Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo classical music on m80's

My main Listening preference is classical symphonic music .I'm also into new age, mostly Kitaro,Vangelis,Cusco.When listening to new age or even jazz I find the m80's to be wonderfuuly clear, not bright as some feel.The problem is when listening to massed strings they do sound overly bright to the point where I often have to turn down the volume.I'm not imagining this since I attend classical concerts at Carnegie Hall or Lincon Center.From where I sit,usually balcony ,the sound of of the violins seems to be much softer.If the m80's are accurate musical reproducers schouldn't I be getting similar sound on them as in the concert hall?

Arthur:
I'm sure others more knowledgeable than I will expand on this, but there's a HUGE factor that you're leaving out of the equation: Your listening room.

It's probably safe to assume that the Licoln Center or Carnegie Hall have better acoustics than your listening room!

I can say that in my particular case, by far the biggest factor in the "quallity" of my playback is the interaction of my room with the speakers!

Hi Asher,

From the balcony, I would agree that most violins at Carnegie Hall or Avery Fisher Hall do sound softer, because of the absorbent qualities of the hall when it's mostly full of concert-goers. But this is a really complicated question, because it not only involves the spectral balance of the M80ti's (about which I had significant input in recent years, and I agree they are detailed but not strident on good recordings) but also the recording venues and conditions of classical recordings.

Are the violin sections close-miked? Lots of American recording engineers and producers use this technique to give them lots of control on balances during editing. Having studied and played violin from age 5 to age 20, I can assure you that when you play in an orchestra (U. of Toronto Symphony, which I played in, first violin section) and sit that close, violins are not soft-sounding. So when you place microphones within six to 15 feet of a violin section, and hopefully use mikes that are reasonably smooth, the violins have a real up-close sound, which does not reflect how they sound if you were in a big hall sitting in the balcony or the orchestra section.

Like you, I attend lots of concerts at various New York halls as well as the Metropolitan Opera and New York City opera. Some smaller halls (Merkin Recital Hall, Kurt Weill Recital Hall, and that new smaller one at Carnegie) have much "brighter" acoustics than the big halls.

All this raises the question of what perspective a recording engineer and producer decide on, and how they execute it. Do they use an empty hall (quite common) or simulate an audience by spreading big canvas sheets on the walls and seats to simulate absorbancy of audience members?

I think a newsletter article on this is in order. Thanks for the suggestion.

Regards,

In reply to:

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I think a newsletter article on this is in order

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hey! give that man some rosin for his bow. a topic that has sparked a possible newsletter. man, i wish i was that good..

bigjohn

Alan
Do you have any chili or bbq recipes?

My pleasure

Art, just to expand slightly on the previous replies, especially Alan's, keep in mind that in the concert hall listeners(even those near the front)get a majority of the sound by way of reflections from the hall surfaces rather than as direct sound from the front(one reason why the use of surround processing such as DPLII on stereo recordings often can add to the realism). Just to throw in a ballpark figure, possibly 80% of the sound experienced by someone in the balcony may be reflected. In the course of these reflections the high frequencies are diminished relatively more. So yes, a fairly closely recorded performance, accurately reproduced, will have the violins with fuller high frequencies. I listen almost entirely to classical music on my M22s and have rarely found this to be a problem, but when it is, that's what the treble tone control is there for.

it, as with every music types, sounds wonderful