Chester Hifi Show 2018

[Marco]

A system which can really boogie with reggae music will likely fall flat on its face when asked to present a string quartet or girl with guitar or Peruvian nose flute.

Sorry, Jerry. I disagree, although just with the "fall flat on its face" bit

In my view, a really good system ('tuned' to the musical tastes of its owner, if the owner has good ears), and taking the above as an example, should excel with reggae music *or* when presenting a string quartet (whichever its owner prefers), and do justice to the other, i.e. reproduce it with some competence, not fall flat on its face.

If a system falls flat on its face, when reproducing ANY kind of music, then it's not fit for purpose. A really good system should do justice to ALL types of music, albeit excelling with some more than others. I'd expect your system to do that, not fall flat on its face, as indeed does mine.

Marco.

[jandl100]

My experience, repeated on many occasions, is that a system set up by someone who doesn't listen at all to classical but that is really enjoyable at rock music is very seldom acceptable with classical ... I mean grossly flawed, horrible! Unlistenable. Errr, falls flat on its face.
The response I usually get is an unconcerned shrug and "but I don't listen to classical".
And that's fair enough, imo.

[Marco]

Well, not for me it wouldn't. My system, although not perfect (no system is) plays all types of music to a high standard, including classical, which I listen to a lot, and that should apply to any really good system worthy of the name.

The problem is, too many folks have rather insular tastes in music, and that ultimately reflects on how they sound!

Marco.

[jandl100]

But you listen to some classical and therefore that is included in the musical mix when you set up your system.

My point, and I suspect it is not limited to classical, is that a musical genre not in a system builder's preference box has to take pot luck if it is played on that system - and often the results will not be pretty!

[Marco]

Yes I agree with that, but the answer lies in your first sentence... The wider the musical mix put through it, the better the system is likely to be set up (and thus sound).

If folk had wider tastes in music in the first place (rather than just listening to one main genre), and therefore got the opportunity to TEST their system regularly with it, not simply tailor it to handle one genre well, they should end up not only with a better sounding system (as different types of music will challenge it differently, and highlight its inherent flaws, thus allowing you the opportunity to address them), but also one that will ultimately be able to do justice to a wider range of music.

That's my point

Marco.

[jandl100]

A few years back I visited Tom (montesq) and listened to his modded Quad 57-based system. (This was before he got infected with Tannoyism )
It sounded utterly superb on his choice of music - small scale, solo vocal, solo instrument. I have still not heard anything as good in that regard.
But it just couldn't cope with large scale orchestral, no weight no power no sense of the sheer scale of it all.

Now that was a system finely tuned to excel in one particular way!

[jandl100]

I suspect that system of Tom's would also have excelled with Peruvian nose flute, but I don't recall us trying that so I can't be sure.

[Marco]

A few years back I visited Tom (montesq) and listened to his modded Quad 57-based system. (This was before he got infected with Tannoyism )
It sounded utterly superb on his choice of music - small scale, solo vocal, solo instrument. I have still not heard anything as good in that regard.
But it just couldn't cope with large scale orchestral, no weight no power no sense of the sheer scale of it all.

Now that was a system finely tuned to excel in one particular way!

Sure, but it would be completely useless to me, as one minute I can be listening to Bach, and the next Bad Religion, with perhaps some Baby Schulz in between!

The only way it would work, would be if I had different systems, each 'tuned' to excel with specific types of music, and dedicated rooms to house them in. Maybe one day

Marco.

[jandl100]

That's interesting. Can you elaborate? In what way is it unlistenable?
In my opinion the "problem" with classical music is that it has a very wide dynamic range so when the quiet bits are at a sensible volume the loud bits can demand more power/weight/scale/volume than the system can provide. Also, with so many instruments playing the system needs to maintain separation between them or else it turns into a confusing mess.
Is that what you meant?

Yup, that.

But also to many people's ears rock music seems to "sound best" when the upper bass is thinned out and the treble somewhat accentuated. It's livelier, more exciting, faster. It's the Flat Earth sound. I've heard systems where it makes a grand piano sound like an upright honky-tonk.
When playing classical, such a system is often a bit to a lot screechy and hollow sounding. The screech also often results in a graininess to the sound,
The overall result can be a quite hilarious parody of the actual instruments being played.
-- they really are enjoyable and impressive playing rock music, though.

[Marco]

But also to many people's ears rock music seems to "sound best" when the upper bass is thinned out and the treble somewhat accentuated.

Well that's simply because they don't understand how rock music should sound (if the recording is good enough to show it), and instead merely go on what they think "sounds best" (as outlined above), which is fine if there's only you to please. That practice falls down, however, when someone else who knows better listens, and can clearly hear what's wrong!

The problem is, and this applies to all types of music; not enough people who are into hi-fi regularly attend live music concerts or gigs, acoustic or amplified respectively, to get a proper 'handle' on how stuff is supposed to sound, thus how to build a system that can do it justice. At the end of the day, you have to 'educate' your ears, in that respect, to know what sounds right and what doesn't - and that can only happen by learning from experience.

Instead, most just rely on recordings of such (on CD, vinyl or whatever), and that will never 'train' your ears enough to differentiate between what, as outlined above, sounds real (as much as the recording allows) or false, and ultimately how to build a system that gives you goosebumps and stirs your emotions, when playing your favourite music.

Of course, that's if the goal with your system is, as far as possible, to faithfully recreate a snapshot of the original sound [hi-fi], rather than simply make a noise you like the sound of, as shown in your example earlier.... The two can be quite different!

For some, the latter is all that matters, and that's fine as it's their choice, but when you listen to a system like that, compared with one belonging to someone more experienced (who's been out and about listening to live music more, over the years), and thus has a better handle on how things are supposed to sound, it's easy to hear its shortcomings.

Marco.