Daddy Dee Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 I am not a big fan of Musicals. You can keep West Side Story and 42nd Street. Just not my cup of tea. I'm o.k. with musicals. It's opera that's not my cup of tea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kaiser SET say Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Follow Dukes advice and all your questions will be answered[] Dukster, L-36's are the second pair of speakers I ever bought myself! They went right along with my first pair which were Advent largers[] Sold both pairs when I got back stateside in favor of a brand spanking new pair of 4311B Control Room Monitors that I drove with a matching pair of NAD 2200's[] Synergize[] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pauln Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Musical means playback is coherent and faithfull to the original, especially if the original was music instruments vs studio techniques. Correct pitch, attacks, sustains, decays, ambience, reflections, tone, overtones, harmonics, frequency spectral balance, authenticity of performance artifacts generated by real musicians... Where is that can of worms? Oh, here it is...Musical means musical to musicians. In the same way that a person whose perception of sound is impaired can't make a true judgement on the accuracy of playback; likewise, a person who is not musical can not truly judge whether a playback system/source is musical. This does not mean he does not enjoy it, just that his enjoyment is not based on the system's musicality. If a person does not play musical instruments or sing, can't distinguish modes and chords, or in the extreme case is tone deaf (can't carry a tune or find the note on an instrument that matches the pitch of a note that was just played), that person will not hear a musical system as musical. But he can still enjoy what he does hear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duke Spinner Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 hhhmmmnnnn.. I think I have a bad case of Musicians Ear ... almost any system , of certain quality, sounds great to me .... I'm lovin my old 30 watt Kenwood right now ....[] well,most any 'cept ..Blose..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted July 31, 2006 Share Posted July 31, 2006 Am I missing the point here, Why do you need equipment to know if something is musical? Is not a person playing a piano musical? Classical music was written and performed long before reproduction equipment was available, does that mean that music was not musical? Stereo equipment has not been around all that long, Music on the other hand has been around hundreds of years, because there was no stereo to judge it on, it's not musical? Help me out here, or did I completely miss the point of this post? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stormin Posted July 31, 2006 Author Share Posted July 31, 2006 Am I missing the point here, Why do you need equipment to know if something is musical? Is not a person playing a piano musical? Classical music was written and performed long before reproduction equipment was available, does that mean that music was not musical? Stereo equipment has not been around all that long, Music on the other hand has been around hundreds of years, because there was no stereo to judge it on, it's not musical? Help me out here, or did I completely miss the point of this post? Yeah you completely missed the point of this post. Just kidding, you're ok oldbuckster. The point of the post was with folks throwing around the term musical all over the place i wanted to find someway of understanding their meaning. I understand what you are saying with live music. But even with live music if its not played with some sort of organized unity then it too falls short of being musical. Playing an out of tune guitar...Yuck! Or playing an instrument that you really have no talent of playing...Yikes! But keeping this post to stereo systems and listening to folks use that term has me trying to understand. Its not just in this forum either that you see that its everywhere that audio is talked about. Actually i have even seen people refer to musical as some added distortion over on audiogon. I guess i feel if a person is having fun and enjoys what they are hearing then something must be right. But as you look around most of us change gear in a never ending search for the holy grail. Seems like what is good today either changes or we just are not completely satisfied and need a change. But with some of the folks who have given their definition of a musical system i will in the future understand what they are referring too. Helps in the never ending search. Also i find helpful is their musical tastes, such as jazz, rock, classical or what not. I like rock and it is so compressed that maybe the system has to be colorized somewhat just to enjoy. I dont really know just throwing things out there. Anyway with the folks who have given their input , thanks. Randy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldbuckster Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Stormin', Thanks for the reply, I guess I understand your point. I just get confused here sometimes because every time you mention music here it turns into a discussion about equipment. Music and equipment are not the same subject, in my view, it can be turned that way, but not the same. Many members have "to die for" stereo systems, but what good are they without electricity? You can make music without power, an acoustic guitar, a piano, any wind instrument, a drum, and of course, if it's out of tune, or the player is not talented, it's awful, but you don't need equipment to know it sucks. Would say Eric Clapton be less musical on an acoustic guitar, than he is on a plugged in Fender? Don't want to belabor the point, just want to Thank You for your response, not looking to start anything, just share my view............................ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxg Posted August 1, 2006 Share Posted August 1, 2006 Well as my take appears to be a little different from most on here I will profer the following: I do not think musical and accurate have anything in common whatsoever. Now - why.... Over the years I have been fortunate enough to listen to many and various systems varying from relatively cheap and chearful offerings to downright ludicrous systems costing more than many people's houses - in London!!! Let me breakdown a little some of the sonic signatures I have heard: Analytical: These are typical audiophile systems - playing audiophile recordings. It appears that you can hear every single detail of the sound. These systems are rarely musical. They flood the ear with detail to the point that it is difficult to focus on the music as a whole. Listening to such systems you will often hear people exclaim - wow - listen to that cymbol - or that guitar. As often as not that means that the sonic whole is less apparent. the listener finds himself focusing on a particular element of the sound - or even switching from one element to another without ever being consious of the composition. Such systems may, or may not, be sonically accurate. You might be able to hear every single detail - but was that what the composer intended? Is the tone of the guitar, for example, correct? It is very hard to know - I go entirely on feel and experience - sometimes it appears spot on - other times it seems miles away. A typical speaker that I would associate with analytical is the Quad 988/989. Accurate: These are systems where, in the main, you generally feel - within the limits of the recording that what you are hearing is about as close to what was recorded as it is possible to be. These systems may or may not be analytical - they may or may not be musical. Generally such systems might be described as lacking a sonic signature of their own. This is often cited as the goal of audiophilia. Whilst my own system is more in this category than any of the others I would venture that the goal is very much down to the owner and what he or she is looking for. For example. If you listen to a violin in an enclosed space it can come across as very harsh - quite strident at the top end. An accurate system will reproduce this. If you listen to music as a dedicated sport - in other words not as background but entirely focused on the music then this might be what you are looking for (then again it might not). If you listen to music mainly as a background to some other activity then it is more probable that you want a less obtrusive sound - more melodic and musical. A would place Klipsch, and to a lesser extent Avantgarde in this category. Musical: If I were to define a musical system it could easily be a Linn turntable (but not with all the upgrades) with their arm and cart playing through a tube phono stage through an amp into a pair of panel speakers (the name of which escapes me for a moment - legends of the 70's). Such a system I have heard. It was quite the most musical experience I have ever had in front of a system. Was it accurate - definitely not. It had one of the strongest sonic signatures I have ever come across. Every record we played was most definitely a record playing through this system and no other. Whether it was rock or classical made not one jot of difference. All sounds appeared to be coated in velvet. Soft, warm. lush and quite magical - but wildly different. I could not listen to this system every day for sure - but once a week or so - to mellow out - I cannot imagine anything better. Tony loathed and detested it - I thought he was going to be sick at one point. Each to their own.... All just my own thoughts of course.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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