The sense of smell evokes memories, while the sense of hearing evokes emotions


MrD, you touched upon this in your recent post.
I thought it was a subject worth discussing here.
Music can move us through emotional connection, it is well known.
A question for all of you.
Does playing your music on your system increase emotional connection more than playing it through a less HiFi system? 
One aspect of audio equipment marketing is for it's technical ability to bring us closer to the music by "getting out of the way" disappearing as some reviewers say. Suppose there was a speaker or amp that excelled in providing emotional connection, but measured poorly. Would you be willing to disregard the measurements and just go with your ears or  your heart and soul? I believe that SET / horns systems are an example of this. This is not about promoting SET / horns, but just brought up as an example that some people may have already reached this conclusion. Just my thoughts, I welcome civilized and rational comments. I am open to those with a deeper understanding of this subject.
Dennis

capstan

Showing 8 responses by capstan

Thank you Mr. D for the kind reply.
I get what you are saying and agree.
I'm looking for some input from a non technophile point of view. Maybe I should be asking this on a "music lovers" forum if there is such a thing. I really don't spend much time on this or other audio forums because, quite frankly and I'm not saying there is anything wrong with being fixated with the gear and wanting to talk about it, ( I think I was at one time and have outgrown that to some degree or to be kind I will say matured). I'm looking for validation of a new approach to reproduction of sound that I'm developing. I believe it is uncharted territory. Being as I said uncharted territory, I am having much difficulty proceeding on my own. 
n80, old blues recording is a good example, thank you for sharing that.
geoffkait, thanks for Moodies quote. You are very perceptive in being able to take that leap and remind us of the blurring of senses, If I am to understand your meaning. I don't think I am going to find the dialog I was hoping for and nobody replied specifically to my question in my post about disregarding specs in favor of emotional connection.
No disrespect intended, maybe this subject has been beaten to death on SET / horn forums and someone can point me to a good forum of that kind. I thought audiogon was the big daddy of audio forums and this was the place to go to for all things audio and it might very well be.
So if anyone has anything to say no the subject I am asking about, please chime in. Or else I will continue on my own, It's very lonely out here, in the "uncharted territory". 
Dennis
bdp204, Interesting point! would you say that chords, melody, harmony, counterpoint, inversions, etc. in music that evoke emotion comprises most of what we seek to attain?
Sorry for the typo, meant to say, if anyone has anything to say ON the subject please chime in.
Dennis
n80, thanks for the honest answer.
What I was actually looking for is something like:
I have an amp with no feedback that has 5% distortion and I don't care because of the emotional connection it gives me.
Looks like I'm off to the SET specific forums next time I feel the need to have a conversation.
Mr D. I feel a connection, if you are so inclined I would like to have a private conversation with you about this in the near future. If you are curious about my claim of going into uncharted territory as my partner in a business venture. It would be most helpful if you had a spiritual side. No money is required. This is conditional on being released from a verbal agreement with a good friend who although has shown some interest, is not providing what I need as a partner, (and he does not have a spiritual side). To the rest who replied, thank you for your input.
Dennis

bdp24 Excellent point. I love to hear about examples of how better HIFI provides more information or cues that increase the our enjoyment.
I'm not trying to discredit the value of a better HIFI. My thrill of audio reproduction has always come from examples such as yours.

