Is the big rig too good for our own good??

[BruceD]

one of the most locked in memories of my youth was traveling down Highway 1 in Big Sur during Spring Break in my 64' MGB with the top down and the 8 track rocking.....

3 bearing----

BruceD

 

[Mike Lavigne]

3 bearing----

BruceD

yes; I had two 3 main bearing MGB's. one was my second car (after my first car, a 61' TR3b [knuckle dragger], was stolen), and then later when I spent a summer break working in St. Paul, Minn (my place of birth) I bought another (somewhat rusted out) 64' MGB. I loved the sound of the early MGB's. I always lamented when they added the chassis spacers in the MGB in 1975 to accommodate the USA bumper height specs. the car was never the same after that.

in between the two MGB's a had a 59' Austin Healy 100-6 (a nightmare mechanically.....you could not get to anything with the small 'bonnet' openning). the MGB's were so easy to work on.....I could rebuild everything pretty much.....which I had to do constantly (clutch, dampers (shocks), fuel pump, head gasket). I got really good with SU carbs. which helped when I got my 66' XKE 4.2 Roadster, which had 3 SU's. until I paid $1600 for the XKE the others were all $500 or less to buy.

then I got married, and that was that. the concept of a permanent roof on a car (and the absence of Lucas Electrics) became multi-decade reality.

 

[NorthStar]

Some of the cars today are so hi-fi quiet that you can even play some classical music in them.

* I too used to have a MGB roadster...decapotable, and two roofless trucks. They all had a tape cassette player, and the volume control set to eleven.
Plus, a graphic EQ with green and red lights flashing horizontally and vertically. But driving the MGB without a roof and @ 110 miles per hour I wasn't looking @ the lights for too long, only a second or less. My eyes were on the road in front of me, and my ears flapping in the wind.
Music that way is fun, but secondary, very. Or unless! ...Some particular tunes in time when we were young, when we remember and when they connected with our reckless youth...way of speech. Daredevils and taking risks without too much analysis of the consequences were some of our impulsive responses.
Today kids play video games while driving!

I like this thread, because it's not just about the gear and the music @ home but also on the road...in our cars...while on the move...with the moving vista...almost like a motion picture from Hollywood, like Tron: Legacy with Daft Punk music.

That music genre from Daft Punk while driving a sportscar...perfect. @ home watching the flick in surround sound...perfect.
In hi-fi stereo while spinning the record album on the TT...perfect.

Driving fast is more impacting when listening to the right type of music cranked @ eleven because your chances of crashing and dying are much better that @ home in your favorite chair. The adrenaline factor is exponentially expanded on the road, more suspended around the moving elements...the contact of the rubbers with the road, the tilts from the steering wheel and gear shifting stick, the right foot on that gas pedal and the left on that clutch. You're in control, like a music concert conductor with his baton.
@ home you just relax, with a cognac and a cigar. The music is now the only conductor.
@ home I like a glass of cognac with music, or rum, wine on occasions. When I was younger I used to like the aroma of hash.
That went well with Cat Stevens and Shawn Phillips and Yes and Jethro Tull music.

Another guy I like to listen to while driving is John Mayall.

 

[DaveyF]

Some of the cars today are so hi-fi quiet that you can even play some classical music in them.

* I too used to have a MGB roadster...decapotable, and two roofless trucks. They all had a tape cassette player, and the volume control set to eleven.
Plus, a graphic EQ with green and red lights flashing horizontally and vertically. But driving the MGB without a roof and @ 110 miles per hour I wasn't looking @ the lights for too long, only a second or less. My eyes were on the road in front of me, and my ears flapping in the wind.
Music that way is fun, but secondary, very. Or unless! ...Some particular tunes in time when we were young, when we remember and when they connected with our reckless youth...way of speech. Daredevils and taking risks without too much analysis of the consequences were some of our impulsive responses.
Today kids play video games while driving!

I like this thread, because it's not just about the gear and the music @ home but also on the road...in our cars...while on the move...with the moving vista...almost like a motion picture from Hollywood, like Tron: Legacy with Daft Punk music.

That music genre from Daft Punk while driving a sportscar...perfect. @ home watching the flick in surround sound...perfect.
In hi-fi stereo while spinning the record album on the TT...perfect.

Driving fast is more impacting when listening to the right type of music cranked @ eleven because your chances of crashing and dying are much better that @ home in your favorite chair. The adrenaline factor is exponentially expanded on the road, more suspended around the moving elements...the contact of the rubbers with the road, the tilts from the steering wheel and gear shifting stick, the right foot on that gas pedal and the left on that clutch. You're in control, like a music concert conductor with his baton.
@ home you just relax, with a cognac and a cigar. The music is now the only conductor.
@ home I like a glass of cognac with music, or rum, wine on occasions. When I was younger I used to like the aroma of hash.
That went well with Cat Stevens and Shawn Phillips and Yes and Jethro Tull music.

Another guy I like to listen to while driving is John Mayall.

Jeez Bob, now i know what you do in your spare time....you post here, lol! That has to be one of the most time consuming posts to put together....not saying I don't like it, just saying.

