Natural Sound

[Al M.]

Ralph’s amps are a different approach from Lamm. I and others made the same choice. I can’t explain the technical reasons as Ralph can, but I know which sounds more natural to me and which sounds more like music.

You mean judging from a system video? Really?

 

[Al M.]

Al, Do you think such a thread title is an invitation for manufacturers to come onto someone’s system thread and describe deficiencies about gear choices made by the author and then present alternatives that they claim their designs seem to solve?

As Micro says, it's a very general title, and thus invites all kinds of comments.

 

[microstrip]

SET amps, vintage horn speakers, and vintage turntables are a specific approach to playback Pioneered by Japanese audiophiles. DDK took this approach and married it with LAMM’s designs. I have also taken this approach but I’m not using Lamm.

Do you think that this approach did not exist before Japanese audiophiles took it? As far as I know Lamm was started in 1993.

BTW, people interested in the 60's and 70's Japanese audiophiles can find great descriptive articles in the L'Audiophile, including details of several great systems building.

These systems are not typical audiophile systems. They do not image nor do they have extreme detail. But, when you see a live orchestra, there is not imaging or extreme detail.

Great audiophile systems do not have extreme detail, but they convey extreme information - very different things.

Curiously, when we see a live orchestra, there is imaging and lots of added detail. Most people look for the best seats for the visual, not just for sound.

In general, the objective of sound reproduction is using enough of the substance of the real performance, including the type of visual information we get at real performances, to create an enjoyable listening. Many sound engineers work hard to encode all this information in the recording.

 

[microstrip]

Judging a book by its cover is a shallow way to assess its contents.

Yes, Peter would probably be disappointed by this one.

 

[Atmasphere]

I believe balanced systems are less natural than un-balanced systems like Lamm.

When you play an LP or most CDs, balanced lines are involved. If you used un-balanced connections as an alternative in the recording you'd get considerably less natural sound (for example, very likely a loss of high frequencies, plus the cables would introduce their own 'sound'). IOW doing so would render high fidelity recordings impossible. Balanced lines, along with the tape recorder, more than any other technology, ushered in the age of high fidelity.

Yet we all use recordings in our pursuit of Natural Sound.

Its pretty obvious irony is still a thing

Ralph’s amps are a different approach from Lamm.

This statement isn't accurate. In talking to Vlad, it was apparent that he and I had the same goals and to that effect, understood the same things about human hearing in order to achieve them. We went about our goals differently. So yes, a different approach in some ways but with a similar result. I liked Vlad; he was easy to talk to and was gracious when I needed a part when servicing one of his amps.

Your story about me is apparently made up and therefore mostly fictitious.

For example you seem to think I'm here to promote my products. If that is so, then your surmise is false. That set of filters then seems to have gone on to prevent you in seeing how to improve your existing system. Since I don't know you, never met you and so on, it would be pretty dumb for me to take all this personally. If you ever wondered how I maintain decorum under internet attack its the knowledge of that simple fact.

So I'll put it to you again. Bass is screwing up the sound of your system. LPs produce low frequencies via record warp. Your speakers can't reproduce anything near that. Your speakers really don't reproduce much below 40Hz. So if you simply limited the bass going into your amps with a -3dB point at 40Hz you'd notice an immediate increase in clarity and jump factor. That can be done with a simple capacitor of the right value.

Seems to me I advised Ron of this idea on his system thread. I think he took it seriously. You could ask him about the results with his 'Italians'.

But you're not interested because somehow I'm promoting my equipment by telling you how things work. You could solve that issue by simply trying it...

Folks, please do not 'like' or respond to this post with one of the emoji thingys. The site alerts me; when I see stuff that is obviously wrong or the like I feel a compulsion to set the record straight. Probably more of my own doing the same thing expecting different results...

 

[jeff1225]

Do you think that this approach did not exist before Japanese audiophiles took it? As far as I know Lamm was started in 1993.

BTW, people interested in the 60's and 70's Japanese audiophiles can find great descriptive articles in the L'Audiophile, including details of several great systems building.

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Great audiophile systems do not have extreme detail, but they convey extreme information - very different things.

Curiously, when we see a live orchestra, there is imaging and lots of added detail. Most people look for the best seats for the visual, not just for sound.

In general, the objective of sound reproduction is using enough of the substance of the real performance, including the type of visual information we get at real performances, to create an enjoyable listening. Many sound engineers work hard to encode all this information in the recording.

My research has shown to me that Japanese audiophiles pioneered the SET/vintage horn speakers movement. Don Garber from Fi brought SET’s to America and did much to promote the design.

LAMM’s contributions were many. I wish he was still creating.

 

[PeterA]

You mean judging from a system video? Really?

No, not at all. Judging from what I actually heard with my own ears, both at shows and in people’s rooms. Lamm vs Atmosphere. Each of us judges based on our own criteria and values and than makes his choice.