Hmm You are bigger than me, but I might be able to outrun you... nope on balance I'll keep calling you 'Cal 
I've just been reminded of one of the odder sights I saw in downtown Chicago (and you see a lot of odd things there). It was an 88ish Chevy Caprice, rusty and dented with gigantic gold alloys on it. The wheels must have been worth 3x what the car was. It was in the dodgy part of town, the one that taxi drivers avoid going from the freeway to downtown. I'd made a wrong turn.
This was when spinners were in vogue. The 90s has a lot to answer for!
I've just been reminded of one of the odder sights I saw in downtown Chicago (and you see a lot of odd things there). It was an 88ish Chevy Caprice, rusty and dented with gigantic gold alloys on it. The wheels must have been worth 3x what the car was. It was in the dodgy part of town, the one that taxi drivers avoid going from the freeway to downtown. I'd made a wrong turn
.This was when spinners were in vogue. The 90s has a lot to answer for!
I'm with you. I'd happily optimise my system for classical music even if it meant that studio poop lost some 'slam'.
Right now my system is optimised for not being destroyed by Godzilla (aged 22 months). Ribbon tweeters and small children are not a happy match.
Sure was the in-thing when I was younger. Mostly caused by testosterone and momentary (debatable) lapses of reason. Hmmm... $1k worth of bodywork or $1k worth of mags? No contest dude, gotta have the wheels to get the chicks!
(heavy sigh) I get it... I was there. The 80's taught me a lot of things. Mostly about how to do things wrong, yet live long enough to get it right and tell the young'uns stories they can't relate to. Kinda like each generation n'cest pas?
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I think you will find a higher than average percentage of people in this group are active concert goers. In my case I help run an outdoor festival each year, and have settled on a sound reinforcement company which is respectful of the fidelity, occasional blown parts and pieces not withstanding.
I prefer classic concert hall configurations to either small low-ceiling clubs or arenas for fidelity. In my area there are several 1500-3000 seat venues in this configuration offering excellent fidelity with a good sound engineer. Specifically Memorial Hall on the UNC campus has recently renovated it's acoustics and they are really excellent as are those of the Durham Performing Arts Center and The Carolina Theater in Durham.
I attend a few NC Symphony events each year with my wife, and depending on the venue, the sound can be quite good. A recent performance of Carmena Burana was pretty overwhelming with full choir as well. As is expected, the balance between instruments is often less perfect than many recordings, but the power of concentration one brings to bear when at a show can reduce the difference to manageable proportions.
I also see acts at local clubs, and bring my Ety 20 dB attenuator ear canal plugs so as to not be deafened. Depending on the venue and sound engineer some can feature pretty decent fidelity, but with little imaging due to slim stereo content and less than optimum acoustics.
I'd say in a good concert the energy of a live show outweighs any fidelity issues unless they are severe, but for sheer high fidelity listening a well set up home system has a live venue beat. I agree with those who postulate that the two are such totally different brain events a comparison is usually irrelevant. Having David Thomas of Pere Ubu scream at your face from 3 meters away is hard to replicate at home...
Just my 2¢ worth,
Howie
Agreed. It's recording dependent anyway, look at the lengths SL went to in his desire to reproduce the sound of live classical music in his living room.
Although the "wife from the kitchen" line became sort of a running gag, one should never underestimate humans ability in pattern recognition.
Of course, as you´ve mentioned, certain aspects of a stereophonic reproduction can only be examined by a listener sitting in the correct position.
But, if someone is used to the sound coming from another room through a doorway (or something to that effect) it is quite interesting that this person is able to form an internal representation of this sound signature, even if not (or just because of) not concentrating on listening.
And it seems that we are able to store this impression in long term memory, and so it is not that surprising that after a modification someone notices a the divergence (if present) to the sound impression he/she is used to hear.
This is ueber funny. So, even the "wife in the kitchen" story deserves a well designed and executed psychoacoustic study, well grounded in statistics, and with positive controls, of course.
What's next, the full moon effect?
Actually that might be relevant for the wife in the garage (some people haven't been paying attention), depending on her age.........................she could be going deaf
I would concur. I was trying to think of a way to broach the subject a day or two ago that wouldn't be scoffed at here, but came up blank.
IOW, not everything we hear can be measured, human auditory system is superior to known sound measuring tools, human's aural memory span is sufficient to do away without level matched double blind test with quick switching and therefore the advertising of high end audio electronics is legit that they do make audible improvement, right?
Oh, and you are in audio business, as you've acknowledged before, right?
I agree with Jakob2 on indirect impressions of audio quality being very useful. That is how I evaluate my own designs over the years. I get a general impression as to how they sound over time, especially when I am not paying any direct attention to the sound.
This is how I have evaluated the Levinson JC-2, Dennesen JC-80, the Vendetta Research SCP-2 phono stage, and finally the CTC Blowtorch. I am keeping the Blowtorch (with the upgraded Vendetta inside), the rest is in the closet, because I can detect their signature, and it kind of annoys me, because it shows the need for me to do better.
By the way: I am in the audio business and I must be biased because of this. '-)
This is how I have evaluated the Levinson JC-2, Dennesen JC-80, the Vendetta Research SCP-2 phono stage, and finally the CTC Blowtorch. I am keeping the Blowtorch (with the upgraded Vendetta inside), the rest is in the closet, because I can detect their signature, and it kind of annoys me, because it shows the need for me to do better.
By the way: I am in the audio business and I must be biased because of this. '-)
I thought he said it wasn't surprising to hear a difference from a distance if there was a difference, which is hardly surprising
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