Experiences every audiofanatic/phile should indulge in.
markmarc
Posts: 2,309
What experiences, places, events, or sounds should all of us experience at least once to help us appreciate our hobby. Name and give a brief explanation.
Review Site_ (((AudioPursuit)))
Founder/Publisher Affordable$$Audio 2006-13.
Former Staff Member TONEAudio
2 Ch. System
Amplifiers: Parasound Halo P6 pre, Vista Audio i34, Peachtree amp500, Adcom GFP-565 GFA-535ii, 545ii, 555ii
Digital: SimAudio HAD230 DAC, iMac 20in/Amarra,
Speakers: Paradigm Performa F75, Magnepan .7, Totem Model 1's, ACI Emerald XL, Celestion Si Stands. Totem Dreamcatcher sub
Analog: Technics SL-J2 w/Pickering 3000D, SimAudio LP5.3 phono pre
Cable/Wires: Cardas, AudioArt, Shunyata Venom 3
Founder/Publisher Affordable$$Audio 2006-13.
Former Staff Member TONEAudio
2 Ch. System
Amplifiers: Parasound Halo P6 pre, Vista Audio i34, Peachtree amp500, Adcom GFP-565 GFA-535ii, 545ii, 555ii
Digital: SimAudio HAD230 DAC, iMac 20in/Amarra,
Speakers: Paradigm Performa F75, Magnepan .7, Totem Model 1's, ACI Emerald XL, Celestion Si Stands. Totem Dreamcatcher sub
Analog: Technics SL-J2 w/Pickering 3000D, SimAudio LP5.3 phono pre
Cable/Wires: Cardas, AudioArt, Shunyata Venom 3
Post edited by markmarc on
Comments
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Live concerts....
After all, live music is the reference for any hi-fi system. -
Live concerts are nice - but those benefits are more social and fun in nature. If my system sounded half as bad as the live concerts I've been to, I would have given up on hi-fi along time ago.
That said, most of my reference points come from smaller (and usually) un-amplified venues. You know the kind, go to a place, sit down and have some chow while some live entertainment is a few feet from your table. Living in the historical triangle, I also get to hear many period instruments playing in open space. It's not to surprising that I often use period instruments to assess the timbre/tone of a system.
The last bit of experience stems from the music sessions I have with my buds. I cannot call this a reference point (listens as musicians everywhere gasp) as the perspective of sound you get as the musician is FAR different from what audience hears. The only meaningful element you can reasonably extract from the experience is accurate tone/timbre.
Did I mention that I'm a tone/timbre ****?
+1
You're not the only one Zero.
Even the un-amplified performances (i.e.:Small jazz or blues trio) aren't going to provide much stereo imaging, at least none with any real depth. Only so many seats in the sweet spot, at home, or a live show.
Drums are one instrument that sound completely different from the seat, than at front of house.
As for experiences, I would recommend anyone seeking accurate sound at home, to go to your local Guitar Center (or a quieter store lol) and pick up and play around on different instruments. Who cares if you can play it or not, you are there to listen. Try different guitar/bass and amp combos. If you don't discern a difference, you probably won't hear one at home either.
Once you are accustomed to what they sound like, then you have your reference point for accurate sound.
There are those who still rather use music to listen to their gear, than vice versa. Whatever floats your boat. -
Live concert with only one seat in the whole theater and I am the only guy sitting in it.
I know I am a selfish **** for wanting to enjoy a good show all by myself but it ain't happen in this life time unless I am Bill Gate's rich. So, I installed a live concert at home all for myself using multiples of Polk LSi speakers.
Some call me Nuts and some are not sure how it sounds like since it looks sucks! Anyway, I have balls for whom don't know what's it like to be in such walls of speakers. There are other guys who is even a bigger nuts than me.
The one below is done by one of the bigger nuts than me.
http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vaslt&1135958151Trying out Different Audio Cables is a Religious Affair. You don't discuss it with anyone. :redface::biggrin: -
Well, with my limited audio journey, one performance stands out. It was July 4th weekend, and a friend of mines parents took us out to Tanglewood, in the Berkshires.
Being a teenager, I was NOT into classical, BUT, I remember a musician playing classical guitar, at one of the 'shacks'. Even though I was, um, 'altered', I remember being MESMERISED by the tune this dude was playing. It was a slow, melodic piece, almost 'new age' in style.
30 years later, I wish I had appreciated it more.I refuse to argue with idiots, because people can't tell the DIFFERENCE! -
The french quarter of New Orleans. You'll hear live Jazz the way it was meant to be heard. The smaller places are best, where you'll find 2-5 players, no electronics, no amplification---just straight music.Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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Live concerts are nice - but those benefits are more social and fun in nature. If my system sounded half as bad as the live concerts I've been to, I would have given up on hi-fi along time ago.
