I know this subject crops up every so often, I don't have any clever views, just another perspective
But it's a topic always worth garnering opinions on
In London I didn't get out to much live classical music, but w my recent move to The Sticks has opened up my opportunities
I'm attending a fortnight festival half a dozen times, will go on to at least a weekly concert thereafter
On Monday saw an Oboe Group (2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Tailles, period instruments) playing Philidor and Purcell amongst others in a beautiful old building (part Norman/gothic) sympathetic acoustic, and then piano recital in the big Minster, slightly harder very reverberant space, program incl Chopin, Schumann and Tchaikovsky
None of this was my usual music of choice, but it was 200% super enjoyable
What I take away from my comparison to music played at home, a sound I'm totally happy with
First, live unamplified dynamics are just plain scary! In a domestic like environment 50x25x20 w plenty of soft furnishings, the Oboe Group just effortlessly scaled the heights
I've never experienced any home system come even close
Acceleration from a standing start just puts all our systems to the sword
Where I felt my system could hold its head up was in the area of tonal density and timbre to some extent
My system w tubes and full range drivers, zero crossovers, makes a pretty decent stab at replicating what I heard from the Oboe Group ie a texture and density I don't hear from more tipped up, treble spotlit uber resolution super brand systems (no names, no criticism)
I remain totally vindicated my choices here are proven to be good ones by what I heard
Also the other conclusions are that despite a superficial similarity to hi Rez digital, live classical IMHO more analogous to the best vinyl replay, esp in the areas of tone, timbre, density, flow and energy
And no doubt the absence of listening thru the mic feed a couple of generations down from the master reveals the massive bottleneck on dynamics, energy and flow we put up w at home
To hear such unrestricted flooding of the space w energy and dense information gives real pause for thought in the comparison to what we experience at home
Just my two cents
But it's a topic always worth garnering opinions on
In London I didn't get out to much live classical music, but w my recent move to The Sticks has opened up my opportunities
I'm attending a fortnight festival half a dozen times, will go on to at least a weekly concert thereafter
On Monday saw an Oboe Group (2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Tailles, period instruments) playing Philidor and Purcell amongst others in a beautiful old building (part Norman/gothic) sympathetic acoustic, and then piano recital in the big Minster, slightly harder very reverberant space, program incl Chopin, Schumann and Tchaikovsky
None of this was my usual music of choice, but it was 200% super enjoyable
What I take away from my comparison to music played at home, a sound I'm totally happy with
First, live unamplified dynamics are just plain scary! In a domestic like environment 50x25x20 w plenty of soft furnishings, the Oboe Group just effortlessly scaled the heights
I've never experienced any home system come even close
Acceleration from a standing start just puts all our systems to the sword
Where I felt my system could hold its head up was in the area of tonal density and timbre to some extent
My system w tubes and full range drivers, zero crossovers, makes a pretty decent stab at replicating what I heard from the Oboe Group ie a texture and density I don't hear from more tipped up, treble spotlit uber resolution super brand systems (no names, no criticism)
I remain totally vindicated my choices here are proven to be good ones by what I heard
Also the other conclusions are that despite a superficial similarity to hi Rez digital, live classical IMHO more analogous to the best vinyl replay, esp in the areas of tone, timbre, density, flow and energy
And no doubt the absence of listening thru the mic feed a couple of generations down from the master reveals the massive bottleneck on dynamics, energy and flow we put up w at home
To hear such unrestricted flooding of the space w energy and dense information gives real pause for thought in the comparison to what we experience at home
Just my two cents
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