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Seriously, does Heavy Metal ever sound better on better speakers?

ehabheikal

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I think the amount of distortion in Heavy Metal Guitars makes it hard to appreciate a good speaker/system other than having a lot of tight bass for Heavy Metal.
Has anyone heard a system that makes a big difference with Heavy Metal?
 

Chrispy

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There's good stuff in that genre, there's a lot of not so good stuff. A good system would help maximize a good recording of such, just like any genre. Is it particularly necessary with some metal? Probably not.
 

digitalfrost

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Heavy Metal has a lot of energy in all of the frequency bands. Because of this, a proper Harman curve is very important. You can experiment with the so called BBC dip, which basically means a recession in frequency response somewhere around 3khz and it will be most noticeable with metal music. The guitars are creating a lot of overtones.

That said, there is a lot of very badly recorded metal music and also a lot of classic records from the 80s where standards were different. You can enjoy these classic albums for what they are, but really good sounding metal albums are few and far in between.

Midrange, especially upper midrange is most important for metal music. From that perspective, a good speaker with a downward slope can do wonders. However, the "software" so to speak is often lacking.

If you want good sounding metal music, I would get something with a proper response on-axis as well as off-axis such as Neumann, Genelec, Revel. Then you may need to apply room correction to arrive at a proper Harman curve at the listening position. This will greatly improve the quality of any (including metal) music.

In fact, I would start with DRC if you already have somewhat proper speakers.
 

Webninja

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I’ve been rediscovering Metal, and it’s such a huge genre that has what seems like 100’s of sub genres. Some songs also vary from clear guitar that then dives into that heavy distortion. I’d venture to say there is a lot of metal I’d like to hear on a quality system. Not enough bass on my 305 mkii’s, but I hope to have a better system soon.
 

Beershaun

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I think a lot of it has to do with the original recording studio, recording engineer etc. For example, Nirvana Nevermind is super overdriven and crunchy with lots of distortion. but when I purchased the 24 bit remaster and started comparing side by side to the original redbook CD there were a bunch more nuances. Like tremolo I never able to pull out of it and separation and detail that would be laughable to think about when talking about an album like that. When i dug in to the history of that album it was recorded at Sound City Studios on a fantastic Neive mixing board in the same legendary recording studio that Fleetwood Mac Rumours was recorded in. So the source material is there if it was recorded in a good recording studio by a good engineer.
 

Beershaun

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Here are a few albums I sprung for the remasters and have been pleasantly surprised with and would recommend for you to pick up to perform your own subjective assessment:
Disclaimer: everyone's strict definition of Heavy Metal may vary so if these are not your preferences or what you consider heavy metal please simply disregard those recommendations that don't meet your interest.

Nirvana -Nevermind
Iron Maiden -Number of the Beast
Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
Led Zepplin - IV
Jack White - Lazaretto
Queen - A night at the Odeon
Stone Temple Pilots - Core
Black Sabbath - Paranoid

Here are a few albums that I just love and sound fantastic on a good system
Fugazi -13 songs
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
NIN - Broken and/or Downward Spiral
 
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Haflermichi

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Porqupine Tree does. But Steven Wilson is known to be meticulous and attentive to engineering quality.
He's also done quite a few apparently well regarded (I've never heard them) remixes of a wide range of rock material.

I think there are certain bands and albums that you just have to surrender and enjoy the music for what it is regardless of the recording.
 

JohnYang1997

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Actually....Metal is the most critical about frequency response, especially in the wide range of mids.
 

MattHooper

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I think the amount of distortion in Heavy Metal Guitars makes it hard to appreciate a good speaker/system other than having a lot of tight bass for Heavy Metal.
Has anyone heard a system that makes a big difference with Heavy Metal?

I've been listening to a lot of Kiss, Van Halen, Rush and Max Webster (usually vinyl) on my Thiel 2.7s, and it sounds better to me than I've ever heard those recordings before (e.g. on all the traditional boxy speakers growing up).

By "better" I'm including more spatial cues, clearer and more refined timbre of voices and instruments, "hearing more"it seems. However, none of that would matter if it wasn't also kicking ass. The sound is also rich and full, punchy from top to bottom, tons of energy for each instrument, so it's also kicking ass. So I'm voting "yes" for your question from my experience. (I've also heard high end speakers sound wrong or wimpy with rock).
 

Chromatischism

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I think the amount of distortion in Heavy Metal Guitars makes it hard to appreciate a good speaker/system other than having a lot of tight bass for Heavy Metal.
Has anyone heard a system that makes a big difference with Heavy Metal?
A lot of tight bass indeed. Other than having a nicely downward sloping response, linear bass, free from the influences of room modes, is very important.
 

beefkabob

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I think a lot of it has to do with the original recording studio, recording engineer etc. For example, Nirvana Nevermind is super overdriven and crunchy with lots of distortion. but when I purchased the 24 bit remaster and started comparing side by side to the original redbook CD there were a bunch more nuances. Like tremolo I never able to pull out of it and separation and detail that would be laughable to think about when talking about an album like that. When i dug in to the history of that album it was recorded at Sound City Studios on a fantastic Neive mixing board in the same legendary recording studio that Fleetwood Mac Rumours was recorded in. So the source material is there if it was recorded in a good recording studio by a good engineer.

