Cant beat a few 15" inchers in your living room, 8" mid and a tweeter, for once I can feel the music, especially he kick drum. While smaller systems have been enjoyable, the shear area of drivers allows me to get the dynamics and cleanly, less compression of the bass. The only down side is room problems are more noticable and require correction to get the best. Hence in my little world I believe speakers and room are the most important. Electronics these days are pretty good, not always perfect, but music via WAV files and decent amps etc rock my boat. 
I read somewhere that this was a problem with music hall design a hundred or so years ago. The reflections that the designers counted on to carry the sound were absorbed by the ladies' petticoats. Imagine the layers of floor length fabric held out by hoops!
As far as microphones go, pick your coloration. I use AKGs which are dry but more detailed than Shures and nearly as durable. Neumann is the Cadillac but oy! the prices. As with everything else today you're usually buying a team who designs for Chinese manufacture except in the price stratosphere. I've had Audio-Technicas but the lavalier broke and the wireless is boomy (which could just be technique). Everyone has an opinion.
Foo Fighters? Rock/Pop just isn't that dynamic. It may seem so but VU meters don't lie. It's made to fill the airwaves in radio play. And how can you tell what an electric guitar should sound like? Hopefully they don't use a drum machine. Those drive me crazy. First time I could afford modern detailed gear I became major irritated with sound engineers, particularly when they add echo and with cheap producers who automate the rhythm section.
Didn't say it wasn't. It's just that today moving a slider compensates for it (sort of) whereas in 1890 it was a brick and mortar problem.
Pray tell, how is it inside the Sidney opera house? Silicon Ray has enclosures with pictures on the front bezel. There are several choices, among them that opera house. I got ahead of the WAF by having her pick which, and that was her choice. Just got notification it shipped, so Chinese New Year is over. (how's that for a Segway?)
It will take a few weeks, hopefully not months and everyone will be able to pick apart my design choices in a small, economical class D amp. That is, if it doesn't go POP! when I plug it in.
Which is the point. Classic, older rock is very dynamic in comparison, but something like Foo Fighters has been engineered to fill every tiny, quiet, crack of space with sound: the result is that it feels, subjectively, intensely loud and aggressive on a decent system, you become emotionally exhausted after hearing a single track at a good volume. And it's getting a system to unravel this sort of modern, "wall of sound" production -- it's an excellent test of capabilities ..
Frank
Interesting idea. I don't listen to that sort of music, but I would have thought the very opposite: as the music sound never actually existed, it cannot be used to judge the quality of a reproduction system. All that can be said is whether the sound is pleasing or not, which says very little. In effect you are merely comparing a 'domestic PA' with a 'studio PA', without actually hearing the latter. Comparing two things when only one is accessible is rather prone to error!fas42 said:
The idea is not not mimic a conventional PA, but to assess a system's resolving capabilities. In the way a high quality studio monitor, or headphones, is intended to allow the studio engineer to 'hear' all the strands of the mix, to be able to mentally separate the tracks, so can a conventional audio system. Whether the sound is "pleasing" is completely irrelevant, at least for me. With the exception, that if I hear playback system distortion, then it is most certainly not pleasing ...
This type of material is engineered such that, subjectively, individual strands of the music are squeezed or squashed together; on a conventional system this often resolves as an overloaded mess. So, the trick is to see if that "mess" can be untangled ...
Frank
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Hi Scott6113,
qusp lives quite a few kilometers up the road from the Sydney Opera House.
The Opera House doesn't have a good reputation for acoustics as it was finished on the cheap. It went 1500% over budget and the politicians got feed up and pulled the plug.I spent many a new year's eve on the "outside" of the Opera House. Saw a lot of great bands and doing things that are now considered "anti-social"... kids can't have fun anymore
but last year a mate dragged me along to his kids concert in one of the concert halls and I was shocked how good a few hundred kids from all over the state can sound. The choirs and bands were fantastic. A real tribute to the state education system, the dedicated teachers and volunteers, of course some very talented kids and the special location. I was very happy to see my taxes being invested in these kid's future.regards
If qusp won't travel 900km for music, she should turn in her audiophile badge forthwith (actually don't know qusp's gender, so may have committed yet another faux pas)! To be honest, I didn't check the map before I asked. People in Maine are nearly as well known for unique expressions as Aussies. A Mainer would say of 900km? Down the road apiece.