BTW, I did not start this thread with the intention of comparing car audio to home audio. I believe this phenomena occurs with many lower resolution systems!

 

[NorthStar]

No/yes, you started this thread wondering if few of us thought that our home systems are just too good for the type of music (lesser quality recordings) we enjoy more on the road, in our cars, where dead silence doesn't exist, where noises are aplenty compared to our sanctuaries @ home.

It's a fun thread and I take the time to have fun in it. Time is on my side. I don't measure/calculate in time, I just live the fun in the moment.
So yes, few members were absolutely right; there is no over-analysis, it's very simple...it floats our boat or not, @ home with the music that is well recorded.
For Led Zeppelin it's fine too, but not a quality sound level...more on a raw level. And it depends too, of which pressing...LP or CD. Some CDs of Led Zeppelin are truly awful sounding; I know so I have a bunch of those. There is no EQ that can fix it; the sound mixer/engineer simply didn't know what he was doing or he used a poor master from a tape cassette!
But Led Zeppelin is not audiophile music, it's rockandroll music. Pink Floyd sounds better, very much better.

* Davey, do you play Heavy Metal music in your main rig @ home while sitting in the sweet spot and getting electrocuted by the music quality recording?
Do you like lyrics that preach destruction and annihilation of the establishment, the corporations, the plastic manufacturers, the leaders of the world's third order, the big pockets of the corrupted underworld of drug lords? :b Do you favor Judas Priest and Alice Cooper over John Coltrane and Santana? Do you like Glenn Gould...the Canadian pianist...his music interpretations and playing and sound recordings? Do you get a better "audiophile" music listening satisfaction from your rig @ home playing the Rolling Stones on the Abkco label or Keith Jarrett on the ECM music record label?
- The Stones...record labels ? http://www.beatzenith.com/the_rolling_stones/rslplabels.htm

Still, there are many music recordings so poor in quality and atrocious in their emotional disturbance and violent messages that our rigs @ home are way too superior with the listeners to even dare to approach the TT or CD player. Even a cheap Sankai getto blaster wouldn't even play some type of music for some type of listeners here and over.
I am a big anti-certain type of music, no doubt. I just don't like to have my peace disturbed and I can't stand repeated beats from old disco Rap music. I can't I can't I can't.

* Few members here are retirees. Count me in. It's an art the mastering of retirement. It requires dedicated time, belief and experience to perform optimally.
I don't have that expertise; if I would I would be travelling the world. So, I'm among my compadres...give a little, take a little and @ the precipice of the next music selection.

 

[caesar]

Interesting thread. I'm with those who say it depends on the mood. Some days I turn on my system, and everything sounds awful to me. Other days everything sounds amazing. And then there are days when I start playing good recordings, and as my mood changes, my appetite to put on "crap" recordings increases, and I end up enjoying everything for hours on end.


But an alternate theory is that high end gear makes more complex music more enjoyable. Music is an abstract phenomenon. The more we listen to a complex piece of music, vs. say a simple catchy jingle in a commercial, the more interesting many find it.

The transparency of high end gear heightens this even more. And different strengths and weaknesses of gear interplay with our perception. Things like imaging, soundstage, tonality, dynamics, of the gear allows us to focus on different elements of the performance, not in an analytical way but while we are in the flow of enjoying the performance.

So I would think where we stand intellectually in relating to a work of music as well as the sonic signature of the gear both play a part in our enjoying and interpreting the music. And, obviously generalizing, most "good" big rigs in "good" rooms will bring out more of the sound in the recording to enhance this phenomenon even more.

 

[BruceD]

yes; I had two 3 main bearing MGB's. one was my second car (after my first car, a 61' TR3b [knuckle dragger], was stolen), and then later when I spent a summer break working in St. Paul, Minn (my place of birth) I bought another (somewhat rusted out) 64' MGB. I loved the sound of the early MGB's. I always lamented when they added the chassis spacers in the MGB in 1975 to accommodate the USA bumper height specs. the car was never the same after that.

in between the two MGB's a had a 59' Austin Healy 100-6 (a nightmare mechanically.....you could not get to anything with the small 'bonnet' openning). the MGB's were so easy to work on.....I could rebuild everything pretty much.....which I had to do constantly (clutch, dampers (shocks), fuel pump, head gasket). I got really good with SU carbs. which helped when I got my 66' XKE 4.2 Roadster, which had 3 SU's. until I paid $1600 for the XKE the others were all $500 or less to buy.
then I got married, and that was that. the concept of a permanent roof on a car (and the absence of Lucas Electrics) became multi-decade reality.

Ha!--Great times by the sounds of it--talking of Sounds indeed the B's had a throaty growl that was distinctive--my one was a 66 5B White with fine line Whitewalls and the Chrome Rack on the boot--yep the wind in ya hair--had some then!--

The Electrics Gremlins pervaded the Mini Coopers too--just don't go out in the Rain!--I had a 1275s twin tanks that gurgled away on still frosty nights at idle and woke the neighbours--I fitted a 731 Rally cam--great for the upper revs

unlike the 649 Race screamer.

