Musicians?

I have been a professional musician for over thirty years. I started playing a musical instrument (accordion) at age five; the clarinet, saxophone and flute followed. I went to music conservatory while working weekends in local bar bands. I later moved to NYC, and have been working in just about every facet of the the music scene there for twenty five years; primarily Lincoln Center orchestras and Broadway. I have been an audiophile since the first time I heard a junior high school friend's grandmother's mono, tube based Philco console, and realized there was something else out there besides the usual screechy solid state stuff of the time. It wasn't until years later that I could afford decent equipment.

For me it's vinyl, tubes and electrostats that do it. I have two different high end systems. One is Meitner ss driving Paragon Regents, but it's the Manley tubes driving Stax F-81's that have the magic. In both cases it is a VPI TNT/ET2/Vandenhul setup or Ah!Tjoeb 4000 as source. IMO, the most important element in a system is it's sense of aliveness; wether it can do a good job of delineating micro dynamics. If it can't differentiate between ppp and pp, and do it in a continuous (analog) way, without it sounding choppy or jerky, then no amount of clarity, or frequency extension will make up for that. Musical expression is noty about ultimate frequency extension or "accuracy" (whatever that is).The second most important trait in a good system for me is tonal density. A lot of systems present what, to me, sound like fairly accurate OUTLINES of musical instruments and voices without nearly enough of the incredible complexity of tonal color that live instruments and voices have in real life. Not enough of the meat. It is tonal density that gives music it's palpabilty. For me a good vinyl setup does this, along with far more realistic rendering of dynamics (micro).

I would like to offer a different perspective on the issue of musicians and their stereo systems. I often read comments about how musicians have "inferior" systems. Unfortunately, the comments are sometimes not a simple statement of an observation (however mistaken), but are accompanied by a somewhat judgmental attitude. Here are some hopefully more instructive observations:

-I have many colleagues with high-end sound systems. The musicians' community is a very small one, but as a percentage of that community, the number with high-end systems is far, far greater than the percentage of people with high end systmes in the general population. So can we please put that myth to rest once and for all?

-A big part of being an audiophile is the tweakyness of it all. There are certain personality types (I include myself), that enjoy the quest for perfection in a certain endeavor. The finetuning, the setup, or simply the satisfaction of knowing that we are discriminating or astute in a certain way. Nothing wrong with that; we all choose our poison. It takes an incredible amount of time and dedication to finetune, setup, and to "be astute" as a musician. It is very easy for non-musicians to romanticize what it means to be a successful musician, while forgetting that a lot of it is dedication to the routine of practice, repetition, and necessary obsession with equipment. There are only so many hours in the day. Sometimes one can't do both.

-This observation is not meant to come accross as judgmental in any way: No sound system can convey the satisfaction and thrill of playing in a great orchestra, or a smoking jazz or rock band. It can do it to varying degrees, but to a musician, a sound system will always fall woefully short. That's not to say that it can't sound great, and provide much more satisfaction than an inferior system, but the "fix" will never be as satisfying. Musicians get their fix at work all the time.

Best to all.

Frogman, I agree just about 100% with everything you have said. I too, tire of the myths surrounding musicians, audio and otherwise. Thanks very much for your fantastic post. As far as the speakers go, I know several musicians who like electrostats as well - for me, the horn speakers have all the advantages you speak of, plus have the advantage of a much bigger "sweet spot" - they are much less finicky in placement, as well. They can also be driven with just about any type of amp, as they are not nearly as power-hungry as the stats. But I do agree that the stats are the only other speaker type that comes close to approximating what live music sounds like. Looks like you have a couple of great set-ups, there. Enjoy, and thanks for the great post!

Learsfool, thanks for the kind words. I too like horns driven by tubes. The sense of immediacy is amazing. The way that the music jumps out of the speakers is very satisfying. I have always struggled with the incredibly low efficiency of my Stax F-81's, and put up with it only because of their fantastic midrange tonal density (very natural), and ability to let the music move the way it should. They don't play very loud at all, however, and there are times when healthy volume is needed. That's where the Paragons come in.

Perhaps this is a subject for another thread, but do you find it frustrating, as I do, how infrequently references to the sound of live music is part of the commentary on audio equipment?

In most instances where I hear live music (jazz clubs, arenas, stadiums), the sound of the live event is often worse than the sound from my stereo.

I listen primarily to rock, and jazz. Very little classical.

If the baseline for live/stereo comparison must be chamber music in a private home, or orchestral music from the 22nd row of a world class concert hall, then it's an unrealistic expectation for me.

One needs to put these things in perspective. One size does not fit all in this hobby.

Hi Frogman - yes, there are many out there do not use live music as a reference. I think there are many reasons - some audiophiles become so obsessed with their equipment that they haven't even been to a live concert of any kind for years, and have truly forgotten what live music sounds like. I am constantly amazed at those who place the equipment above the music in their priorities. Or those who won't listen to a recording if they don't think it was recorded well, or is not on the right label. Others simply don't want their music to sound live. I have seen that comment many times here. Then there are those who say they don't want any "colorations," usually the same people who are after "complete neutrality" in a component. Yes, I do understand what they think they mean, but to me, and I would guess the vast majority of working musicians, this is a truly ridiculous concept (as if anyone really wants to listen to colorless and neutral music??!), and in my experience, these folks have systems that don't sound anything like live music - they want every recording they own to sound exactly the same, and very sterile sounding, though they usually call it "analytic."

On the other hand, I bet Tvad is right when he claims his system sounds better than many concerts he hears in arenas and stadiums, assuming it is electronic and/or amplified music he is speaking of, which the vast majority of it would be if he listens mainly to rock and jazz. Especially in the rock world, the music is so grossly amplified at pretty much all live venues nowadays. So many people have grown used to this electronic sound that they think that that is what all music sounds like, and they develop very unrealistic expectations of bass in particular (Subwoofers are among the most misused pieces of equipment, in my opinion. Not that they can't sound good, but to my ears I have yet to hear a system including them that sounded like real, live, acoustic music). Even concerts in a great hall can be ruined by over-amplification, as my orchestra's pops concerts often are. Far too many people think that louder is always better, as you must know well, playing in Broadway pits.

So there are a whole host of different reasons, of which I have just scratched the surface, and it can indeed be frustrating. I try to either ignore it or laugh about it, but it's hard sometimes. As Tvad said, one size does not fit all, and there are many different perspectives in this hobby. Sometimes the most important one to us musicians gets completely lost in the process. I guess that's true of alot of different hobbies. I used to homebrew with a friend who got obsessed with the equipment instead of the taste of the beer. Eventually we compromised - we used his equipment to make my recipes, and got some very good results that way. But I've gone on more than long enough, so I'll shut up now. Enjoy the music!