Is It Real? Or Is It...

Is It Real? Or Is It...

Jan 27, 2008 First Published:Jun 01, 1987

Enid Lumley accosted me in the corridors of Santa Monica's BayView Plaza Hotel in March: "That doesn't sound like a real piano!" I was taken aback. The sound to which the redoubtable Ms. Lumley was referring emanated from a 7' Steinway we had hired for <A HREF="http://www.performancerecordings.com/">James Boyk</A> to play at the <I>Stereophile</I> show. Jim was conducting a series of tutorials on how the sound of a real piano is constituted, so Enid's criticism, on the face of things, seemed absurd. As my face obviously showed this conclusion, she hastily explained that, of course it <I>was</I> a real piano, but the fact that it overloaded the 40-seat room in which it was being played caused it to sound different from the sound of a real piano played in a concert hall. To lead visitors to the show to expect piano records to sound similar to what Jim was producing was dishonest.

Audiophile vs. Pro Audio Gear

Forums
Tweaks 'n' Tips
Submitted by JK1234 on

A simple question, but one for which I have found very little feedback on the web. The question is this - does anyone have real-world experience comparing high end audiophile gear to pro audio equipment, and if so, what were the results? Every now and then you see manufacturers that bridge the gap (Bryston, PMC, Benchmark, etc.) but rarely do you find audiophile-oriented reviews of pro gear. Seems logical to me that the equipment used to record the music the in the first place should do a half decent job on reproducing it, no?

An Industry in Free Fall

An Industry in Free Fall

Jan 27, 2008

Physical sales of music <A HREF="http://www.ifpi.org/content/library/MUSIC-MARKET-DATA-2007.pdf">plummet…; at a rate that exceeded the sales growth of legal downloads in 2007, according to the IFPI. While global digital sales grew by 40% in 2007&mdash;representing about 10% of all music sold&mdash;IFPI figures suggest that CD sales in the US dropped by 19% (10.5% in the UK).

Oregon Dealers

Forums
The Entry Level
Submitted by kitjv on

I would appreciate the candid thoughts of those of you who have dealt with Fred's Sound of Music in Portland, OR. Since they are the only authorized Bryston dealer in the state (as well as being 180 miles away), I wanted to get a feel for this dealer. Thank you.

I've been suspecting it, now my wife verified it: Size does matter.

Forums
Loudspeakers
Submitted by Buddha on

Aloha,

I've been playing with some different 'subwoofers' to see if they could integrate with the Ferguson Hill Lowther based speakers.

I tried two kinds of those flat stiff small diameter woofer cubes, but they really seemed to only add that 'one note' dimension to the sound.

Then, I went back to an old pair of Genesis 12-inch sealed box woofers (from 1993 or 1994) and got a much more sonorous result. More nuance and 'musical content.' They seemed to be able to 'keep up' with the Lowthers much better in terms of speed and remaining 'invisible,' too.

Listening #61 Dating Decrepit Drivers

Listening #61 Dating Decrepit Drivers

Whenever my family and I travel together, I catch a glimpse of how the human mind works. Immediately after checking into our hotel, my wife goes to work distributing the contents of our suitcases among the room's various cabinets, closets, and drawers. Then, the next morning, I discover the location of my underpants <I>heuristically</I>: seeking without knowing, in the hope that some newly learned pattern will be imprinted on my brain. Thus do I earn the luxury of complacence: Every morning thereafter, my things are right where I know they should be.

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