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Why does the music played at AXPONA suck so bad?

Just played this song twice and just can see how "horrible" this should sound...? Fits the song / genre nicely. Punchy defined bass.

This (fantastic) Eva Cassidy song is often played by audiophiles, but I find the voice distorting and almost hurting my ears at around 0:53 - 0:59...? and at 2:25?

Listened on my new set studio monitors Focal Solo ST6 with Focal CMS sub subwoofer.

Too much processing (exciter).
 
A Suzanne Vega track you probably won't hear at an audio expo, certainly not one demo-ing small speakers or Magnapans. I remember first hearing "Nine Objects of Desire" thinking that I never heard this much deep bass on a singer/songwriter track:

:
Not much bass below 30 Hz though:
Thin Man [BxmmXz1hoWg].m4a.png
 
That would be something. :)

One more tip. Holst should be a good fit. Dynamic music and people who haven't heard Mars before might wonder what it reminds them of.

The Imperial March can of course also be played. Which I actually heard at a Hifi fair a decade ago.

Or one of the spectacular cloudstorms in classics - Richard Wagner did one in Götterdämmerung, Richard Strauss in the Alpine Symphony.

This one (Ferdinand Grofé Grand Canyon Suite) is a great recording with stunning dynamics. One almost gets a shock if played loud and the system is able to handle the peak at 7:00.

 
Keith Don't Go – Nils Lofgren. With its shimmering guitar flageolets. Put it on if you're selling some mediocre speakers and the buyer will think they're superb in resolution and detail.;):)

Starting at 3:15 in the video:
Or Stings Soul Cages album - very wide and deep soundstage due to its Q-Sound processing:


At the very end of the album the last Good Night (at 7:30) comes from 90 degree left - you have to raise the volume a lot to hear it properly:

 
Nothing to do with whether you like the music or not. The topic is what's best to play at shows to give some idea of the capability of the system being exhibited. So musical taste doesn't come into it.
I remember that the better systems out there could make the 'best possible' of any recording they were given to play while being mind-blowing on decent productions. Some 'Hi Fi' sets seem to *only* work with top quality recordings and make mincemeat of almost everything else, the excuse given that they're very 'revealing of flaws.'

I'd suggest that typical 'tyre-kickers' at shows with records under their arm (or whatever), want to hear their favourite music without as much care for a sound-rig's capability. With respect Mart, the kind of enthusiast you often mix with is perhaps a bit more 'educated' than the punters that certainly used to visit shows.

One maker's site that exhibits reguarly and which traditionally had a 'more mature' ownership which liked jazz and 'classical' genres (from solo, chamber to full on orchestral/choral/opera), found that as soon as any music from the latter generic umbrella was played, the exhibition room emptied very quickly. Play something more contemporary and they'd come back to listen and some would stay. The company owner/designer tells us he has thousands of 'tracks' to choose from and has taken much time to curate a selection of tracks from various genres to show his company's products off.
 
Or one of the spectacular cloudstorms in classics - Richard Wagner did one in Götterdämmerung, Richard Strauss in the Alpine Symphony.

This one (Ferdinand Grofé Grand Canyon Suite) is a great recording with stunning dynamics. One almost gets a shock if played loud and the system is able to handle the peak at 7:00.

Like I said in my previous post, sadly music like that would empty an exhibitor's room I fear.

The only firm in the now distant past that could get away with delightful chamber music was Quad in their heyday, their room set up for relaxing listening where visitors could sit down and chill for a while with some wonderful sounds after the sonic deluge elsewhere. I remember one great experience like this to this day (this before the ESL63 speakers were introduced), the '57s set high on trestle tables and possibly tilted forward, so not 'firing' into visitor's feet as the 63s usually were).

Apologies for the now ancient memories.
 
Keith Don't Go – Nils Lofgren. With its shimmering guitar flageolets. Put it on if you're selling some mediocre speakers and the buyer will think they're superb in resolution and detail.;):)

Starting at 3:15 in the video:
Always wondered what happens @3:40 ? That is just wrong. :) :eek:
 
Always wondered what happens @3:40 ? That is just wrong. :) :eek:
For the thread OT but I'll respond to your post anyway:

The live recording may have been edited a bit afterwards. I guess there was just a little mistake in the editing process.:)

Even more strangely edited.Here when Dire Straits cut this video together. It is the studio recording that is overlaid on the video but they shortened it so that at 2:36 it sounds strange, like a tempo change:

If I look at Spotify, I can switch between hearing Sultan Of Swing either with the synced video or the entire studio recording. It becomes quite obvious then what they did, how they cut away and shortened the video.
Video length: 4:26
Studio recording (which they used for the video) length: 5:48
 
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Just played this song twice and just can see how "horrible" this should sound...? Fits the song / genre nicely. Punchy defined bass.

This (fantastic) Eva Cassidy song is often played by audiophiles, but I find the voice distorting and almost hurting my ears at around 0:53 - 0:59...? and at 2:25?

Listened on my new set studio monitors Focal Solo ST6 with Focal CMS sub subwoofer.