As much as their reputation is one for counterculture and grunge, Nirvana was highly corporate and had the best production available.
 

beefkabob

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I don't see why metal wouldn't sing on a great stereo. The metal guitarist I know certainly likes and can tell good sound.
 
OP
E

ehabheikal

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Here are a few albums I sprung for the remasters and have been pleasantly surprised with and would recommend for you to pick up to perform your own subjective assessment:
Disclaimer: everyone's strict definition of Heavy Metal may vary so if these are not your preferences or what you consider heavy metal please simply disregard those recommendations that don't meet your interest.

Nirvana -Nevermind
Iron Maiden -Number of the Beast
Rage Against the Machine - Rage Against the Machine
Led Zepplin - IV
Jack White - Lazaretto
Queen - A night at the Odeon
Stone Temple Pilots - Core

Here are a few albums that I just love and sound fantastic on a good system
Fugazi -13 songs
Linkin Park - Hybrid Theory
NIN - Broken and/or Downward Spiral
Nice list will listen and report back
 

RayDunzl

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Sal1950

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It can be hard to appreciate some of the qualities of a good HiFi using mainly metal as a source.
Much of the guitar work is pushed to a very high distortion levels, dynamic range is crushed to the "all loud all the time" point which often is causing overload distortion of it's own. And it's not just metal, much of the popular genre shares some or all of the negative recording aspects. It's just the old computer adage, garbage in / garbage out.. Just keep your ears open for music that you like that lets your rig shine and listen to it now and then. I've gotten discouraged a few times over the years specially since much of the music I really love from the 60s & 70s sounds like crap no matter how good the system. :(
It's a hard rain, gonna falllll. LOL
 

MattHooper

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It can be hard to appreciate some of the qualities of a good HiFi using mainly metal as a source.
Much of the guitar work is pushed to a very high distortion levels, dynamic range is crushed to the "all loud all the time" point which often is causing overload distortion of it's own. And it's not just metal, much of the popular genre shares some or all of the negative recording aspects. It's just the old computer adage, garbage in / garbage out.. Just keep your ears open for music that you like that lets your rig shine and listen to it now and then. I've gotten discouraged a few times over the years specially since much of the music I really love from the 60s & 70s sounds like crap no matter how good the system. :(
It's a hard rain, gonna falllll. LOL

Hi Sal,

Can you tell me: what kind of metal/hard rock do you like?

I agree some of it can sound pretty bad, but I tend to think about "really old" metal that way, for me that's maybe before '74 or so, in which a bunch of it can sound crashy and thin (and I generally don't care for metal/hard rock before about '75 or so anyway).

A bunch of albums from the bands I mentioned - Rush, Van Halen, Max Webster (and I'd throw in Cheap Trick and others) sound absolutely friggin' amazing! The sound is huge, rich, dynamic, clear, generally clean. Demo-worthy stuff. In fact I was actually shocked when I grabbed a copy of Kiss Love Gun and gave it a spin. The sense of peering right in to the studio listening to the band, or perhaps like a direct monitor feed, was pretty shocking. I had no idea it was recorded so well.
 

Χ Ξ Σ

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After playing my usual classical tracks through speakers demoed at audio stores, I liked to play some highly distorted metal riffs and watch the salesman frown. It was so revealing of the speakers' true nature. All those speakers sounded "great" when playing classical, jazz, and vocal music because most audiophiles listen to these stuff. Yet metal riffs on these speakers often sounded so disingenuously filtered. It helps me see these speakers' "great sound" was in no way a neutral reproduction but merely deceptive coloration.
 

JohnYang1997

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I listen to a lot of metal. All different genres. The biggest mistake people make is the assumption that "heavy metal" music doesn't care about sound quality or needs a lot of bass. It's the exact opposite. In all genres, metal has the highest requirements for flat and even frequency response. A little bit wrong in the mids will make many songs sound like shit. Too much bass will make the sound complete muddled up. In terms of dynamic compression, the songs are engineered to sound in such way. It's not that throwing a limiter and crankinh to maximum can give you a good sound. Bad reproduction will make drum sound weird, guitar sound weird, cymbal sound bad. You need to be able to hear everything clearly equally and in a not aggressive way. Too many systems make cymbals too hot for example is a common issue that's easily identified with metal. Too many "hifi" gears have werid mids and can be easily told using metal. Let alone boomy low-end in untreated rooms.

I listen vary from
In flames, Children of Bodom
to Architects, periphery, polyphia,
As i lay dying, insomnium, eternal tears of sorrow, threat signal etc etc.....
 
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