What are the best speakers that try to emulate live music?

[Chaconne]

Ask a simple question, get a simple answer:

Harbeth Compact 7 ES-3
In my opinion, of course.

 

[williamr]

A complimentary question is what microphone set up and production techniques best capture the "artist in the room" quality of a recording.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

I'm not very knowledgeable about speakers so excuse my lack of knowledge but there are speakers that are really great speakers and then there are great speakers that try to emulate the music sounding like the artist is in the room with you. Some examples of where I've heard people talk about this effect is Omnidirectionals, Electrostatic speakers, Ohm Walsh, Klipsch Forte, Martin Logan ESL. What other models should I be looking at to get this effect?

My Morrison Audio speakers do this very well, but only if the instrument is itself omnidirectional. Drums and piano sound particularly realistic.

Reproducing the sound of a real instrument in your room comes down to matching the directivity characteristic of the instrument in question. For example, to make it sound like there is a trumpet playing in your room you would want a narrow directivity horn to create the equivalent sound power response. To make it sound like there is a drum playing you want a speaker that radiates sound omnidirectionally like a drum would. Certain instruments like the guitar have a complex directivity pattern and are difficult to reproduce in the way you describe.

 

[GXAlan]

My Morrison Audio speakers do thus very well, but only if the instrument is itself omnidirectional. Drums and piano sound particularly realistic.

Oh wow. That is a speaker I would love to see measured. Do you have the 13 or 29? How does it sound?

I have listened to the big MBLs and it was tricky because I wasn’t familiar with the music but it was very impressive.

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

Oh wow. That is a speaker I would love to see measured. Do you have the 13 or 29? How does it sound?

I have listened to the big MBLs and it was tricky because I wasn’t familiar with the music but it was very impressive.

I have Model 19.1's with Model 29 tweeters. They are closer to Model 29's.

 

[gnarly]

What constitutes a "good" impulse response and good step response?

Good question

And the answer is fortunately very simple.... it's flat frequency response and flat phase response.
That's all there is to it

 

[mhardy6647]

Altec A5-500s (and their kin) will do a very fine job of emulating real in a domestic setting.

 

[pantera_rapida]

I just acquired a used set of Morrison Audio speakers, Model 1.5 from 1993. A friend was over and had them in storage, felt I could put them to use as one of my main stereos is in a rather smallish room. The speakers I currently use are 1978 Genesis Physics Model 3's.

Interesting looking speakers, and very interesting sound. Instead of angling them towards a the listening spot a distance away and in the centre these sound the same pretty much wherever you stand or sit, which works better for the smaller room as you no longer need the chair further away.

I'm still playing various music (vinyl, CD, analogue radio) with them, but so far I find voices sound better, more natural. Most instruments sound good, more natural, and more detailed. I'm not taking advantage of the 4 terminals in the back, just the standard 2 channel.

 

[fpitas]

Altec A5-500s (and their kin) will do a very fine job of emulating real in a domestic setting.

Yes. Since you opened the can of worms, horns offer the best approximation of live that I've heard. Not a popular opinion since they're big and expensive when done right. And did I mention big?

 

[mhardy6647]

Yes. Since you opened the can of worms, horns offer the best approximation of live that I've heard. Not a popular opinion since they're big and expensive when done right. And did I mention big?

... and then again, some of them are really big.

 

[gnarly]

What kind of live-music?
Amplified or acoustic?
What kind of SPL / bass desired?
How big a space ?

Necessary starting questions to ask oneself, imo

 

[August West]

Each instrument had it's own speaker array with vocals in the center cluster. even today, most live shows are mixed mono

This bad boy system shook the ground at the Oakland Coliseum stadium in 1974. I was there.