

[John]

Well I tend to agree with Mark (just being devils adovocate) ideally a good system should be able to give you the best of all worlds and totally believe a system should not compromise on what you enjoy to listening too.
Most of us only have room and money for one system
It took me a long time to get that place of being able to throw everything I love and be happy with it all. Maybe I was just to fussy......

[DSJR]

I don't think a system should tell YOU what to listen to, but it's inevitable that a well suited setup will enhance ones tastes. The very best sorted audio systems should enable one to try all sorts of new music though and price and cachet doesn't come into it at all.

[isuckedmandelsonslemons]

As the 'victim' of a very recent and radical upgrade I can safely say that it's broadened the range of music that I listen to enormously.

That's a good thing but there is also a downside. A lot of albums that I enjot are just so badly produced/engineered and compressed to death that I can't be ar$ed listening to them on such a great system and they'll be listened to when I'm training in the gym, out on the bike or in the car.

Some modern CDs are just so crap in terms of the quality of the recording that I'd defy ANY system to make them sound good. You can't make a silk ourse out of a sow's ear. Or maybe I'm wrong . . . .

[Reid Malenfant]

Some modern CDs are just so crap in terms of the quality of the recording that I'd defy ANY system to make them sound good. You can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Or maybe I'm wrong . . . .
I don't think you can either :rolleyes:

Garbage in = garbage out unfortunately :eyebrows:

[Marco]

Hi Frank,


Every now and then though, I do enjoy the quiet, intimate and sophisticated sound, so I have a valve amp here that gives me exactly that. The main system CAN do it but not quite in the same way the "bottles" achieve it with delicate phrasing and nuances in abundance. Give it some heavy Led Zep and it's a different story.


A top-notch valve amp should be able to thunder out Led Zep with serious venom, as well as exude intimacy with more subtle styles of music, so something is not as it should be.

You're giving the side (valve amps) a bad name, dude, and perpetrating an oft-held myth! ;)

Anyone who's listened to my Copper amp play Rammstein at pant-wetting levels through the Lockwoods, where you are literally pinned to the wall with the visceral intensity of the sound, and then lulled gently into a mellifluous dreamscape with some nice acoustic jazz music or female vocals, will testify to the above fact...

With the right valve amp (and speakers) you *can* have the best of both worlds!! :cool:

Marco.

[Haselsh1]

In direct answer to the original question, the most obvious comment would be 'No'. I can't help but think though that our equipment does indeed heavily influence what we listen to and how we listen. Blue LED's always look better at night when its dark whereas my Croft always looks better at night when its dark because it looks so rough.

[Rare Bird]

The music i listern to doesnt sounds right with modern gear to me

[Techno Commander]

"Should your system influnce the music you enjoy"

Absolutely not :eyebrows:

I totally concour.

Although I would have thought you choice of music might influence your system somewhat.

I probably wouldnt have 10" Volts, 15" JBL's and several hundred watts of power if all I listened to was string quartets. :)

Conversely, you need a bit more than a pair of ESL's to get the best out of Motorhead. :eyebrows:

[Batty]

I listen to Motorhead and mantovani through my system and am happy with the result, lucky me. I agree that I now listen to a much wider range than I did before I had this system but I am also quite a bit older and the change did not happen overnight. Maybe we're missing something in the equation that time adds.

[Welder]

I’ve got a slightly different take on this.
I think the system you listen to music on does influence what you find bearable to listen to, if not your actual taste in music at least in my experience.
I can listen to just about anything in mp3 format, usually in my case, streamed music.
From what I can remember I could listen to pretty much anything on vinyl on the system I had.
What has been interesting, and a bit distressing given I like the music, is with my current set up, poor recordings sound terrible and despite trying various filters and equalizing techniques the contrast between the well recorded and poorly recorded is so obvious to my ears, I tend not to listen to the music that originally attracted me to a particular album because my brain is too busy picking at the recording faults.
A case for averaging all your music out by listening to it in mp3 format perhaps……………okay, perhaps not, but …………….