Ian, I am not quite sure what you mean. When I recently heard your system again, I found your CAT JL7 amps (and the CAT preamp) very open and airy sounding, and not dark at all; sound overall was fantastic. The CAT phono stage did sound dark and closed-in, and perhaps Davey has a point -- something may not be quite right with it. It's out of character with the rest.
Does everything in Munich sound like Magico/ Spectral? Anything tonally rich or not European taste?
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Ian, I am not quite sure what you mean. When I recently heard your system again, I found your CAT JL7 amps (and the CAT preamp) very open and airy sounding, and not dark at all; sound overall was fantastic. The CAT phono stage did sound dark and closed-in, and perhaps Davey has a point -- something may not be quite right with it. It's out of character with the rest.
Dear micro strip,
I owned speakers from all these companies (Q3, Alexia, Sasha, Sophia 3, Guarnieri Memento etc.).
You summed it all up very very very accurately. Bravo.
Having totally different approaches to music reproduction, I love both Wilson and Magico speakers.
Cheers
Sir, i have NOT disclosed which of the three I favour with slight disdain--so your observation is purely your opinion--and it could be wrong
Never judge a book /etc/etc
I do agree Peter A's System is an absolute pristine example of dedication to the craft--Kudo's to him!
BruceD
Thank you Bruce. Some might argue that it is just a book with a pretty cover, my system has entered a phase where I am sweating the small stuff, working on the unseen details, so to speak, for steady and incremental improvements. With relatively neutral and transparent gear, these are the things that can add up over time to make a considerable difference.
I have never been to the Munich show, so who knows whether all those systems, including my Magico system, sound alike? But, I tend to doubt it.
See my show report from last year at Positive Feedback...it is not all the lean and fast way!
Basically...funny enough though CAT has never sounded dark in any system i have heard it in.
Things should be tonally rich, but if the sound is not 'fast' it's no good. 'Fast' should not be a pejorative in the high end -- it's a requirement.
When I hear of people saying "fast" in audio, they are often describing a sound that truncates instrument decay. Like an 80s electronic snare drum sound.
The horns Brad mentions in his article, especially tune audio Anima and universum are faster than cones. Cones are slooow.
not always.
the big thing for me is how an amplifier scales. speed is the ability of an amplifier to have that 'jump' factor no matter the degree of SPL change (even at .5 or 1 watt) or degree of impact and maintain tonal integrity and transparency as the scale and dynamics change.....and.....as you suggest that 'fast' amplifier needs to be able to do the sustain of notes properly. it's a balancing act.
of course, it's an amplifier-speaker combination we are really talking about.
We should not capitulate in view of a wrong use of the term, by abandoning the right use of it.
sorry, what is the "right" use of fast in this context? It's not like the speakers are running a race. Fast in audio is already stretching the word beyond its original meaning...I always take it to mean something that let's go of the notes quickly...no overhang but this can also imply that decay of instruments (important for tonal complexity, soundstage and ambience) are unnaturally quickly truncated.
For me "fast" is the ability to resolve short duration sound events in their entirety without having them inadvertently mask succeeding and be masked by concurrent events rather than being a trait. That's my take anyway.
'Fast' to me refers to the ability to faithfully follow the input signal, from rise to extinction; thus transients, decay and everything in between.
I am more concerned with exaggerated transients that make systems sound "lean and fast". That is not what I hear with live unamplified sounds...even up close. Whenever I have heard a system that people said was "fast" I heard this. For sure some systems also mute transients but systems that sound "slow" to me are usually dealing with some kind of midbass or lower midrange resonance that doesn't decay quickly and smears over the sound. This can be a speaker fault or an amp fault (particular with tube amps where the output transformer core is saturating...this distortion type can be perceived as slow). Just muting the transients, IMO, does not necessarily make something sound slow. Phase relationships in speakers can also create issues this way. What bothers me about most SS amps is that they have a tendency to exaggerate transients because of the nature of their distortion patterns that emphasize higher order harmonics, which can give a "lean" "bright" sound that is often also interpreted as "detailed" or "fast". Some tube amps also exaggerate here as well but it tends to manifest more as a "glassy" sound. I should note that I have never heard this issue with a good SET or PP Class A triode amp (usually both without or minimal negative feedback).
I don't think of horns as fast or slow, per se, just more "right" in many ways compared to a live reference. Impact is the right word I think...
Systems that sound right will give you extended decay without smearing over of other minute or larger scale sounds. Many systems I have heard that were labeled as "fast" had snap but poor decay (the sound just disappeared quickly out of sight). Some other, warmer sounding systems gave tone and depth but it was harder to unravel things on the micro scale as smearing was occurring. My later friend Allen Wright had a term he coined called downward dynamic range (DDD). He said DDD was when a system would allow very soft sounds to maintain distinct clarity in the presence of much louder sounds. Like for example the decay of an undamped piano in the left back corner of a soundstage that can still be heard long after the playing stops but there is a loud blatt from a trumpet or whack of a snare in another part of the soundstage but you can still hear the piano decaying clearly. This is where realism come from IMO, not "speed" or "transient whacks" or whatever. Allen was big on getting this maximized in his gear and his RTP-3D is still one of the best if not the best preamps ever. His amps, one the right speakers, captured this beautifully as well. They didn't sound "fast" or "slow"....just right. Harmonic balance guaranteed natural non-exaggerated highs so there was no perception of "fast" and no hangover from bass distortion to make them sound "slow".
Just like we had a discussion on the meaning of seamless, we can now have one on the meaning of fast.
I don't think "no hangover from bass distortion to make them sound "slow" " is fast, because then any DRCed system is fast. Well, as a matter of fact, Marty's spectral+pipedreams+JL Gothams+DRC is still the fastest system I heard, causing realism through macro impact, speed, and jumps. Trios with bass horns are darn fast too. For me micro fast is how each not continuously and swiftly follows the other note, creating micro impact. Macro fast is speed slams and jumps and bass thumps. Stats and ribbons move pretty fast. With cones, I can hear drivers taking their own time, especially in the midbass and bass
I don't think "no hangover from bass distortion to make them sound "slow" " is fast, because then any DRCed system is fast. Well, as a matter of fact, Marty's spectral+pipedreams+JL Gothams+DRC is still the fastest system I heard, causing realism through macro impact, speed, and jumps. Trios with bass horns are darn fast too. For me micro fast is how each not continuously and swiftly follows the other note, creating micro impact. Macro fast is speed slams and jumps and bass thumps. Stats and ribbons move pretty fast. With cones, I can hear drivers taking their own time, especially in the midbass and bass
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