I am listening to this track on Tidal (hopefully the same version) and noticed that both of your designated play times (of .53+ and 2.25+, where you mention hearing distortion). coincide with the female singer hitting her loudest & highest notes. This is usually one of the most difficult tests for most 2 way speakers including quality ones like the Focal Solo ST6. With my Genelec 8341 3 way monitors I don't hear excessive distortion, just a slightly aggressive limiter on the vocal kicking in. Switching to the quality 2 way speakers I have handy (an old pair of Energy 22 Reference passive monitor speakers, 2 way 7+" woofer) I can hear a slight resonance and possibly even some distortion with the female vocals at the times mentioned, again because this is a significant test for any 2 way speaker system where both drivers are straining near the limits of their range. Of course this issue is usually rather volume dependent and will be significantly less noticeable at lower volumes. However if your Focal Solo ST6s are used midfield / farfield at higher volumes the issue will likely be more noticeable. In addition to potential added distortion at a speaker's crossover frequency there are also issues with linearity, phase and dispersion which would take several more paragraphs to explore even superficially.
 
Alan Parsons quote that says it best:
"Audiophiles don't use their equipment to listen to listen to your music. They use your music to listen to their equipment."
He was right of course but isn't the point of going to a show to listen to speakers not music? I can listen to music anytime without stepping outside the door.

Actually I think the real point of going is to remind yourself that you could spend a whole lot of money for no real benefit but that's another story.
 
Keith Don't Go – Nils Lofgren. With its shimmering guitar flageolets. Put it on if you're selling some mediocre speakers and the buyer will think they're superb in resolution and detail.;):)

Starting at 3:15 in the video:
This does get a lot if play at shows.
 
Presenters could do worse than take online list advice like:
(I'd pay money to see a room full of audio schlubs getting hit with Bjork's "Pluto" on a high-output boutique system.)


The one audio gear conference I attended , too many rooms were playing The Trinity Sessions (Cowboy Junkies), yawn.


Eons before that, when I worked ina Crazy Eddie outlet in NYC, our go-to demo was The Nightfly (Donald Fagen), that immaculately recorded thing, to the point I got kind of sick of hearing it (I got over it). Marvin's 'Sexual Healing' got a lot of play too; can't fault that. But the last alternative on our limited playlist, 'Down Under' by Men At Work, was and still is fucking unbearable.
 
That's a weird list, I like a lot of those records, but few would be on a hifi recording list of mine.

Most actual audio systems play a variety of music, not just what some audiophiles would call 'hifi recordings'.
 
I am listening to this track on Tidal (hopefully the same version) and noticed that both of your designated play times (of .53+ and 2.25+, where you mention hearing distortion). coincide with the female singer hitting her loudest & highest notes. This is usually one of the most difficult tests for most 2 way speakers including quality ones like the Focal Solo ST6. With my Genelec 8341 3 way monitors I don't hear excessive distortion, just a slightly aggressive limiter on the vocal kicking in. Switching to the quality 2 way speakers I have handy (an old pair of Energy 22 Reference passive monitor speakers, 2 way 7+" woofer) I can hear a slight resonance and possibly even some distortion with the female vocals at the times mentioned, again because this is a significant test for any 2 way speaker system where both drivers are straining near the limits of their range. Of course this issue is usually rather volume dependent and will be significantly less noticeable at lower volumes. However if your Focal Solo ST6s are used midfield / farfield at higher volumes the issue will likely be more noticeable. In addition to potential added distortion at a speaker's crossover frequency there are also issues with linearity, phase and dispersion which would take several more paragraphs to explore even superficially.
Thanks!

I sit at 1,2 meters dsitance from them, not playing loud and the distortion of these speakers is quite low:


IMG_2910.jpeg


Still curious how other people perceive this.
 
Thanks!

I sit at 1,2 meters dsitance from them, not playing loud and the distortion of these speakers is quite low:


View attachment 522261

Still curious how other people perceive this.
Interesting Puddingbuks! Given Amir's review here (that I am looking at for the first time) your nearfield moderate listening level should not result in the distortion you hear. (However at louder listening levels, the review does reveal a small distortion peak at 1.7K, some port resonance above 3K and some off axis upper frequency emphasis.) I am beginning to wonder if we are listening to versions of this track with different mastering, different resolution or even a different mix. I am listening to the older (original?) Tidal version of the track. What version are you listening to?
 
Interesting Puddingbuks! Given Amir's review here (that I am looking at for the first time) your nearfield moderate listening level should not result in the distortion you hear. (However at louder listening levels, the review does reveal a small distortion peak at 1.7K, some port resonance above 3K and some off axis upper frequency emphasis.) I am beginning to wonder if we are listening to versions of this track with different mastering, different resolution or even a different mix. I am listening to the older (original?) Tidal version of the track. What version are you listening to?
Tidal and YouTube but will try other versions too. Another explanation could be that my ears are oversensitive at those frequencies or just old and can’t handle those tones anymore.
 
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