Indeed, very program dependent!
Which brings up a good point. If you "optimize" the playback system and room for one style of recording, could it be to the detriment of a very different style? Should the goal be to balance this out?
I suppose it depends on personal preference, like so much else.
Which brings up a good point. If you "optimize" the playback system and room for one style of recording, could it be to the detriment of a very different style? Should the goal be to balance this out?
I suppose it depends on personal preference, like so much else.
It would be interesting to see how a proper double blind live vrs recorded and played back in a real room could be conducted.
dave
That is much of what the Advent Sound Space Control did. As well as the adjustments your friend used, the algorithms alter what gets to the rear channels in such a way that mucch more of the material played is magical.
dave
The oldies knew better and added tone control to the preamp. Nowadays such thing is considered soundpooper, must be straight wire with gain 
I'd be surprised if there isn't modern equivalent tonecontrol already available, AI equalizing to a target response automatically, has anyone looked?
Thinking deeper:
I'd imagine AI could be used in the recording process so that a multimic live recording could be analyzed and the whole room sound field extracted, the whole thing without influense of the microphones to the sound but the actual sound event. I'm not sure if there is any other way to play it back than straight to the brain, or just traditional electroacoustic transducers that tune to the environment and to the dataset of the recording, or something. Far fetched, true, I'm sure AI will make big change in the near future for the industry as well as it is already doing on many others. Meanwhile an EQ is good to own if varying quality of recorded material feels too hard to listen to.
I'd be surprised if there isn't modern equivalent tonecontrol already available, AI equalizing to a target response automatically, has anyone looked?
Thinking deeper:
I'd imagine AI could be used in the recording process so that a multimic live recording could be analyzed and the whole room sound field extracted, the whole thing without influense of the microphones to the sound but the actual sound event. I'm not sure if there is any other way to play it back than straight to the brain, or just traditional electroacoustic transducers that tune to the environment and to the dataset of the recording, or something. Far fetched, true, I'm sure AI will make big change in the near future for the industry as well as it is already doing on many others. Meanwhile an EQ is good to own if varying quality of recorded material feels too hard to listen to.
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An interesting voice from the past on narrow CD loudspeakers setup (thank You Markus76 
):
I do have my speakers setup like this a the sound is dynamic, transparent with pinpoint imaging but it seriously lacks spaciousness. It probably would be even more dynamic, transparent and pinpoint within an anechoic chamber but that's not the point. The point is that the this approach isn't capable of creating ASW and LEV unless additional speakers are added.
The ambiance resulting from a high directivity setup can create some LEV but not an increased ASW. For an increased ASW reflections are too low in level and they are coming from the wrong directions.
A design that does good imaging and spaciousness (including ASW) at the same time requires more than two speakers.
a trade-off of narrow constant directivity loudspeakers
):I do have my speakers setup like this a the sound is dynamic, transparent with pinpoint imaging but it seriously lacks spaciousness. It probably would be even more dynamic, transparent and pinpoint within an anechoic chamber but that's not the point. The point is that the this approach isn't capable of creating ASW and LEV unless additional speakers are added.
The ambiance resulting from a high directivity setup can create some LEV but not an increased ASW. For an increased ASW reflections are too low in level and they are coming from the wrong directions.
A design that does good imaging and spaciousness (including ASW) at the same time requires more than two speakers.
a trade-off of narrow constant directivity loudspeakers
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Seems trade offs in loudspeaker design has devolved into trade offs in music reproduction system design. I've always been willing to trade off any additional ambience sound sources for the sake of having only two main speakers / amplifiers.
However when I was a kid, I did have 4 channel ambitions, actually acquiring a Marantz quadradial 4 and 4 speaker cabinets. But this was not for "hall ambience"; this was for location modulation of sound as part of the musical art. Think FZ dropping note or chord bombs into individual echo-plexes at each speaker, using a custom "joystick" pedal. Keys on a synth assignable to any one of 4 channels. Or today, a musician having a loop station at 4 corners and the kinds of spatial effects they could setup with notes flying around your head. Or Neil Pert spinning around on his throne and yeah, the kit he's playing behind his main kit...
That idea was lost before I reached 30. I've since wondered if, in being part of the art, would any consumer tote about all the extra stuff to accommodate it - versus SQ, QS, time delayed reverbs, etc? Today, my much older brain would probably find active spatial instrument modulation annoying - but back then, it wanted to eat that stuff up.
However when I was a kid, I did have 4 channel ambitions, actually acquiring a Marantz quadradial 4 and 4 speaker cabinets. But this was not for "hall ambience"; this was for location modulation of sound as part of the musical art. Think FZ dropping note or chord bombs into individual echo-plexes at each speaker, using a custom "joystick" pedal. Keys on a synth assignable to any one of 4 channels. Or today, a musician having a loop station at 4 corners and the kinds of spatial effects they could setup with notes flying around your head. Or Neil Pert spinning around on his throne and yeah, the kit he's playing behind his main kit...