Too bad about the hall. Guess it was done for looks. My prior comments about the Boston Symphony may have more meaning because it was considered one of the best in the world acoustically, so why gild the lily with a sound system? I've also been to the Concertgebouw, which while opinions vary, is considered #1. It is glorious and unsullied by speakers.
I can't agree that Foo Fighters are good test tracks. I have a vintage tube guitar amp (Fender Deluxe Reverb, pre CBS and no it's not for sale). It is prized for its ability to overdrive the tubes, to MAKE them clip, distort. The distortion is the rock guitar sound. The soft clipping is like a kind of compression or sustain. Modern amps try to imitate this, even have overdrive knobs so you can get the sound without turning the amp up to 11. Even transistor amps try to get into the act artificially, by simulating overdrive. There are as many kinds sounds as there are amps, guitars, and musicians, not to mention all the add-ons available.
There is no original electric guitar sound. You can, thanks to the internet know even the model guitar acoustic players like and play them in guitar shops, compare them to recordings. In that way, there's a more direct connection to fidelity.
Part-express just shipped, and HiFiMeDiy too, but the module itself is coming from Connex, and not a peep. (taps foot). I think he needs to build it up, since I asked for a couple upgrades.
Too bad about the hall. Guess it was done for looks. My prior comments about the Boston Symphony may have more meaning because it was considered one of the best in the world acoustically, so why gild the lily with a sound system? I've also been to the Concertgebouw, which while opinions vary, is considered #1. It is glorious and unsullied by speakers.
I can't agree that Foo Fighters are good test tracks. I have a vintage tube guitar amp (Fender Deluxe Reverb, pre CBS and no it's not for sale). It is prized for its ability to overdrive the tubes, to MAKE them clip, distort. The distortion is the rock guitar sound. The soft clipping is like a kind of compression or sustain. Modern amps try to imitate this, even have overdrive knobs so you can get the sound without turning the amp up to 11. Even transistor amps try to get into the act artificially, by simulating overdrive. There are as many kinds sounds as there are amps, guitars, and musicians, not to mention all the add-ons available.
There is no original electric guitar sound. You can, thanks to the internet know even the model guitar acoustic players like and play them in guitar shops, compare them to recordings. In that way, there's a more direct connection to fidelity.
Part-express just shipped, and HiFiMeDiy too, but the module itself is coming from Connex, and not a peep. (taps foot). I think he needs to build it up, since I asked for a couple upgrades.
That is certainly part of the story. But, to date it has not been difficult differentiating between source and reproduction distortion, seemingly because the acoustic signatures are highly distinctive.
There is a worrying trend, though. More recent recordings show a higher level of processing 'interference' on one hand, and sloppiness on the other: popular tracks are largely overcooked, but are still generally well done in the context of the sort of sound they're aiming for; but, a number of the quite recent classical recordings I've heard are disturbing ... they show a lack of consistency of sound from track to track, and overall a falling in the standard of care taken - completely unnecessary considering the level of development of studio equipment ...
Frank
Yes, the kitten and the profession Graphic Designer, which stateside is almost always female.
I apologize. You can only get so far without personal pronouns and I blew it, Mr. Qusp. Whatsa qusp anywho?
exactly, have you read it SY? stands for QUantum Singelton Processor. Also the Planck Dive and more fully explored in the full novel Schild's Ladder
basically the qusp is a quantum computer used as a vessel to store and 'run' a personality or AI
i'm just thankful you were able to spell it/see it correctly Scott, most people insert a second imaginary vowel.
SY: your nick is impossible to reuse or spell in a juvenile manner, damn you!
basically the qusp is a quantum computer used as a vessel to store and 'run' a personality or AI
i'm just thankful you were able to spell it/see it correctly Scott, most people insert a second imaginary vowel.
SY: your nick is impossible to reuse or spell in a juvenile manner, damn you!
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Only that, he posts Gangnam Style ...SY: your nick is impossible to reuse or spell in a juvenile manner, damn you!
Frank
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