"Keith G" wrote in message
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"Iain Churches" wrote in message
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"Keith G" wrote in message
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"Iain Churches" wrote in message
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Andy made an interesting post on this subject some time ago.
He stated the crux of the matter to be a difference in timbre, which
is exactly the parameter used in instument recognition/differentiation.


Once the basic criteria have been met, exceptional tone and timbre is
what makes the difference and *sets the price* of a musical instrument
(and a pair of speakers)!!

Yes indeed.

I tend to evaluate speakers and musical instruments with
the same criteria. It's not at all about "high fidelity" (if it
were, then Tannoy, B+W, JBL etc would all sound the
same) but producing a sound which presents in the best
posible/most pleasing way the music to which you wish
to listen (or in the case of a musical instrument - to play)


Of course.

What never ceases to amaze me that there are those who don't seem to
realise that *no* speaker produces sound without colouring it and all
instruments produce a unique sound (timbre) - the trick is to get the most
effective combination that gives the most acceptable result.

Perhaps the most blameless is the ESL which does indeed sound
very good indeed on some material - spoken word is exceptional
But the incredibly narrow sweet spot for a stereo pair, an unconvincing
bottom octave, and an inability to handle high monitoring
levels greatly reduces their useability in professional applications.

What also amazes me is that they also don't seem to realise that some
speakers do a better job with some material than others. Usually, these
are the clowns who are *playing it safe* with some popularly-accepted
brand/model that will set all the heads nodding with approval down at the
Old Women's Club. (I suspect you could guess most of the makes that will
feature in the front line and you may depend they will be used with
material that is all of a muchness.)

:-)


The important thing is either to select a sound which, as you say, is
pleasing to you, or simply get used to the speakers you have - sooner or
later, they will imprint their own *sound* as 'normal'.

Indeed.
Now we are back to my original contention:-)

Iain