Does the hardware that you use have an influence on the genres you listen to?

[DanielT]

High dynamic range and ultra deep bass without distortion is really the area that most domestic speakers, even very expensive ones, just don't do well.

And that's pretty relevant to a few major genres.

Oh yes. A really capable system. Loudspeaker with low distortion.Amp clean and many watt. Inaudible distortion in the amp and lots of power so it s not driven into clipping that easy.
Such a hifi solution. Amazing how loud you can play without it sounding bad or "hurting" in the ears.

Then you (me) go home and listen to the stuff you have. Okay, you can play at a lower volume. The neighbors will be happy about it anyway. Always something.

 

[Wunderphones]

I've been working really hard to put together gear that has no personality, precisely so I don't deliberately go looking for albums that will sound good through it.

I love '50s and '60s jazz, and I could easily have seen myself going the other direction: warm gear, probably with tubes in there somewhere, that brings out the smoky club feelings. And there's plenty of acoustic stuff that I listen to that would sound incredible through that kind of setup. But then what happens when I'm in the mood for a techno banger? Or a symphony?

I'm barely rich enough to afford the one stereo; I certainly can't afford two.

 

[DanielT]

I've been working really hard to put together gear that has no personality, precisely so I don't deliberately go looking for albums that will sound good through it.

I love '50s and '60s jazz, and I could easily have seen myself going the other direction: warm gear, probably with tubes in there somewhere, that brings out the smoky club feelings. And there's plenty of acoustic stuff that I listen to that would sound incredible through that kind of setup. But then what happens when I'm in the mood for a techno banger? Or a symphony?

I'm barely rich enough to afford the one stereo; I certainly can't afford two.

Tub amp + powerfull class d amp?
Subwoofer powered by class d amplifiers up to 80-100 Hz, around. Then the tube amp takes over.

Apart from the fact that a tube amplifier can be very expensive, such a solution does not have to be too expensive.

Vintage Receiver Harman Kardon HK 330C is alleged to have a "tube sound" (ie that type of distortion). Can you probably get bliller than a tube amp. Recap may of course be needed, but still.

Pictures of HK 330C, among others, can be found in this thread:

Hifi Vintage DIY fair with pictures

I visited this fair yesterday! DIY & Vintage meeting in Mölnlycke Here is a short report. When: 6 November 2021 Where: Country: Sweden City: Gothenburg I took pictures myself BUT most were so damn blurred so I borrow pictures from this thread, taken by other participants. Pictures taken from...

audiosciencereview.com

 

[MattHooper]

I've been working really hard to put together gear that has no personality, precisely so I don't deliberately go looking for albums that will sound good through it.

I love '50s and '60s jazz, and I could easily have seen myself going the other direction: warm gear, probably with tubes in there somewhere, that brings out the smoky club feelings. And there's plenty of acoustic stuff that I listen to that would sound incredible through that kind of setup. But then what happens when I'm in the mood for a techno banger? Or a symphony?

I'm barely rich enough to afford the one stereo; I certainly can't afford two.

I'm using tube amps, and find my system to sound "warm and rich" with acoustic recordings, but also slammin' and punchy for "techno bangers." A recent listening session went from The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet - vivid yet relaxed sounding to the degree it felt like they were "there" - followed by some Chemical Brothers, followed by the soundtrack to Conan The Barbarian which comprises a massive symphony orchestra belching horns and tympany marches that rolled like thunder along the floor. Each genre was reproduced in a way that I found utterly engaging. So I personally don't find the trade off you have presumed. YMMV of course.

 

[Robin L]

Tub amp + powerfull class d amp?
Subwoofer powered by class d amplifiers up to 80-100 Hz, around. Then the tube amp takes over.

Apart from the fact that a tube amplifier can be very expensive, such a solution does not have to be too expensive.

Vintage Receiver Harman Kardon HK 330C is alleged to have a "tube sound" (ie that type of distortion). Can you probably get bliller than a tube amp. Recap may of course be needed, but still.

