I've followed Stereophile for many years and have a question. I'm sure this has been addressed, but thought I'd ask anyway. It's fine if someone could site me an earlier opinion.
It is interesting to read reviews of high end equipment, the question I'm addressing is "What about the other end?"
My wife's a retired organist and, of course, we listen to a lot of organ recordings. Some exceptional; some not. Consider from the recording end the effect on sound and sound quality the tremendous number of variables from the type and manufacture of microphones, their placement, cables, recording equipment, mixing equipment and the transfer of the recording to the medium used to transmit the recorded sound to a sound system have. How is this accounted for in reviews?
My wife and I have listen to many, many live performances and find even here there is a difference in the sound according to the room and, of course, the distance from the performer. There are any number of classical recordings we find simply "satisfying" and others that are spectacular. Even in our system that is decent but not "high end" this can be most evident.
A couple of recordings come readily to mind: Anner Bylsma's set of the Bach Suites for Solo Cello on a Stradivarius from the Smithsonian collection makes you feel you could reach out and touch the instrument and Cheryl Ann Fulton's recording of "The Airs of Wales" on her Welsh triple harp is an almost visceral experience.
When one considers current non-acoustic popular music, manipulation of the sound or outright electronic production is usually involved. How does one adjust for this in the evaluation of sound? What is an "accurate" reproduction of electronic sound? If the reviewer prefers popular music how does this translate to one who likes classical or jazz?
I have often wondered how a competent and credible reviewer would react to a blind evaluation where the listener is unaware of the component being reviewed: cartridge, pre-amplifier, speaker cable, turntable, etc. Could they detect if the sound they hear is actually more authentic one way or another?
Talk amongst yourselves....
I've followed Stereophile for many years and have a question. I'm sure this has been addressed, but thought I'd ask anyway. It's fine if someone could site me an earlier opinion.
It is interesting to read reviews of high end equipment, the question I'm addressing is "What about the other end?"
My wife's a retired organist and, of course, we listen to a lot of organ recordings. Some exceptional; some not. Consider from the recording end the effect on sound and sound quality the tremendous number of variables from the type and manufacture of microphones, their placement, cables, recording equipment, mixing equipment and the transfer of the recording to the medium used to transmit the recorded sound to a sound system have. How is this accounted for in reviews?
My wife and I have listen to many, many live performances and find even here there is a difference in the sound according to the room and, of course, the distance from the performer. There are any number of classical recordings we find simply "satisfying" and others that are spectacular. Even in our system that is decent but not "high end" this can be most evident.
A couple of recordings come readily to mind: Anner Bylsma's set of the Bach Suites for Solo Cello on a Stradivarius from the Smithsonian collection makes you feel you could reach out and touch the instrument and Cheryl Ann Fulton's recording of "The Airs of Wales" on her Welsh triple harp is an almost visceral experience.
When one considers current non-acoustic popular music, manipulation of the sound or outright electronic production is usually involved. How does one adjust for this in the evaluation of sound? What is an "accurate" reproduction of electronic sound? If the reviewer prefers popular music how does this translate to one who likes classical or jazz?
I have often wondered how a competent and credible reviewer would react to a blind evaluation where the listener is unaware of the component being reviewed: cartridge, pre-amplifier, speaker cable, turntable, etc. Could they detect if the sound they hear is actually more authentic one way or another?
Talk amongst yourselves....