What is Imaging?

Rnm4,

Very well expressed. I agree entirely. If you close your eyes at a live performance of classical music, for example, it is very hard to pick out individual voices in a massed choir or individual instruments. I enjoy that my system is able to do this, but the imaging that it creates is very different from the actual sound of the performance.

"So, it is just location and separation, not depth/realism?"

Sure it's depth and realism and dimensionality too. Sometimes you hear systems with great spacing between the performers laterally and back and forth, with quiet spaces between the instruments but the images just sound flat. I think it was HP who used to say "painted images on a painted sea." You want those images to have body and dimensionality as well. When you are sitting in your chair, you want to not only be able to point to that saxophone, but you want to be able to feel like you could get up and walk around it because it's so dimensional sounding. It's all part of imaging.

Location, isolation, and separation of instruments in space...depth is more soundstage(all instruments in a plane) related...front to back, lateral dispersion, etc...realism kinda falls in both camps...more so imaging...as in vivid presentation, 3d sound...im a soundstage man...I like a big, open, sound...with depth....even better...with instruments "spread out"

Phasecorrect,

IMO, imaging and sound stage go hand in hand. Once you put air around an image you create greater depth of sound stage.

Something similar to imaging is the presence. The presence is more to realism and musical. Imaging is more artificial and analytical. Imaging is from everything the sound wave touches like speaker cabinet, walls and ceiling. Imaging is the art of using room and speaker cabinets. When the sound is reflected from walls and ceiling of listening room, the imaging is like the room. The sound wave reflected from the stucco wall, the sound will be dry and dusty like stucco. If the listening room is like a concert hall with expensive woods, the imaging is like the good concert hall. Unfortunately, Almost rooms are not like a concert hall. Imaging offers very little musical satisfaction. That’s why women don’t care for imaging. Imaging is valued only for the individual who pursues imaging in their room only. Or people who train to hear it. The brain has to process added information from walls and home furniture, and the listener get easily tired. Women hates it!

The presence is formed only by sound from speakers. If a recording has concert hall information, good speakers show strong presences of the concert hall. If the sound reflects to a wall, the presence of the concert hall will be lower because of the sound of room. The presence is musical because it is what is in the recording. Women love the sound with the presence. Even the bad recording is fun to listen.

In many years of my audio journey, I have heard only one speaker with true presence.