That said, most of my reference points come from smaller (and usually) un-amplified venues. You know the kind, go to a place, sit down and have some chow while some live entertainment is a few feet from your table. Living in the historical triangle, I also get to hear many period instruments playing in open space. It's not to surprising that I often use period instruments to assess the timbre/tone of a system.
The last bit of experience stems from the music sessions I have with my buds. I cannot call this a reference point (listens as musicians everywhere gasp) as the perspective of sound you get as the musician is FAR different from what audience hears. The only meaningful element you can reasonably extract from the experience is accurate tone/timbre.
Did I mention that I'm a tone/timbre ****?
Couldn't agree more. Live rock and roll concerts have too much electronics to make a valid comparison IMHO. Un amplified concerts are the best and especially with vocals. I wish singers would realize this fact that their voice is much more beautiful with out the mic, amp and speakers.
Peter -
Live concerts in a large venue rarely offer an exceptional sonic experience IMO. Small venues can be nice, but an exceptional musical experience does not have to be "live" for me to enjoy it and in fact, I probably often prefer the "studio" recording...if it is done well.
For me, it would have to be sitting in a dark room in the sweet spot of an excellent rig, with no distractions whatsoever, listening to a piece of music or artist that "moves" you, so that it seems like the only ones in the room are you and the artist. No visual sensors (other than possibly the light emiting from the gear), just allowing yourself to be enveloped in the sound is an experience some may never experience. There are times it seems like I could sit for hours, just listening. My kids don't understand that you can just sit there...boring they say. ENJOYING THE MUSIC say I."Just because youre offended doesnt mean youre right." - Ricky Gervais
"For those who believe, no proof is necessary. For those who don't believe, no proof is possible." - Stuart Chase
"Consistency requires you to be as ignorant today as you were a year ago." - Bernard Berenson -
Well, with my limited audio journey, one performance stands out. It was July 4th weekend, and a friend of mines parents took us out to Tanglewood, in the Berkshires.
Being a teenager, I was NOT into classical, BUT, I remember a musician playing classical guitar, at one of the 'shacks'. Even though I was, um, 'altered', I remember being MESMERISED by the tune this dude was playing. It was a slow, melodic piece, almost 'new age' in style.
30 years later, I wish I had appreciated it more.
You got it. That's the real thing. My first visit to the BSO in Boston was a shocker. I couldn't believe how edgy and disonate the brass section was. Recodings all made the brass sound rounded and smooth but it isn't. -
My best audio experience was a space shuttle launch at night on a FL beach.
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An awesome firefight between Michigan and two-niner five, Ramadi, Iraq. A couple frags going off make me miss my subs too... damnit opus.
Ohhh... No explanation needed. I believe everyone should experience PTSD just once in their lifetime, I'm sick like that. -
Two chicks at the same time.
SRSLY. -
What experiences, places, events, or sounds should all of us experience at least once to help us appreciate our hobby. Name and give a brief explanation.
Willie Nelson's 4th of July picnic
In general, live music ... whether you like small venue's or big .... unplugged or monstrous stacks of amps ........ -
The Sun. Yeah, that big glowing orb in the sky? Go outside and enjoy it. Turn off the equipment and head outside.Expert Moron Extraordinaire
You're just jealous 'cause the voices don't talk to you! -
One thing that has surprised me was an organ concert in a cathedral. Sound you could feel. Aterwards, the organist, a Belgian Count (who totally looked the part) took me up to see the organ, followed by the mechanical room of the clock in one of the spires. I would still love to get to another organ concert some day, and also enjoy listening to orchestra in an auditorium. I intend to build an organ music collection soon enough, and I know there are some members here who will be able to guide me, judging from some posts I have read in the past.
Another experience for me, on my very first real system, was Mozart's Requiem and Handel's Messiah on a two channel system. I was sitting right in the center, in a room in an old castle with high ceilings, elaborate hand crafted crown moldings and a large, black marble fireplace. The music was blasting my mind like angels singing in heaven or hell. I listened to a few other tracks, old and new on the same system in the same circumstances.
On an other note, which will seem bizarre and macabre to some, perhaps, but I remember attending a funeral in a church in Ireland where a traditional Irish band was playing ancient Irish ballads for the burial of their Kings of old. It was a very emotionally moving experience that I will never forget. The blend of the wailing music with the sadness and the sombre ritual of the event was totally unique, like something from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings ... I am always reminded of that moment if I read or watch the mourning for Gandalf by the elves in Lothlorien (for those that know the story).
Since it is Saint Patrick's day, however, good Irish music in an Irish bar can be quite an excellent musical experience too, and I don't just mean getting drunk and listening to background noise!Alea jacta est!
