Soundstage, Imaging, Detail & Presence??

03-22-11: Lrsky
"Presence=Think halographic...'Help me Obi Wan you're my only hope'..a female vocalist is standing before you in a time and place in space."

I always think of the Star Trek transporter - Like this thing just appears before you, it doesn't play AT you. But the Obi Wan thing works, too. This is what I get from my SET that I was not able to get from other types of systems. (Not saying you can't, just saying I couldn't)

I suspect the speakers and acoustic environment of the room have far more to do with presence than tubes v. solid state. I've often wondered how fundamentalism survives scientific explanation, but the controversy over analog v. digital whether it be tubes v solid state or vinyl v. disc suggests that a need for mysticism may be part of the human experience.

db

No need for mysticism, many wise listeners have learned to trust their precious god given ears. Much of audio and acoustics can`t adequately be explained by science amd measurements(yet). Fortunately we have are ears which have evolved and developed over millions of years to show us the way. Scientific explanations often lag far behind what people experience in many endeavours and daily living(examples are to numerous to list). As of now our ears are the best tools we have when it comes to determing sound quality.

03-23-11: Dbphd
"I suspect the speakers and acoustic environment of the room have far more to do with presence than tubes v. solid state"

I agree, but I also agree with Charles1. It all needs to work together and listening trumps measurement or theory.
btw: Neither tubes nor SS are digital.

I'll take a crack at it...

1. Imaging: The perception of individual instruments/voices in physical space, including their position, boundaries, and size.

2. Soundstaging: The perception of the overall layout of instruments/voices in physical space, including the spatial dimensions and ambient characteristics of the recording space.

3. Presence: The perception of "realism" or "lifelikeness" of instruments/voices, whether in the form of "they are here" or in the form of "you are there."

4. Detail: The perception of resolution, whether real or apparent.

As I have defined them, imaging and soundstaging are interrelated, and presence and detail are interrelated.

Bryon