Do you think there is such a thing as "National taste"in sound?

[Panicos K]

Do you think that taste in sound varies from country to country?Is there anything like a National taste in sound?I was reading an old review of the Alphason Sonata turntable some time ago,and I was surprised when I read that the Alphason was according to the reviewer a better turntable compared to the Linn,but the Linn was prefered because of the..."British National taste....."!!!!!
Any interest or comments?

 

[neutron7]

I remember a story back in the 80s about how some Japanese speakers were "tuned" to play the sound of traditional Japanese instruments, but i did hear it from a (British brand) speaker salesman, so maybe he just made it up on the spot.

 

[Shaun]

What about the effect that different types of buildings/building materials has on acoustics? E.g. timber frame homes vs brick & mortar use in various parts of the world...?

 

[Panicos K]

This could mean something,also the average room size can determine the size of the system/speakers,therefore balance and taste?

 

[AndrewT]

Hi,
we here in the UK have a completely different preference in sound from much of Europe.
The Far East had to modify much of their product to make it saleable/sellable (able to be sold in the numbers they needed for a mass market) in the UK.
They even starting advertising this fact by branding models with a B and the copy stated it was upgraded for the British market.

Why our ears/brain are different? I have no idea.

 

[richie00boy]

I personally think it's marketing nonsense. Everybody's different, there's no national generalisation.

 

[Panicos K]

AndrewT I have read somewhere that the average listening room in UK is not very big,and this is the reason why most of the British speakers are small size,but still with good balance/bass for their size.Is this so?

 

[AndrewT]

like Richie says they're all different.
There's no such thing as average size. There is a notional average of sizes, but does this average exist anywhere?

 

[Panicos K]

You are right.I just use words from the magazine.The strange is that the reviwer spoke about "national taste"in that review of the turntable.Who knows what he meant.It is true that there are small and big rooms everywhere.

 

[richie00boy]

He's talking nonsense like all magazine reviewers do!

 

[bleachershane]

I own a Denon PMA-255UK integrated amp... the UK suffix on the end of the model number was apparently to denote it was tuned to "UK preferences"... and that apparently means everyone in the UK likes a warmer sheen to their music!!!

Generalisations are never good thing, I for one do not particularly want everything I listen to sound waaaaaaarm, I'm more a stickler for the "give me it as it is on the disc". A wire with gain anyone? Well that will never literally happen but the less components in my hi-fi that shape the sound and the more that just present it to me, the better!

 

[mjf]

hello.
tomatisse was a french ear doctor.he thought that languages have their own characteristic frequencies..........we store them before we were born and later on.............
different sounds of languages - and different taste of music?
greetings...............

 

[Jonathan Bright]

I recall that an argument has been made that the BBC research people are responsible for the "national" characteristic of British sound. I think the idea is that either through luck or good management the reverberation time of their (the BBC) "typical" listening room was producing a particular balance to their loudspeakers that was appreciated by many people as 'natural' and their products were seen as something of a bench mark standard that influenced the larger commercial manufacturers....

(The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the poster!)
Jonathan