"It doesn't impress you at first..."

But music is often an acquired taste. It is the subtle things that often separate a great musician from merely good and you can't begin to appreciate the subtle things that a musician does until you understand more about the music and the instrument. It's like reading a book or piece of poetry. The best books or poetry are ones you can read over and over again and find something new and it's the same with music. Like good writers, good musicians have a vast resource of associated knowledge in which to make references to. If you don't understand or have knowledge of what the references pertain to, you miss parts of the message. When you've figured out what the references mean, you can then come back and perhaps find new appreciation for the work.

Often times a component, be it speaker, amp, pre, cables, etc. have a quality that is quite apparent immediately. Sometimes you notice the bass or midrange, etc or a combination of things that jump out at you and scream "hey look at me". But over time you realize that these things don't necessarily serve the music. They are sometimes exaggerations and can become quite annoying. An artificial detail or something else that while grabs your attention initially just isn't real.
We don't simply listen to bass or treble or midrange or dynamic impact (well maybe some do). It is how the whole is presented. Are you listening to your "system" or are you listening to music. Therein lies the answer.

Awesome responses guys, thanks. We all have our own perception of what "live music" sounds like, given our different concert-going experiences, our own experiences as musicians, or just differences in our ears. But can't you tell quickly when a system suddenly clicks into what your idea of live music is, or at least comes pretty dang close?

Personally, the things that knock my socks off when I first hear them are the systems that sound like my aural memory of live music. Things that do not knock my socks off are improved bass response, less etching in the treble, etc. Or at least I don't think they do... Granted, what makes me hear "live music" is surely a conglomeration of all of those little points, but I would never make an upgrade based on "improved bass response" or "smoother highs". Anyway, just some random thoughts.

And word to the silver cables. Not my cup of tea either.

I once bought a pair of speakers that hooked me on how fabulous they sounded with one particular record. Turned out that was the only record they sounded good with. After a week of trying, I threw myself on the mercy of the dealer and he took them back. Since then I haven't made the mistake of "trusting my ears" that way. Dave

There are two reasons I think why this warning is true:

1. It is possible to engineer features into components, especially speakers, that will impress upon first hearing but become irritating over time. Exaggerated treble or bass will make a speaker stand out and seem more full of life but this becomes evident as a problem over time.

2. Some of the more important qualities of a component apparently really take time to notice and appreciate.

The first time I shopped for high end speakers, I did a quick a/b comparison among several, maybe five pairs. I was able to quickly eliminate one pair, the Gale 401-c, and focus on the others. But on subsequent visits to that store, I realized that the Gale was FAR more lifelike and nuanced than the other speakers, it seriously outclassed them. But these qualities just don't jump out at you, you need time to appreciate them. I bought them and got great joy out of them for over a decade.

And it was funny how friends would come to appreciate my stereo, really love to listen to music on my stereo, but rarely take serious note of it upon first hearing.

Art