How do you use female voice (assuming it's not a singer you know personally*) to assess a system?
How do you use female voice (assuming it's not a singer you know personally*) to assess a system?
How do you use female voice (assuming it's not a singer you know personally*) to assess a system?
Having heard a violin, various female singers and electronic music life on plenty of occasions the audible memory of how things should sound is firmly in place. IMHO there ususally is a development in hearing acuity, some folks have it ight away, some never pick it up, others can learn.
It's not about comparing any specific voice or violin or EDC band (one perhaps could do that using Ruggiero Ricci's 'violins of Cremona') but HOW that 'instrument' sounds, coherence, balance, overtones, dynamics, impact, emotion.
Demonstrations with recordings that are sonically amazeballs and that scale larger than life dominating hifi demos is mostly logical… sensational in effect, safe, familiar and sonically impressive and chosen to immediately have impact in showcasing attributes of the gear. As an exhibitor you get a very small window of opportunity to impress and musical engagement is a slower thing to take hold and appreciate than are immediate fireworks from impressive initial sonic wows.That too. There is a snowball effect. There's a reason why we keep hearing the same tracks in demos.
modern speakers are perhaps designed for a more immediate wow and sonic weighted rather than musical weighted impression whereas vintage speakers were designed for music and appreciation.
Yet others thrive just fine on listening essentially to a small diet of audiophile demo standard recordings all the time and get all they need from having a familiar sonic vibe and don't need a greater range than that… and what does that matter…
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Yesterday the wedding of my son was done beautuflly in front of 100 guests.
I dropped in some audio shops in Seoul, Korea today.
1. I listened to Magico A5 driven by Sim Audio integrated.
The owner of shop mentioned that Octave vacuum amp fitted with KT150 is the best to drive A5, but not ready for audition today.
Even driven by Sim Audio integrated, A5 sounds fast and clean
It is really good for the money.
I am not sure whether I have enough motivation to replace Lansche 4.1 by Magico A5.
But if I have fresh start with budget of 25K$ on speaker, A5 is hard to beat.
2. Then I dropped in the vintage audio shop where I auditioned full 3 way Western Electric system valued at 300k$ two years ago.
The one that I auditioned had been sold.
But I had listeded to JBL Hartzfield early version(three way) in excellent condition.
It really sounds warm an moving.
I got tempted to pull the trigger for JBL at 35k$.
Then I had listened to Altec A800 early version in pristine condition.
I got blown away by the sound driven by Altec 1520 T vacuum amplifier.
It sounds natural with effortless dynamics and good extensiion on both treble and bass.
It sounds excellent for both vocal and orchestral music.
I had bought Altec A7 speakers located in Vancouver, Canada two months ago at 1000 CDN(800 USD) for pair of speakers.
I expect to pick it up after being back to Washinton State next week.
But I am not sure whether Altec A7 will sound as good as Altec A800.
With Lansche 4.1 still working fine, I may not need to add Magico A5.
But I am tempted to add Altec A800 at reasonable price in addition to Altec A7.
Would you consider Magicos "fast" compared to JBL or Altec horns? I would say more truncated than fast.I thought I would go back to the opening post to see how this long thread got started. Magico cones in sealed box verses JBL and Altec horns.
Modern versus vintage speakers: “fast and clean” versus “ natural with effortless dynamics and good extensiion on both treble and bass” and “It sounds excellent for both vocal and orchestral music.”
That sounds about right. Different values with different results.
1 is the most common, coupled with unnatural tone.My complaints about modern speakers are that most of them:
(1) have unnatural bass. With many the bass is too lean in the upper bass and lower midrange, not warm enough, which contributes to a sense of restrained dynamics;. With other modern speakers, the bass has an unnatural boom and thumpy coloration.
(2) are too bright which sounds hyped and artificial to my ears; and
(3) have precisely located “spot-lit” images which also sounds artificial and quite different from what I hear with live music.
My original intent probably could have been better framed with saying that its not just that the boxes have changed but culture has changed and we are changed by that in ways.the sound of Tao said:
modern speakers are perhaps designed for a more immediate wow and sonic weighted rather than musical weighted impression whereas vintage speakers were designed for music and appreciation.
Purely conjecture but maybe contemporary patterns of short attention spans and an ever growing expectation of greater sensation might be the reason modern speakers are perhaps designed for a more immediate wow and sonic weighted rather than musical weighted impression and maybe that is what contemporary audio has become tilted to whereas vintage speakers were designed for cultures exposed to slower paces and more used to slower terms of digestion of experience and a different type or expectation about music and appreciation. Like I said though, just conjecture.
Would you consider Magicos "fast" compared to JBL or Altec horns? I would say more truncated than fast.
1 is the most common, coupled with unnatural tone.
The other issue is there seems to be awful mismatches between top half and bottom half drivers, so there is no appropriate amp on modern inefficient speakers. That's why audiophiles put some valve to roll off the top end and not make it bright, and in the process end up underdriving the woofers.
It then becomes a case of adding one bandaid on top of another to fix issues that arise from earbleeds from the previous bandaid applied. Until, the whole thing looks and sounds like this so you don't know what's in the recording.
I see hear mere personal preference for certain sonic attributes satisfied by speakers which provide those attributes.
Try 96dB sensitive Goebel Divin Majestics driven by SETs.