Are You On The Road To...Audio Hell?

From Enjoy The Music.com, an interesting article :

http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/view...1/audiohell.htm

very interesting .... i'll have to ponder this idea.

I'm afflicted, is it curable it?

This post has been edited by Elroy on February 01, 2008 05:18 pm

What a great read.

According to this I'm living in Audio Hell. And from what I know about myself and my system, I do indeed live there.

Personally I find most audio systems, speaking most specifically about speakers, are either fatiguing, bass challenged (too much or too little), too difficult to place and the price/performance ratio to be too steep.

I've sold components for years and owned a pretty decent amount of components and speakers over a 15yr period. While I have come to the conclusion that I may never be satisfied with a singular system within my budget, I haven't completely given up either.

I've even considered building my own speakers, and have spent a great deal of time on that subject. That of course is quite a challenge unto itself, and the quest for making something that suits me in the realm of affordability, is pretty much impossible, since the upfront costs in design and construction are extremely high.

That being said, there is no one that could pull me out of that Hell but me. Have I listened to systems that I find satisfactory? Yes but always way too expensive. The more budget minded components I have found can be very good in performance, but will tend to have that "careful-of-the-volume" design, lack of bass or both.

4. Do you believe that the true function of an audio system is to re-create music; and that therefore you can only accurately evaluate audio playback if you have an extensive knowledge of live music performance?

7. When you ask yourself; "What should be the correct reference, live music or the recording session?" Do you conclude that it is one or the other? Are you comfortable with you answer to this question?


These questions, in my mind, are very closely related, if not one in the same.

I've always questioned the wisdom of using live music as a reference. As a musician of, ahem, many years, I would definitely not want my system to sound "live". I can only think of two places I've played where the sound on stage was truly excellent. One is a tiny club downtown and the other seated about 3,000. Otherwise, the sound onstage typically ranges from passable, to pathetic, sometimes having to step out in front of the house mains to more accurately hear what was going on, right on the stage I was standing. Even practicing acoustically, with the other musicians right there, if the room isn't treated well the sound can be splashy, awash in reverberations or overly muted. When it's just right, it's magic; but, that's rare. So, for me, when someone says "it's like you're right there with the musicians" that doesn't necessarily get me excited.

As far as being in the audience and having the performance shouted back to me through PA speakers at high decibels in mono is no prize either. It takes a super sound engineer to overcome the failure points of most venues. Once they do, there is still "the cougher" in the next row and "the talkers" a few seats to your right. Outside venues? Then you've got wind, airplanes, traffic, etc. The exception seems to be a symphonic presentation in a great hall, sitting 3 or so rows back. Now that, is impressive and I must say not even the best speakers I've heard, including the big Maggies, could compete with that. In general, I find no speaker compares to sitting directly in front of any instrument, whether it be my acoustic, Marshall stack, French Horn, violin, piano, etc.

Then there's the Hendrix experience; where the studio is used, intentionally, as a tool and the music has it's origin there (Electric Ladyland). "The studio album." For Miles Davis' post bop era the engineers chopped up recordings and spliced them together to create something that didn't actually happen that way. It gets a little crazy. Even if we are familiar with the sound of a trumpet, even every one ever made... Miles' often altered his trumpet with a wah-wah. Now we're presented with having to know which wah-wah he used; an original Vox, Clyde McCoy, Dunlop Crybaby????

I'm satisfied if I can come reasonably close to a presentation that can relay the actual pre-recorded program material I've purchased with the least amount of negative coloration (and each man, must for himself, decide what that is). That presents the final challenge. I have no idea what the original pre-recorded program material sounds like. Catch 22. That's where specs are important to me. If it's a symphony in D major, I want a TT that won't spin it up to E flat major or down to C major. So I don't miss the lowest synth note or the highest piccolo tweet, I need a system that will be as flat as possible across 20Hz to 20kHz. Slight colorations, sonic signature differences, here and there are no biggie. I understand one can enjoy music on an AM radio with a 3 inch speaker; however, it's far more enjoyable, for me, on a system with far higher fidelity. If I never get to the mystical "audio nirvana", s'ok, as long as I don't spend my entire listening session wincing in pain, all the better if I can vanish deep into the music. It's takes a good system to do that; but, it doesn't take the "holy grail".

My two cents... ...just thoughts.

i've done more than my fair share of chasing my tail, but in the end i've found more value in enjoying the gear i have than lusting after what i dont. we dont have the technology yet where sound can be reproduced with true fidelity, so the endless pursuit for better gear ultimately leads to disappointment. better to put more focus on the music imo.

indeed. my system is hardly even anywhere close to "True Hi-Fi" in most Audiophile/Music Lover's eyes,
but every component has been hand picked by me according to my personal
tastes and desires, and the resultant collection as a whole brings me
nothing but pleasure.

in sum, i do not believe i ever did go down a "Road To Audio Hell"
but a road to the Hi-Fi Audio/A/V system of my dreams, and,
though it has taken the lion's share of the first decade of the
21st century to get there, i feel i have finally arrived.

not to bad an accomplishment for a man of a mere 28 years of age, i think...

I'm definitely moving in this direction. I've been buying more music lately and enjoying it more then ever before. Of course, I do enjoy the benefits of a decent playback system.

*Ahem*

"Ahem" what?