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acoustic instruments vs. your system?!

budgetaudio6

budgetaudio6

Addicted Member
you ever had any one play a stringed instrument and made comparisions between it and how it sounds with your stereo? how bout other instruments like a violin?...you get the idea. speak up if youve had the chance to hear such a getup. would make a nice read.

havent really tried it my self, my younger son does have a guitar (that he hardly ever uses.)

i dont know how to play it. hes not much into it either. i think this is a intrigueing question. tho perhaps not alot of us has the opprtunity to compare the two side by side.
if i tried to compare the guitar with what i hear it wouldnt even come close because i cant make music out of that thing.
 
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The "crash" and fading "shimmer" of live cymbals are tough for my speakers to re-produce. I'm using Altec model 19 speakers and while they will re-produce the sound of many percussion instruments (bass drum, snare, etc) .....they cannot re-produce cymbals accurately, at least to my ears. It is the one big negative issue I have with them.

Acoustic guitar on the other hand sounds absolutely life-like, being directly compared.

Russ
 
As an amateur drummer and percussionist I agree that cymbals are quite difficult for hifi equipment to reproduce in a lifelike manner. I have played with string orchestras and brass bands and know how the individual instruments sound in real life, and I think a good hifi setup can get quite close. Acoustic guitar sounds very lifelike using my Quad II tube amps with a Dynaco Pas-3X pramp and Kef speakers, as does violins and other string instruments.
 
using paradigm monitor 9 v3 speakers bi-amped. i did notice that the high freqs were more pronounced. not to the point of being harsh tho the speakers can be quite bright. especially with poor recordings. tho to compare to live sounds of instruments...its difficult for me to do. but the clash of initial strike of cymbals and the resulting decay of its sound is discernible was quite surprised by the results they exhibited. not so much the bass but the high freqs. sounded more forcefull with stringed instruments.
 
Maybe I`m not clear with the post.
I never have run live music through my setup.
I do in fact love acustic guitar and strings.
Running through a tube linestage to SS amps I am happy.
 
Maybe I`m not clear with the post.
I never have run live music through my setup.
I do in fact love acustic guitar and strings.
Running through a tube linestage to SS amps I am happy.
 
I might try this someday, although I feel that the microphone would be the weak link in this situation (considering the mics I have available at least).

IMHO Piano and drums are the hardest instruments to reproduce (although I am a rock and jazz fan, so I know little of orchestral instruments).
 
sorry if my op creates confusion. some things are tough to word. i meant certain instruments played live in your listening environment. then in turn hearing a like recording. doesnt have to be anything special.

lets say a cello or a harp is played in your room and you have a recording of a harp being played, same would go for any instrument.

i think this would be a thoughtful way to see how your system sounds against a live instrument played. how close would the timbre match(speakers) the live instrument. if you can put a full orchestra in you room and compare the two i think thats awsome. if not thats ok too. no ones keeping points.

the paradigms have a nice timbre when recording calls for such. but how close they come to a live instrument i am not certain.
 
RussinOhio said:
The "crash" and fading "shimmer" of live cymbals are tough for my speakers to re-produce. I'm using Altec model 19 speakers and while they will re-produce the sound of many percussion instruments (bass drum, snare, etc) .....they cannot re-produce cymbals accurately, at least to my ears. It is the one big negative issue I have with them.

Acoustic guitar on the other hand sounds absolutely life-like, being directly compared.

Russ
Click to expand...

when i use my(which is all the time)infinity RSa's i couple those with a smaller pair of (sansui) speaks to round out the upper midrange. i do this because the rsa has no dedicated midrange unit. but it takes a little tweaking to balance the sound. i do this with the sansuis stacked on the RSa. pretty close regarding timing. i use a differentreciever for the sansuis than the rsa.
 
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I had made a number of recordings in my former garage/mancave with various combinations of instruments revolving around a jazz ensemble. This would include stand-up bass, drums, electric and acoustic piano. Horns include trumpet and saxes.

These were recorded then played back via a number of speakers, UREI 813s or 809s, Quad ESL63s and KLH Model 5s.

I agree with the other posters that getting decent timbre from some of the instruments is as much about mic choice and placement plus good quality mic preamps as anything else.

As usual, its the input and output transducers that tend to influence the sound.

The other thing to consider, beyond the quality of the input devices is that most of the audio we hear in recordings has been fully engineered through mixdown and master processes then embedded onto some sort of transport media like LP, CD, DBD, or compressed digital stream. All this takes its toll and would influence what you hear.

I'd recommend to anyone that they set up a small recording rig of their own and take the opportunity to make recordings of small local bands. It is an excellent way to learn more about the capabilities of your gear and how the whole record/playback processes interact. Caution is advised though as you may find recording just addictive as listening only more of an active, participant sort of hobby. Just ask those Deadheads that set up recording gear at all those old concerts.

Cheers,

David
 
thanks dshoaf, that was quite informative to my eyes and related software. never really thought of it in those terms.

must be a whole nother craziness regarding the recording enthusiasts. make good recording, find new recording gear, then finding all the gear to play back the recordings with. :D

now that would take it to a whole nother dimension.
 
Glad that helped, budgetaudio6. If you'd like to get an idea of the craziness on the recording side, get over to www.gearslutz.com and see what those guys get into talking about. BTW, some of the best mastering engineers out there now are on the Mastering board.

Its a parallel universe to AK's.

Cheers,

David
 
i don't think this is a fair test. when a person plays an acoustic instrument, there is no middle man, so to speak. anything that has been recorded has gone through mics, amps, mixers, tape machines, record presses, etc. a more fair test would be to actually use your system as a guitar amp. i have done this many times, either with a drop-in pickup or an actual electric/acoustic.
 
Quite honestly it wont work. Having heard string quartets, and other acoustic offerings live, the recording process alone makes it sound different. Insturments are too "focused" on most recordings. Pin-point accuracy speakers don't present a realistic POV when you actually hear a live un amplified group.
Case in point: My wife and I went to a Mothers Day brunch where they had live music. The "group" was 4 older women playing english "tea" music. They had one on flute, one on triangle, violin, and cello. I VERY carefully found a good listening spot and just listened. The sound was rather diffuse (you'd be surprised how your eyesight will change what you hear, a perception thing I assume), . There was no "air". There was, of course, great dynamics. If you closed your eyes you got the actual "size" of the live players,( pointing out how often close micing screws up a recording) which very few systems I've heard get right (see pin-point, a bone of contention with me). The reflections of the room were very noticeable.
Now, I have heard some recordings sound darn close to this, but they are few and far between.
 
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