geoffait I'm afraid my OP has been detoured to seem like I'm referring to sensory perception when in fact what I'm alluding to is that are other paths such as emotional connection to receive information from loudspeakers in my case. 
I am working on a way to increase that emotional connection through the use of a supplemental driver in a speaker system.
It has the additional benefits of lower distortion, deeper soundstage, etc.
I can only say that I'm unaware of anyone who has ever attempted this 
approach and it might be for good reason. That reason being that it is just not possible. I am familiar with "beltism" BTW.
I am carefully avoiding any association with snake oil tweeks as this could easily be dismissed as such.
I am looking for validation, first through people listening and then if I get encouraging results through the usual test and measurement. 
There is a second application for this technology if I may be so bold to call it that, that is beyond it's use as an audio enhancement that is irrelevant to this discussion, the second use could be verified or busted through scientific research that is beyond my capabilities at this time.
I cannot reveal exactly what this is because I am looking to bring a product to market. I have no resources to make this happen at this time.
I am not discouraged by my lack of resources because I believe that if I'm truly on to something, it is significant enough that I will create a new movement or maybe a niche that will fuel itself into fruition. I am fully aware the the stupidity of launching another speaker co in a world of filled with hundreds and will gladly go back under my rock, (but still enjoy it personally for the rest of my life) if proven wrong. 
Dennis


djones51 My speaker does rely on sense of hearing and it sounds great.
 No brain connection. I will leave that to Elon Musk.
I don't pretend to understand what's going on with my speaker.
I found this "effect" when playing around as many of us do with speakers as a tweek. I have modified an existing well known speaker and have set up a A  / B test. Modified pair vs. unmodified pair and can switch on the fly to demo. 
Dennis

djones51 No, you did not misunderstand. I did say that. 
I suspect that there is something going on beyond perception using the sense of hearing. That might provable through the second application that I mentioned.
It might be verified by increased rate of germination of seeds. Certain music, (classical music mostly) has been scientifically proven to increase the rate of seed germination in real clinical research. The first application is for us audiophiles to enjoy as the result is lower distortion and deeper soundstage through hearing. As I said this is uncharted territory and even I have trouble believing it's possible.  That's why I'm reaching out to other audiophiles. I would like to prove it one way or another.
Then I could move on with my life if it's all a figment of my imagination.
But I just can't let it go until then.
Dennis
Thank you all.
What a relief not to be ridiculed and attacked.
I was concerned that this could be taken the wrong way.
After all, by not spelling it out you all could have jumped to conclusions on your own.
Instead you all found a way to relate and add your take on it.
I do believe I came to the right place and look forward to sharing more as time permits.
I guarantee you that if this turns out to be a real, not imagined effect, we are all in for the time of our lives.
It has the possibility of opening up a whole new aspect of entertainment through music. No entertainment is not a good word for this, more like a drug effect. I have noticed that after hearing the effect, and then  switching to the unmodified speakers, if feels like someone is missing, taken away, something you don't know was there until you hear it and then it's taken away. Only after experiencing and having it taken away, can you appreciate the "effect". Before that you have no way for comparison. Furthermore, since I can't talk much about how this accomplished, I would like to bring up another aspect that was a complete surprise that once again became obvious only when A / B ing. The unmodified speakers are in phase to each other of course and I know many can hear absolute polarity, but have you ever thought that the speakers are "free running" even though they are in phase, in correct polarity whatever you want to call it , they are not locked to anything, as we would say in the video business, they are not "genlocked" to a master generator. For those not familiar with the term, it just means in sync with a master sync clock. What does this have to do with audio?
Not locked means freerunning, This is with a record on a TT as the source, nothing to do with DACs and clocks or jitter. What could this difference come from?
How about locked to LIFE, the materials that I'm using are from the earth, in their natural unrefined condition with some help from "chemistry" to increase their effectiveness. I am thinking that one of the previously unthought of reasons why reproduced audio does not sound live, is because it is not "locked to life" or maybe I should say not locked to the earth as all live sound must be to fit the definition of "live sound".
Yes, I know WTF is he talking about locked to life. Yes, this made my jaw drop and I hope I don't loose your all with this suggestion.
Stay with me, be open minded, don't jump to conclusions until you can hear this for yourself.
But think about, does that make sense to anybody?
I am only opening up because you all been so kind to me.
As I said, uncharted territory! 
Mr D thanks for the invitation, I will get back to you ASAP.
Time to walk the dogs in the hills behind my house now before it gets dark.
Dennis