Amazing that he uses distortion causing valve monos, instead of flat response SS amps
ANother violin testt
- Thread starter Gregadd
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Amazing that he uses distortion causing valve monos, instead of flat response SS amps
When I was 15 and training to be an orchestral trumpet player and I was in need of my first C trumpet. My teacher, having some connections, got me into the Bach instrument factory in Elkhart, Indiana. This allowed me to play heaps of C trumpets, even some coming directly off of the line. I had my trusty 3C mouthpiece and went to work. I spent about 2 hours playing about 20 different C trumpets. When I decided that I liked the 239 bell with the S leadpipe, I took the 8 that they had on hand and worked them out. I was astonished at how different each one them played, from the sound itself, the feel of the valves, the intonation of each note, to how far I needed to kick out the 3rd valve slide when I played a low D. In turn, I was able to pick out an excellent trumpet and have a blast getting to play all of these 'same' instruments that were all very different.
Results
I have spoken with several people in the deep end of finest violins; they have not found-out the creators of the individual modern violins that did great in the tests. Threads like this are one of the MOST important parts of WBF; my opinion. zz.
I have spoken with several people in the deep end of finest violins; they have not found-out the creators of the individual modern violins that did great in the tests. Threads like this are one of the MOST important parts of WBF; my opinion. zz.
Well I am pleased to say that I did the test and got all 3 correct in 2 minutes flat 
I wonder whether as audiophiles we are more attuned to listening and thus find this stuff easy?
I wonder whether as audiophiles we are more attuned to listening and thus find this stuff easy?
Well, i took the test listening to my laptop and figured i'd never guess them right...so instead decided to order them in terms of my favorite to least favorite. I assumed the Strad being so old would be the screetchy one that i liked least, and the new one from Tesco would have the richer sound. I thought the other one was pretty nice but not so much as the sonorous one. Turns out the really sonorous one i actually liked was the Strad...and the screetchy one i did not like was from Tesco.
I've done the Telegraph test too and IMO it has nothing to do with the original test.Well I am pleased to say that I did the test and got all 3 correct in 2 minutes flat
I wonder whether as audiophiles we are more attuned to listening and thus find this stuff easy?
First of all they should have used a competent violinist. Even an average music student would do better.
Then the recording is technically mediocre at best. Stereo image isn't stable and the three versions sound rather different, not only due to violin differences.
The cheap violin is apparently so difficult to play that it results in at least twice as many musical "errors", mostly intonation, compared to the others. This is a give away.
Then there is a lot of audio clipping (I've noted 10 spots) in sample 2.
Sample 3 has a similar amount of intonation problems compared to sample 2, but no clipping, so even when you ignore violin sound quality, sample 3 is a clear winner. This happens (?) to be the Strad.
There's an interesting documentary about the original tests (which look very well designed to me) on youtube:
The study (pdf) is freely available here:
http://www.lam.jussieu.fr/Membres/Fritz/HomePage/Vincennes/FritzEtAl_PNAS_public.pdf
It was a giveaway long ago in that BBC Test from the 70s I mentioned as well. Even if you couldn't guess 3 out 3 of the 4 back then, you could still guess the 3rd one by deduction for that exact same reason. And it is quite simple - it is exactly what you say. Many new violins are simply more difficult to play. Breaking in a violin is much harder than breaking in a pair of speakers or large headphones. Some will tell you takes a 100 years plus...
And for that reason often with brand new instruments you will hear the signs of a subtle struggle - scrapes and squeaks, uncertain shifts, etc that you are not going to get as often on old instruments.
Anyone who has enjoyed this thread might want to take the time to listen to that old BBC program I heard fresh on the FM radio all those years ago. The only link I can find is poor quality MP3, but still good enough to hear what we are talking about.
http://abcviolins.com.au/bbc-radio
I don't think I am going to spoil it by telling you the new violin in that BBC test was number 3. But just listen for the struggle involved and you can tell - forget about the actual sound! By the way, the sound I got on the original FM broadcast was miles ahead of this MP3. I suppose that is another thread - the golden years of pure analogue FM.
Mind you, regarding new violins, there was a wonderful maker in Australia called Cedric Clarke. He was originally a maker, then repaired instruments only for many years based out of his home in northern Sydney. You could say that he, myself and my Mum became friends because we always seemed to be there - if it were not for repairs or new strings it was that very convoluted search for the next violin upgrade (yep, no different at all to audio equipment I'm afraid).
He moved to southern NSW some years ago and began making them again. Of course, having known him for 20 years by now I couldn't resist being first in line to try one out (he'd made a batch of two). I was a bit nervous trying them out - not from a playing or performance point of view but because his reputation preceded him. So many people I knew in professional circles had always said such wonderful things about him that I was really nervous I would be disappointed. I needn't have worried though. He had always said to me that a good violin is always going to sound good right from the get go. If it doesn't, it is doomed to be a bad one forever. But a good one, he said, would sound great from the word go and just get better and better.
Suffice to say those two were amongst the best violins I had ever played - period - and at the absolute top echelon of new ones. He did not disappoint me at all. I took the two instruments with me back to Sydney, played them in for a week then at his request took them to Christopher Kimber's house so he could have a go of them. I don't know what happened to them but I guess they did the pro rounds of the Clarke fan club.
My only "regret" was that his output would remain forever low. He repaired instruments only for so many years and not long after we last met he passed away. A few years later at the shop of a mutual acquaintance I knew well, I saw his very last instrument. It was reminiscent of the very last Strads. A perfect, exquisite body but a very sorry scroll carved by an obviously frail person. But it sounded just as good as the ones I played when he was - workmanship wise - still in his prime.
I could probably write a book of Cedric Clarke anecdotes. He was one of those blokes that was at the same time very serious and very funny. I believe he was the 20th century Aussie answer to Stradavari.
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