Speaker Asylum

Posted by Hafdef (A) on August 18, 2002 at 15:30:11

In Reply to: British sound, American sound, French sound, Italian sound, Canadian sound posted by tchyabg on August 18, 2002 at 08:22:52:

a Japanese shakuhachi sounds like a:

fiddle on a canadian system
gazoo on a British system
accordian on a German system
rubel on a Russian system
Bagpipe on a Mesopotamian system
sampled fart on an American system

Curious these instruments/movements sound unlike themselves on another countries sytem.

I do not own what should be considered a high-end system nor am I an audiophile and I don't have experience with global systems. Therefore I cannot confirm or deny your statement but there is no doubt IMO components from competing manufacturers have dissimilar sonic flavorings. I often contemplate whether these differences are due primarily to: poor hearing, poor engineering skills, poor imagination, ill-concieved reference systems, or terrific marketing skills? Whichever, our acceptance of this differentiation has nothing to do with the philosophy of "high-end".

To solve the above problems I suggest an electronics manufacturers competition once a year where a sample is selected to audition their complete sytems (cd player, preamp, amp). All manufacturers selected have to agree use of one pair of speakers for all but have no say in the pygmy listening group. Principals of all the manufacturers must be present. Step 1: shoot those who refuse invitation Step 2: record a piano in the auditioning environment. Step 3: playback the recording on all systems. Step 4: Shoot those who's system does not influence the listening panel similarly as the reference. Step 5: If all manufacturers reps are dead at the end of auditioning shoot the speaker maker and the recording engineer and offer pigmies lifetime stereophile subscription.

:-( :-)

Fish-tailing down the Hi-Fi Highway