Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
Keith G wrote:
It is reputed to have some of the lowest noise and distortion figures on
record (Martin Colloms) yet, last night when I was listening to a
particularly fine 1958 recording of Grieg's Concerto in A minor
(Solomon), I switched from the Technics on the TLS80s to my 2A3 SET on
the Fidelios and got a much better, more *exciting* (more listenable)
sound. As the SET (according to the pundits here) produces enough
distortion to bend light and the Fidelios have little or nothing outside
the range of the human voice, I am intrigued as to what's going on?

Is it me?

Almost certainly.

Plenty of people prefer the colour saturation turned up on the their telly
for that 'technicolor' look. So actually preferring some types of
distortion doesn't seem that unusual to me. That's why so many like vinyl,
after all.


It's all 'reproduction', and it all 'distorts'.

It could just be that certain modes of reproduction produce a more
satisfying result. A painter's rendition, a musician's performance, a
poet's meter, a writer's (etc). These examples may result in a more
satisfying, more *realistic*, experience of the original event, despite
the fact their efforts are not technically facsimiles.

Is distortion always bad?