I had listened to a little bit of Diana Krall on the web on cheap speakers and I didn't like her style of music, too 1950ish for me.

But yesterday I took a chance and bought her 2006 CD "From This Moment On". I'm astounded by how good her music sounds on the M22's. I've also discovered that I like them even better with the stereo enhancement mode that I've been using turned off and just going with pure direct.

If only more popular / rock producers and engineers allowed "their" music to be reproduced so well...

Can you imagine if classical and jazz producers got caught up in the Loudness Wars?

Twenty lashes for even posting that thought!

After flipping through the TV stations a couple of times tonight, I stumbled upon a concert by a Canadian First Nations blues player by the name of Derek Miller. Anyone heard of him, esp fellow Canucks?

I never have, but like his guitar sound.

Seriously. How does a Canadian gain the ability to play the blues? I thought everything was hunky-dory there?

Thanks Adrian - never heard of him but like the sound. I'll be adding him to my blues mix on Napster while working today! The fact that he's a happy Canadian pretending to have the blues makes it even better (couldn't resist Mark!)

"The blues ain't nuthin but a good man feelin' bad"

Maybe he yearns to play golf or go swimming in the winter.

He is probably a Leafs fan. I'm thinkin' Jeff Healey must have been one too.

Check out a Derek Miller song called "Devil Come Down Sunday", pretty cool song.

I gave it another good listen last night and made some more observations. After listening in pure direct for a while, the midrange sounded excellent, but most noticeably the upper range was suppressed. My Pioneer has 3 different stereo modes, 1)Stereo, 2)Front stage surround focus, and 3)Front stage surround wide. Both 2 and 3 gave the sound too much emphasis where nothing sounded real. 1 was a lesser version of the 3 and helped to enhance the high end a bit, but still give the overall sound a certain 'loudness' quality that took away from the realism.

I've never listened to SACD, or similar, and was wondering if this reproduces the sound more like what I'm looking for?

I meet monthly with a group of guys for a music listening night. This month's theme is music released in the last decade (the 00's). Doesn't have to be a new artist; it can be an older artist who has released new music the past decade. Anyway...here are some of the cuts I'm bringing ( a mix of older and newer artists):

Diamonds in the Dark by the High Dials ( a great Canadian power pop band)
Reflections After Jane by The Clientele
White Winter Hymnal by the Fleet Foxes
Worrisome Heart by Melody Gardot
Cousin Dupree by Steely Dan
Working Man's Cafe by Ray Davies (off of the excellent Kinks Choral Collection CD)

Anyway...these monthly gatherings are always fun.