Can you enjoy music on a low fi system?

[Bricolo]

I've seen so many people here, always looking for a better amp, better speakers, to obtain the best music reproduction they could have.

I was just wondering how do you feel when you listen to nice music, on standard equipment

[Helix]

Say you restored classic cars, or build fast kit cars (like caterham 7) How do you feel in a *normal* car...........

Well is just fine for taking the kids to school etc but u know u are gonna get a go of your classic later

[SY]

My most profound musical experience of the past year was experienced through decidedly poor equipment- bad commercial horns, poor acoustics, miles of lousy cable. But the musicians did what THEY were supposed to do, despite the PA system. Tony Rice and Peter Rowan proved to my satisfaction that the issues of timing-rhythm-pace and the conveying of musical emotion and involvement are unaffected by the crude mechanics of amplification and transduction- the timing-rhythm-pace was bloody PERFECT and the music was as moving as any I've heard.

"Musical involvement" is not the job of the stereo, it's the job of the players.

[Christer]

Originally posted by SY
"Musical involvement" is not the job of the stereo, it's the job of the players.

I couldn't agree more. If the performance is boring it doesn't
matter what equipment you have. I had one of my greatest
non-live musical experiences many years ago waking up to
my clock radio hearing the Nothung aria from Siegfried in
a 1928 recording with Melchior. On the other hand, I have
been to many live opera performances that were simply
boring, despite there being no audio equipment involved
at all.

[Jay]

What is the definition for a standard equipment or a low-fi system? THD of more than 1%? Equipment price of less than USD1000? Then there are many possibilities to enjoy the music!

Ask audiophiles who had been years searching for a good music reproduction. Going from bipolars to MOSFETs, from MOSFETs to valves, from push-pull to single end. You will at last have to admit that what you are looking for is simply an enjoyment in listening to music. But what is it to make you enjoy the music? Zero NFB? Simple circuit? Second harmonic? Dynamics?

Yes, you can enjoy music on a low-fi system. Especially if you like music.

[kingdaddy]

I guess I have a slightly different point of view when listening to music on Hi-Fi vs Lo-Fi. I find that on a good Hi-Fi system I can enjoy music I never found interesting before, a good system fleshes out the details that make the music more involving then it is on a lesser system, However I also find that some of my favorite old tunes that I have found great joy in listening to on a portable radio are almost annoying on a good system, most good systems tend to bring out the recording flaws to such a degree that the mood and feeling is lost.

So in my case I have found the unfortunate side effect of the better recording winning out over the better music most of the time.

What’s really nice is when some of my old favorites are properly re-mastered, and I can appreciate them even more, and turn up the volume on my home system without the same nails on a chalkboard effect that the original recording had.

The best system upgrade is a good recording.

[jackinnj]

on a 1950's 5-tube receiver, you know that you can enjoy the music.

[gpapag]

Bricolo
As all of the previous corresponders here, i too agree that music does not necessitate good reproduction equipment in order to be aprecaiated. A good song is been enjoyed even through the telephone line!
I once had the chance to listen to a rare amateur recording of Hose Carreras singing at his teacher's studio. He was a boy at that time. The quality of the recording was less than acceptable, but what i felt and how i enjoyed the song, i can not describe in words.
As you probably have figured by now, the search for "better " equipment, has no ending. Music enjoyment is just an excuse for this. The real reason seems to be either our curiosity to learn more in electronics (BTW, curiosity killed the cat), or a progressing mental dissorder
Regards
George

[Christer]

Originally posted by gpapag
A good song is been enjoyed even through the telephone line!

Unless it is a cell phone. The digital compression is already bad
for ordinary speech and it is a disaster for music.

Anyway, this reminds me of the anecdote of when it was first
suggested that Met should broadcast their performances. This
was in 1913 (I think) when the legendary Gatti-Cazzasa
was manager. He was firmly against this idea, claiming that
the sound quality of radio transmissions was so bad that it
would make the performances impossible to enjoy. G-C was
not a man to change his mind easily, so broadcasting did not
start until many years later. However, it turned out that his only
experience of radio transmissions was hearing a radio receiver
through a telephone line, which was what he had based his
decision on.

[mrfeedback]

Works both ways ime.
I enjoy the sound pouring out of my bathroom from an old radio-cassette, however I moreso enjoy music that comes from my good systems.
I have heard very expensive (and well regarded) systems that have driven me up the wall (or out the room) on any kind of music, more especially my favorite tunes.

One of the most impressive sounds that I have EVER heard, is an original Enrico Caruso 78 recording of Ava Maria played on a friend's windup mechanical grammophone.
Sure the record was crackly as hell, rotten distortions and rattles, but the overall sound was just plain fantastic, and the SPL amazed also.

Just about any system that is not blatantly annoying can satisfy amply according to the situation ime.
Most PA systems are pretty rotten really, and what makes the difference there is corect fine tuning by the operator, and the musicians performance - this can and often does add up to something really special asothers above testify.

It all comes down to your acceptance level, and that can be variable too.

Eric.