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In the Forum: Analog Playback
In the Thread: Low output MC?
Post Subject: "Musical" versus "accurate" (again...)Posted by Paul S on: 3/31/2007

I would think that one would opt at least for a cartridge able to distinguish between different violins (well) recorded in different spaces.  Although aural memory itself remains suspect, still one does want to entertain an illusion based on one's ability to "recognize" a given performance based on certain aural cues and, perhaps and/or to a point, the more cues the better.

OTOH, one never knows if or rather when certain "flaws" in playback may begin to strain credibility, clouding or shattering the illusion.

I enjoyed the "musicality of the Sonata until its sibilance and subsonic hijinks ruined it for me.

So few shared ways to describe sound; can you say what you hear/like/prefer from the Benz?

My present Ortofon MC 3000 II acts/sounds much like the master tape an LP is cut from, and its "neutrality" has pleased me; but it is also a trifle removed from the event, and if I could remedy this, I would, as it has finally started to bother me.

Meanwhile, who wants details at the expense of "connectedness"?

Who wants "vitality" or "immediacy" with no orientation or without respect to pitch, timbre, weight and scale?

It seems like most "high-end" cartridges are based on drama, per se, via proprietary manipulation/highlighting of certain aspects of the recorded fare, which in turn "brings home" a particular sense of a performance.

The annoying thing is that one's speakers and one's cartridge will always be "colored" and/or will in various ways effect their own verisons of recorded music, so it's always a matter of picking one's poison and then trying to integrate the parts into a whole that against all odds produces something one finds musically meaningful.

I recently read for the first time Romy's remark to the effect that there is absolutely no difference between one's demands of live versus recorded music.  So true.  Of course this does not mean - at all - that one's playback ever "sounds the same" as the original live performance...

Best regards,
Paul S

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