When it comes to digital music, doesn't it also relay on the application, codec and so on that's being used for playback?
I know from video codecs that depending on what decoder with codecs and so on you don't always get the same colours, quality and more and some people recommend a codec pack for the best experience with their files and others like only install the basic codecs and then a player.
Good read here my take on audio in general
Hope this helps I am a retired professional chemist with a specialty in analytical instrumentation and have a relative in the recording industry. I have knowledge of the consumer and pro side of audio. I have been noticing a lot of posts about speaker and equipment recommendations etc.
Also, some are wondering why their setup disappoints at high SPL or when a quality SVS sub is added. SVS subs are musically accurate, low distortion and have minimal enclosure resonances or added unwanted vibrational modes when properly placed. With some rock music, they can be ruthlessly revealing of bad recordings.
Do not get to caught up in the specs or being a "measurebator" audio is very subjective and personal. Must listen to speakers and base purchase on your personal taste, all are voiced differently so I do not recommend one brand of speaker over another, feelings can be hurt depending on how critique is taken.
Thanks for noting your experience before validating certain principles apply to all levels of interest. I appreciated your joke even if nobody else did. Separating hard numbers into factual representative testimony carrying real world meaning (recreating test signal environment is beyond the average consumer) is as much a skill as advanced listening. It can be very helpful to understand why your equipment is incapable of abilities that claims appear to have been made on.
Appreciation of end result - within the directions it can bring personally rewarding experiences should be the aim. To amounts those pursuing it seek out intuitively better choices.
For example, I was at a high-end dealer (Early 1990) when they were showcasing a Wilson WAMM setup valued at 100K. The customer pulls out a personal recording of an oboe and a bassoon solo that he performed. After listening he says I am done with the Wilsons, why was he not satisfied? It wasn’t the 100K sticker shock, it was the fact that the system couldn’t resolve a A440 hertz note properly. To the untrained ear they sound identical but have a slight timbre difference that is noticeable to a professional Oboe/Bassoon performer. He also would dump a speaker if it couldn’t resolve a piano recording with the lid up or closed. FYI, he settled with the B&W Nautilus at 30K, I believe.
Fear many reading this will misinterpret where decadence and image intrude. Among the younger generations. In 1990 a few grand well spent came a lot closer to the highest price stuff performance wise. More people in average walks of life were involved.
Price and product integrity are no guarantee of accuracy or enjoyment. Voiced in a different manner, never shop for what you need or have become blinded by desire for. A deeper message to be unearthed is recognizing that immensely broad needs of the full population rarely make it possible for anyone to secure their unique personally compelling item. Shifting sands only rarely align even when constructing your own *x* to taste. A mature even measured approach always means enjoying what is attainable. Not what is attainable at the upper tier of your price limit. In this case the gentleman enjoyed walking away having attained the facts he needed.
One could pick apart this dealer encounter in physically inescapable terms as well. Out of the entire range of products available only a few get used on any given day in their showroom. Capacitors and other base components designed to give a long service free lifespan in use daily require use to perform optimally. This musician could very well have found his impressions to be quite different had the speakers already been used for a couple years before his audition of them. We must also take into account the special characteristics of an acoustically prepared room (atypical sound reflection and absorption) impact on the finer elements that would determine exacting correctness attempt balancing disparate elements at cost of perfecting a single oboe note.
Cheap amp equals poor sound at elevated SPL. More power equals more volume assumption. Sound output is logarithmic not linear, double power not twice as loud.
For example I am a metal fan, the sound system for Iron Maiden is approx. 300 KW at 117 dB this SPL projects thousands of feet. If I do not add speakers or change drivers, doubling power to 600 KW it is only 3 dB louder which is not noticeably louder to most.
The quality of the watt is crucial, for example a discrete Darlington hand wired transistor amp can run over 10K whereas your MosFET receivers are sub $500 (99% of gear bought today). I have a Yamaha DSP receiver, 5 ch which is MoSFET. Infinity frontend, Paradigm center and Paradigm rears, SVS SB2000 Pro sub.
The power rating is irrelevant most sound systems play sound best when at under 5 watts continuous give or take. Efficiency rating will tell you how loud a speaker plays at 1 m away with one watt in. My Infinity speakers are rated at 98 dB/watt. To reproduce distortion free sound field at ref levels you need massive reserves of power for transients.
Of course you are.
Which makes the acoustic reference above believable as sticking out in your memory.
Appreciative of the fact you took time to (truncated for space) go into detail at the amp → speaker connection. There is a dense accomodation to fast and dirty learning curves with impact being the primary aim. I'd only note a bit more zeroing in on the qualities desired at output is especially critical here.
OK, upon further thought there are two additions.
1. Impact all this impact puts back into every piece of equipment gets more important the louder you play. Headphones excluded.
2. Always turn off and unplug your amp before touching anything plugged into it or inside of it!!! !!
