In article , Keith G
wrote:

"RPS" wrote in message
...
This is inspired by the recent discussion on possible replacement for
my Spendor BC1's (thanks for all the comments in that thread):

Many of you have commented on a speaker being more or less
neutral/accurate than others.

If you were not present at the original recording session, with good
memory, how can you judge the accuracy of the reproduction?


You can't.

I would put that slightly differently. :-)

I'd say that you can make judgements upon the accuracy or neutrality of the
reproduction, but have to accept that such judgements may not always be
reliable. :-)

My experience is that some speakers give me a sound that seems to me much
more like the sound I hear when I go to concerts. I am talking here of
'classical' music, listened to in various venues, on a number of occasions,
over many years.

This does not necessarily mean, of course, that the speakers *are* more
accurate, just that they sound more accurate to me, using my own
experience. Since I want a sound that seems to me close to what I think I
hear when at a real concert, or when listening to real human voices, this
seems to me to be a reasonably adequate method for my purposes.


I mean, I can tell that Spendor, Proac, and Dynaudio are sounding
different, but don't I need to be familiar with the actual original
sound to judge which one is accurate or uncolored?


Yes, of course, how else will you know?

Well, you need to have some familiarity with the types of sounds involved.
However this may not mean you had to be present for that specific concert.
Just work on a statistical basis, having visted that venue many times and
grown accustomed to how it tends to sound when people play the works you
are listening to. Then extend that to a number of venues. If the speakers
give a 'convincing impression' for many venues and items of music you have
some familiarity with, that seems a fair approach to me.

Slainte,

Jim

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