Pictures of HK 330C, among others, can be found in this thread:

Hifi Vintage DIY fair with pictures

I visited this fair yesterday! DIY & Vintage meeting in Mölnlycke Here is a short report. When: 6 November 2021 Where: Country: Sweden City: Gothenburg I took pictures myself BUT most were so damn blurred so I borrow pictures from this thread, taken by other participants. Pictures taken from...

audiosciencereview.com

I've owned at least three of them. One was $15 at a flea market. The Harman Kardon 330C is smoother than your typical 1970's receiver, but I hesitate to call that sound "tube-like". It's nothing like the Dyna 70, Marantz 8b, Fisher 500C or Scott 299B I've owned, doesn't have that saturated quality of the transformer coupled amps I've owned/used.

 

[pseudoid]

...speaker design seemed to dictate the demo music in the room...

Weren't they more like "The sardine-can hotel rooms, WHICH dictated demo music, WHICH dictated the speaker sound", or sumsuch?

 

[DanielT]

I've owned at least three of them. One was $15 at a flea market. The Harman Kardon 330C is smoother than your typical 1970's receiver, but I hesitate to call that sound "tube-like". It's nothing like the Dyna 70, Marantz 8b, Fisher 500C or Scott 299B I've owned, doesn't have that saturated quality of the transformer coupled amps I've owned/used.

Dyna 70. That classic would have been really fun to hear at some point.

I like HK 330C. Have one in my bedroom. More than $ 15 since my friend recaped it. The recap in cost a bit (though not that much really). I attach a picture of mine.

Edit:
I'll post some pictures of a DIY tube amp I bought from a couple of guys from the neighboring town last year. Nice with tube glow in the autumn darkness. No autobias so-called "pensioner bias". It is important to keep your fingers crossed so you do not get a hell of a kiss when measuring with a multimeter and setting the bias with the screwdriver.
I do not know if I'm playing any particular type of music with that tube amplifier. Experiences that it has a slightly elevated "raw" type of bass. Not so accurate. Nice bass to listen to sometimes. It could also be that I imagine it because I read somewhere that tube amps can have that type of bass reproduction. And then I think I hear it.I might be imagining it. I do not know.In which case I use HK 330C more.

 

[Robin L]

I like HK 330C. Have one in my bedroom. More than $ 15 since my friend recaped it. The recap in cost a bit (though not that much really). Attach a picture of mine.

One of the nicer low-powered receivers of the time. The NAD 3020 had a slight edge sonically, however they were more prone to catastrophic failure, and didn't have the nice tuner section of the 330C. The 7020 [NAD 3020 + tuner section] wasn't as good sounding. The Harman Kardon receivers of that vintage were uniformly good, the HK 430 [low-powered but twin-powered, in other words, dual mono] was probably the best of that lot.

I had record store jobs when I used the 430, played LPs in all genres---promos invite musical exploration. This receiver mated well to Large Advents, as I recall. So, as far as equipment determining attraction to specific genres, that gear encouraged broadening of musical taste.

Or maybe it was all about working in record stores.

That said, what with access to nearly everything via streaming and the general improvement of electronics & speakers, this is the best time for stretching one's ears, should one be so inclined.

 

[Putter]

I've been working really hard to put together gear that has no personality, precisely so I don't deliberately go looking for albums that will sound good through it.

I love '50s and '60s jazz, and I could easily have seen myself going the other direction: warm gear, probably with tubes in there somewhere, that brings out the smoky club feelings. And there's plenty of acoustic stuff that I listen to that would sound incredible through that kind of setup. But then what happens when I'm in the mood for a techno banger? Or a symphony?

I'm barely rich enough to afford the one stereo; I certainly can't afford two.

I wouldn't say it's hard to afford more than one good stereo. Between Craigslist, thrift shop and EBay and other online resellers, it's easy to get a decent stereo or multichannel system for that matter for well under $1K. What is hard is affording more than one really great stereo/multichannel system and of course there's the compromise of buying what's available used vs. the blank sheet of paper.

 

[Snarfie]

Does the hardware that you use have an influence on the genres you listen to.​

No not really. The hard- & audio software that i use must qualify in order to produce a time alignt/phase coherent sound, must produce a relative original SPL till max 2 meter listening distance, a flat frequency response (despite my horrible room acoustics) to create a listening environment that comes close as possible to the original recording if recording is mastered in a studio control room with a relative flat frequency response. What i got is that quality recordings could sound breathless till intimate bad recordings could sound really horrible on any genre.