I bet you love your Porsche I've owned two--a 911E Mustard--I wrote that off hit a Power Pole--and a 66 911s Titanium Rods/wheel nuts /etc--the Cookie Cutter version--the same model that Waldegaard stuffed up in the East African Safari

when he was so far ahead he thought to play silly buggers and do Donuts in the Sand--threw up so much smoke and stifling Dust/etc --his opponents passed him on to win!--can't recall where he came

But the factory was livid--ha!

We enjoy the banter --and your Stereo--Kudos

BruceD

 

[DaveyF]

Ha!--Great times by the sounds of it--talking of Sounds indeed the B's had a throaty growl that was distinctive--my one was a 66 5B White with fine line Whitewalls and the Chrome Rack on the boot--yep the wind in ya hair--had some then!--

The Electrics Gremlins pervaded the Mini Coopers too--just don't go out in the Rain!--I had a 1275s twin tanks that gurgled away on still frosty nights at idle and woke the neighbours--I fitted a 731 Rally cam--great for the upper revs

unlike the 649 Race screamer.

I bet you love your Porsche I've owned two--a 911E Mustard--I wrote that off hit a Power Pole--and a 66 911s Titanium Rods/wheel nuts /etc--the Cookie Cutter version--the same model that Waldegaard stuffed up in the East African Safari

when he was so far ahead he thought to play silly buggers and do Donuts in the Sand--threw up so much smoke and stifling Dust/etc --his opponents passed him on to win!--can't recall where he came

But the factory was livid--ha!

We enjoy the banter --and your Stereo--Kudos

BruceD

Bruce, I guess if we are talking cars....
Have you seen the run-up in prices of most older air cooled Porsche's in the last year or so...a a 911E or a '66 911s would be a serious investment now!

 

[Lee]

Davey started this thread, only him should be blamed for all our perturbations between our homes and our cars.

He's right though; some music plays better in the car and some music plays better @ home.
Our car sound systems are just not generally as good as our more expansive home sound systems. Most music was recorded to play in inferior sound systems.
The proof: the other day my friend pro musician told me that the first thing they did when their records were released was to play the tape in their cars! Very true.
Other music was created to play on open-reel tapes...classical chamber music. And those are not compressed recordings to play on our iPods that we can download from iTunes for a dollar a song. No, tapes are between $150 and $600 each, depending. That's all.

There is nothing more simple than that. :b When you have a quarter million sound system you don't play no Reggae no Punk no Rap no Heavy Metal no Rock@Roll no Pop music recorded for the masses on it. You play only the Best. Not that Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath and Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan and Bob Marley and Yello are bad; to the contrary, it's all good music we grew up with. We just prefer more sophisticated music, that's all. Like Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull, Pink Floyd, Cat Stevens and Jean-Michel Jarre. ;-)

And no; nobody here is over-analyzing anything. Because if we would we wouldn't be talking about high grade fuses, matching tubes, chocolate boxes, red roses and gold plated connections. ;-)

This is a general view; my view, and anyone can object to my view...with respect.

It really depends on the car. I drive a Lexus ES I mostly bought for the Mark Levinson sound system. It's pretty quiet; the LS430 is even more so. I can clearly hear the differences between different masterings of CDs and a surprising amount of low level detail...but yeah it's not going to be the same as my high end system at home.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

The radio in my car doesn't even get turned on, unless I'm doing a long-distance drive...and even then it's only for short periods.

 

[GaryProtein]

The radio in my car doesn't even get turned on, unless I'm doing a long-distance drive...and even then it's only for short periods.

Just because I can't have the sound in the car that I can have at home, not having the music at all is more punishment than mediocre sound.

To be sure, music with mediocre sound is far better than no music at all.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Just because I can't have the sound in the car that I can have at home, not having the music at all is more punishment than mediocre sound.

To be sure, music with mediocre sound is far better than no music at all.

It has nothing to do with sound quality. I just prefer not to have the radio on.

 

[Hi-FiGuy]

* Davey, do you play Heavy Metal music in your main rig @ home while sitting in the sweet spot and getting electrocuted by the music quality recording?
Do you like lyrics that preach destruction and annihilation of the establishment, the corporations, the plastic manufacturers, the leaders of the world's third order, the big pockets of the corrupted underworld of drug lords? :b Do you favor Judas Priest and Alice Cooper over John Coltrane and Santana? Do you like Glenn Gould...the Canadian pianist...his music interpretations and playing and sound recordings? Do you get a better "audiophile" music listening satisfaction from your rig @ home playing the Rolling Stones on the Abkco label or Keith Jarrett on the ECM music record label?
- The Stones...record labels ? http://www.beatzenith.com/the_rolling_stones/rslplabels.htm
.

Yes...
except for the favoring of one over the other, I have everything mentioned here and much much more and listen to it all, just depends on the mood. Sometimes the mood lasts 5 minutes, sometimes a month.
And yes from the sweet spot.

To add to this, I have listened to a few older, less than perfect recordings on members big rigs and at the time thought to my self that it didn't sound that great and then played it on my rig and was slapped in the face on how good the big rig made the less than stellar recording sound.

In the car I usually let Pandora help me discover new music, stream Plex or listen to books.