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(Nousaine) wrote:

That's true; but if your playback system has perfectly transparent
through-put
then you needn't worry about that. And, if you want to hear 'something else'
that's perfectly OK but why not know what was intended?

We are _listeners_! As listeners, we have every right to make it
sound the way we want to. The concept of listening to the "flat"
sound is really meaningless, simply because the original recording
wasn't "flat" to begin with.

But there was an acoustical intent. And if it was a live recording in an
acoustical space there is a reference as to what the original sound really
'was.'

Although there are general
"recommendations" (the good ol' "U" curve on the 16-band), listening
and sound is quite subjective.

Maybe they did it for a reason ("it's the
ambiance, I'm telling you." "But it sucks!" "So... it's *my* ART!!!"
hah hah) I know I'm being a little empirical here, but the reality
is that when we buy a recording, we're buying what's on the CD. If
you choose to tweek it, so be it. That doesn't change the validity
of accurately reproducing what is on the CD...

muffbuster

True. All I'm saying is that the tonal spectrum of what's on the CD
doesn't have to be (and shouldn't be) untouchable. In fact, I redo a
lot of what I buy/download. I'll make wave files out of the source,
effect them in my wave editor, then re-make the MP3s or CDs from my
"enhanced" files. This way I can basically leave my system alone
because the source now has the soundstage I prefer.

Regards,
Joe

I agree fully with the end-user doing whatever he/she wants to make things
better for them. But, we really should also note that a truly transparent
system would transport the sound on the recording to the ear with no
modification.

If you aren't capable of making a realistic reproduction of the original
sound
then you may be missing ways to make the system more transparent and offering
you even more ways to jack things around according to your preference.

But let's not forget what "flat" really means. If you have a loudspeaker system
that measures perfectly 'flat' in the near-field or in an anechoic chamber when
you measure it in the far-field you'll find a generally downsloping
characteristic ( 1.5 dB per octave in your listening room; or 3-dB per octave
in your car) at the listening position.

Trying to equalize the far-field position to 'flat' without accounting for this
characteristic will make for a bright, shrill presentation.