Harshness in tweeters: the price of transparency?

Ktstrain,
I have not been a fan of speakers built in a box for many of years.
However my bias towards speakers in a box has changed over these last few years.
Recently I heard a pair of speakers with diamond tweeters at high volume levels at times with not a hint of hardness at all.

They were the B&W 800D. What made up part of the rest of the system was a EMM Labs digital player and the speakers were driven with the ASR Emitter Exclusive 1.

Sheffield Labs absolutely superb recording of Harry James and his big Band was the first disk I picked for listening.
We ended up playing this disk twice that afternoon, because I'm a big fan of Harry.

The volume level was just right for me and I still shake my head when thinking about that afternoon.
We went through various types of music from Pink Floyd to Irish Celtic.
Volume levels varied from softly played to near eye denting levels, not to my liking, too loud.

I'm still going through a learning curve with speakers in a box and I guess I could state that with other components that make up a system.

Based on your requirements, Gallo Ref 3s might be worth an audition.

Jeff

Shardorne, I agree that drums, trumpet and trombone have bite, but they're not harsh, as too many systems make them. Most well recorded trumpet is brilliant with lots of high overtones. When trombones play loud, particularly in symphonic works, they put a brr or growl in the sound with an incredible display of harmonics. Snare drums should be crisp in symphonic work, but you should be able to tell that the snares are loose or tight in pop work (on Nora Jone's stuff, for instance, the snares are usually loose).

Greatly complicating this is the huge dynamic range of these instruments often leads to compression on pop and jazz recordings. It really frustrates me when the engineer opts to let the tenor sax sound bigger than the trumpet because he can't handle the dynamic range. Trombone seldom comes off well in jazz recordings because the proximity effect of trombones and mics is about as bad as it gets. (An exception is some salsa, where they record the trumpets and 'bones from a respectful distance and let them blow their brains out). Of course, most compression adds to perceived harshness on playback.

Some examples of great brass and percussion recordings are any of the Harry James D2D recordings by Sheffield in the 1970s. If you want just one, try "King James Version". A more recent recording that shows all the overtones, brilliance and brrr of brass is "Music for Organ, Brass and Timpani" by Anthony Newman and The Graham Ashton Ensemble on the Sonoma label (see my review in the Review section of A'gon). Reference Recordings has a multitude of great wind band recordings of the Dallas Wind Symphony that really show brass in an accurate light. (All these make my dacshund howl, just like when she hears me play my trumpet. If your system doesn't make the dog howl on these recordings, somethings missing).

Many audiophiles have not heard brass and percussion live. If not, put it on your agenda. It's an ear opener.

Dave

Dave,

I could not agree more - you gave some great suggestions on music. I have the Harry James Sheffield Labs on XRCD - awesome!

In return may I suggest ToP "Soul Vaccination" LIve - What is Hip....awesome drums and persussion!

Another greatt is Chuck Magione Live at the Hollywood Bowl.

And some real fun is "Cissy Strut" cover by the "Dirty Dozen Brass Band"

Dave, Oh and lest I forget - Robbie WIlliams "Swing while your winning"" - great sound! Another one for the "demo" collection - if you love a realistic brass sound with a bit of "bite". Or Sante Fe and the Fat City Horns or Strokeland Superband or Phat Phunction