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In the Forum: Audio For Dummies ™
In the Thread: Romy the Cat's Audio recommendation: the biggest bang for a back
Post Subject: A trip to neural bliss - turn the stereo offPosted by rowuk on: 10/3/2023
To be honest, I think that ANY stereo system gets in the way of the music - regardless of the amount of channels.
Let us jump back to the monaural records/radio years. At that time, we had one choice and were very satisfied in being able to play back music "off line" - whenever we desired. We were limited to the records that we had purchased or what happened to be on the radio, but got ENORMOUS pleasure by the fact that we were not tied to the original event. There was not a great availability of "upgrades" so our focus actually was on the music. We never asked how much system was too little or too much.
Fast forward to the availability of stereo LPs, we had a great deal of things to deal with. 1) the EQ curves were not standard2) the recording techniques created an additional level of interpretation by having the recording engineers using support microphones to "bring out" important voices in the symphonic fabric or even using left/right to separate voices. That was certainly NOT what the classical composers had going in their heads when composing, and in many cases dramatically "distorted" the geometry of the original performance.3) Upgrade possibilities became available. Starting in the 1950s, we started to get affordable quality and many options. Instead of focusing on the music, technology became the marketing argument.4) the advent of the audiophile: now instead of better specifications and performance, the pseudo science of audiophilology dragged us into many different discussions, some sonically relevant, others simply a mine is bigger, shinier, louder, faster argument
I firmly believe that we can only have our Musical presentation (with a big M) in first place, if we have control of our need to show off (even to ourselves). If we think about technology during music appreciation sessions, we need to solve that issue. It is independent of the technology. Perhaps we need to schedule geek sessions?
I do not think that there is any limit to the size of a system, the problem is our own perception. For some, this means flat black instead of shiny speaker systems, for others it means invisible in wall systems. For yet others, it means complete automation of the process for a "set and forget" implementation of surround. Yet others turn off the stereo and read scores, letting the image form totally in their minds.
For me, reducing the amount of things to adjust on the fly has been a big help. Basically, I only use toe in between "intimate" and "spacious" and loudness to get the most plausible. The thought of surround would be only practical IF it automatically selected the right amount depending on the music played. I got at least some of that with the old Hafler L-R/R-L scheme.
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