That idea was lost before I reached 30. I've since wondered if, in being part of the art, would any consumer tote about all the extra stuff to accommodate it - versus SQ, QS, time delayed reverbs, etc? Today, my much older brain would probably find active spatial instrument modulation annoying - but back then, it wanted to eat that stuff up.
Different EQ for different recordings is not needed...mandatory if system (including acoustics and setup) is properly designed; balanced operation of speakers and balanced reaction between speakers and environment. Volume may need some limit in the worst cases.
Be aware, this is not meant as an attack, just something to think about.
We read you are planning OB speakers. What's so different about it vs using more channels?
The OB speakers control the pattern, so you can aim the null to get that pattern (more) right at the listening spot. But that back energy has to go somewhere. It will make it's way to the listening spot at a later time, which will influence how one perceives that first wave front.
Many people like how that seems to enhance the experience, nothing wrong with that.
It is different from adding channels, sure. But it could have some similarities as well.
The difference is that I'm not coming here and claiming that OB is superior to everything else and therefore the future for everyone. That is what bradleypnw wants us all to believe about multi-channel.
Whether OB works out for me or not remains to be seen. I can only relate to an experience with Maggies in a store that I really liked. And I'm certainly not suggesting that it is the future for everyone.
That's the gripe I have with him. It's his attitude that he knows more about the future than the rest of us and we are all dolts for not believing him.
Totally. Somehow I've never even thought about EQing playback other than tuning the system in the crossover. Some records might sound thin, some bloated, but it is just part of the charm as long as the speakers don't get on the way.
Depends on your normal listening volume vs the listening volume the production was mixed at.
i.e. if they expect you to blast the music at 95+ dB at your listening position but you listen at 80, you would need to turn up the treble a bit and bass by a lot, in order to "hear" what the engineer did.
It would probably be better for me not to comment and show off my lack of knowledge...but here we go. It seems to me (at least for me, and surely many others) the trade off always starts with cost, I would love to have more to spend, but I don't, so trade offs are dictated more than chosen. The other trade off being the room, no room is perfect, and most of us can't even get near perfection, the house you live in is the house you live in, and probably not alone (hopefully), so others taste has to be taken into account also. My "listening space" is my living room, 13 x 22ft, speakers on the wide wall, and smack up against that wall. Not ideal, but, it's what I've got to work with.
The watts vs. spl is tricky, I have a diy F6 amp driving Tekton Lore speakers (a bang for buck choice), the amp will drive them loud enough to drive you out of the room effortlessly, no audible clipping (to my ears), but I'm not sure how efficient a set of speakers would really have to be for that amp to work well in my space. I prefer studio recordings, as I usually feel the live stuff is lacking in comparison, but attending a live show is more than just about sound quality, there is the visceral and shared part of the experience! And of course seeing if the musicians can actually pull it off live, as sometimes, unfortunately, they can't. Some workers were here yesterday doing a follow up after a siding and window upgrade, saw and heard my stuff playing and asked what I thought of Sonos, and Bose, I said I thought the former was over priced, and the latter was over hyped, but I added, that if they like that stuff, it doesn't matter. If it sounds good to you, it's good! There are so many routes to take, pick the one that works best for you. I read through this thread and learned a bit, and some things flew by me. I would love to have tone controls on the (every) pre amp, the Schiit Loki looks good (fun). That Advent Sound Space reminds me of something my brother inlaw used to have, don't remember the manufacturer, it was a Range Expander (?), some times it worked well, others it just sounded strange. Maybe we all need multiple systems for different purposes? Maybe those people with the cheap tabletop radio in the kitchen have it right?
The watts vs. spl is tricky, I have a diy F6 amp driving Tekton Lore speakers (a bang for buck choice), the amp will drive them loud enough to drive you out of the room effortlessly, no audible clipping (to my ears), but I'm not sure how efficient a set of speakers would really have to be for that amp to work well in my space. I prefer studio recordings, as I usually feel the live stuff is lacking in comparison, but attending a live show is more than just about sound quality, there is the visceral and shared part of the experience! And of course seeing if the musicians can actually pull it off live, as sometimes, unfortunately, they can't. Some workers were here yesterday doing a follow up after a siding and window upgrade, saw and heard my stuff playing and asked what I thought of Sonos, and Bose, I said I thought the former was over priced, and the latter was over hyped, but I added, that if they like that stuff, it doesn't matter. If it sounds good to you, it's good! There are so many routes to take, pick the one that works best for you. I read through this thread and learned a bit, and some things flew by me. I would love to have tone controls on the (every) pre amp, the Schiit Loki looks good (fun). That Advent Sound Space reminds me of something my brother inlaw used to have, don't remember the manufacturer, it was a Range Expander (?), some times it worked well, others it just sounded strange. Maybe we all need multiple systems for different purposes? Maybe those people with the cheap tabletop radio in the kitchen have it right?
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