 

[DanielT]

One of the nicer low-powered receivers of the time. The NAD 3020 had a slight edge sonically, however they were more prone to catastrophic failure, and didn't have the nice tuner section of the 330C. The 7020 [NAD 3020 + tuner section] wasn't as good sounding. The Harman Kardon receivers of that vintage were uniformly good, the HK 430 [low-powered but twin-powered, in other words, dual mono] was probably the best of that lot.


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I had record store jobs when I used the 430, played LPs in all genres---promos invite musical exploration. This receiver mated well to Large Advents, as I recall. So, as far as equipment determining attraction to specific genres, that gear encouraged broadening of musical taste.

Or maybe it was all about working in record stores.

That said, what with access to nearly everything via streaming and the general improvement of electronics & speakers, this is the best time for stretching one's ears, should one be so inclined.

More who are in your line:

The HK twin powered series, particularly the 930 and 430 are loved by many, and considered to be among the best.

Attention Harman Kardon twin powered receiver lovers!

Updated: After another hour, the left channel became half as strong as the right, then harsh. Half of the amp became extremely hot and I sh...

seventiesstereo.blogspot.com

It's probably very different there with how you experience certain amplifiers.Say as in your case. If you were to take now use a HK 430 and play with a turntable. It would surely for you, given your experience, arouse a lot of emotions and you might want to play a certain type of music? In that case, the hardware is important for the type of music you play.

 

[LTig]

To be clear, I detest the entire culture of "audiophile music" and I am guessing most or even all of the folks who've posted in this thread so far agree with me on that. But while my musical taste has not changed or expanded because my hardware has improved, I cannot rule out the possibility that within the array of music I like regardless of what hardware I listen to, I am proportionately listening to less dense/heavy stuff and more sparse/"clean" stuff because it sounds so gorgeous to me on my system.

Less "dense" music is easier to reproduce for speakers with higher IMD (2-way). For "heavy " stuff you need 3-ways (or more) and subs. At least IME.

 

[restorer-john]

Less "dense" music is easier to reproduce for speakers with higher IMD (2-way). For "heavy " stuff you need 3-ways (or more) and subs. At least IME.

I agree with this. The more complex the music, the more loudspeakers with high quality, dedicated midrange drivers come into their own.

Much as I love compact little 2-ways, they are always lacking clarity in the crticial midrange, especially when their bass drivers are vainly attempting to provide some semblance of bass at the same time.

 

[MattHooper]

I agree with this. The more complex the music, the more loudspeakers with high quality, dedicated midrange drivers come into their own.

Much as I love compact little 2-ways, they are always lacking clarity in the crticial midrange, especially when their bass drivers are vainly attempting to provide some semblance of bass at the same time.

I suppose once you off-load some of the bass duty to another driver that makes sense. Even my Joseph Perspective speakers, which are a design I often see referred to as a "2.5-way" (tweeter w two "mid-woofers") manage to sound clean in complex music.

One of my favorite pieces of music, and one of my torture tests for this, is this recording of the Conan The Barbarian soundtrack:

Kicks in just over 55 seconds:

And starting around 2:52 to the end the orchestra is blowing it's brains out dynamically.

Maybe it's helped by the particular SEAS 5.5" long throw woofers, but it continually astounds me (and friends) that this relatively small speaker pounds out that music with tons of pant-rattling clean bass while every instrumental section remains clean and clear no matter how complex or loud things get. The sense of clarity and smoothness with any kind of music was one of the things that attracted me to the speaker in the first place.

 

[pseudoid]

YMMV of course.

You know... we should never have to use "of course" at the end of YMMV @asr...
Dang, we should not even have to use 'YMMV' because we are amongst more rationally inclined peeps, that always have their BS protectors handy.
But use; we must...

 

[Balle Clorin]

No

 

[pseudoid]

Should

 

[MattHooper]

You know... we should never have to use "of course" at the end of YMMV @asr...
Dang, we should not even have to use 'YMMV' because we are amongst more rationally inclined peeps, that always have their BS protectors handy.
But use; we must...

I admit that one has gone over my head.

 

[pseudoid]

It may have been an obtuse way of complimenting you for your [I dunno...] proper netiquette.

 

[sq225917]

i don’t think it affects what i listen to. i know i’m missing he bottom ten to 15hz at any great volume level, but as i’ve never had it i don’t miss it.