John Phillips wrote:
On 2009-04-23, Rob wrote:
I suspect for some it's gone beyond listening to music, and towards some
sort of maths.

Rob, just for the record (and I am sure you appreciate this but I am
responding to the words above) it's perfectly possible to enjoy the music
while also enjoying the maths and the engineering of music reproduction.

Actually http://www.usenet.org.uk/uk.rec.audio.html, the current charter
of this newsgroup says:

"uk.rec.audio is an unmoderated newsgroup. It is primarily a forum
for discussion of hi-fi equipment available in the UK, a place for
independant reviews and opinions on hi-fi, and an advice centre
for those bitten by the upgrade bug. It may include discussions on
what hi-fi is trying to do (accurately reproduce music? a 'live'
acoustic?) and its development. It is also a site for the private
sale and exchange of used hi-fi components."

This seems to place more emphasis on the equipment than the music.

I am sure there are those who don't care what the charter says and
will post what they believe is on topic according to their interests.
I am happy to appreciate people's specific interests and to enjoy posts
that are interesting and at least near to the topic.

However, my point is that if people are sticking to the topic as I
interpret it then it may well appear as you write but not, in fact, be so.


I would suggest that on occasion the empirical (positivist, numerical)
argument overtakes the discussion of using equipment to listen to music.

Quite 'what comes out' (of the speakers etc.) is simply an irrelevance
for some, if a part of the chain (source, amplifier) doesn't confirm to
a manner of mathematical precision.

Hence chucking around the term 'distortion' - as if it's necessarily a
barrier to enjoying music. In so far as I understand what 'distortion'
is (and I don't think it's any one thing, or even a suitable term all
the time) that opinion is open to challenge.


In any case, just as it's OK to enjoy listening to music without enjoying
the maths and the engineering, its equally OK for people to enjoy things
in the opposite way.

Sorry to pick on your post but it's recently got quite contentious in
here and I wondered if maybe some broader perspective could advantageously
be injected?


No, that's fine, your comments are welcome. It's just hotted up a little
in here because I should be working (always a time I resort to NGs!) and
a certain Keith has found a little spare time. The point of my comment
was in fact to try and broaden the discussion - not contain, or worse,
close it.

It'll settle down in a moment, and we'll be back to 3 posts a week about
speaker cables :-)

Rob