And then the drums come in...

[admin_exported]

So, I sat down and had a good listen to my new Cyrus 8xpd QX over the weekend. I tried swapping Quad 22L2s for 11Ls and changing cables around, and bi-wiring, and using cheaper cables and QED silver cables. I must admit that through my Quad 22L2s it sounds absolutely fantastic. Sound stage is open, instruments are placed everywhere with accuracy, treble sparkles, voices sound wonderful. One very happy listener.

Except.

And this is the bit I have posted about before but now I can give examples. On a few CDs when a male vocal, guitars, and drums all play together the mid-range just sounds a little muddled and the three things can’t be separated too well. They sound a bit mushed together and harsh. Two good examples are:

Coldplay – Fix You – when the drums come in

Snow Patrol – Chasing Cars – Again where the drums come in and the song lifts up (around 2:20)

Is this the speaker just not quite being able to deliver these things separately? (Everything else sounds fantastic).

Is it the recording (i.e. does anyone else notice this on these tracks)? Interestingly Phil Collins In The Air Tonight is incredible and doesn't do this. Bryan Ferry - Dance Away doesn't display this either, but Embrace All You Good Good People does it from the start.

Would a move up to something like the Spendor A5 solve this?

I will of course try to borrow a set of speakers but would like to know how many others have experienced this.

 

[idc]

Could it be that Coldplay and Snow Patrol are just not that well recorded and your new system is baring their weaknesses? I have found dynamic kicks into drums and the like vary more with amp than speaker. Ash's Oh Yeah and Pink Floyd's Summer 68, where the chorus starts are my tester tracks that I use for system dynamics.

Some tracks just don't do well on some systems and when it is a favourite track it is very frustrating.

 

[Andrew Everard]

The fact it is recording-dependent would suggest to me that some compression is being used on the recording itself, which is far from unknown these days

, meaning it's going to sound much the same on any system.

 

[idc]

I posted just after Andrew and the Loudness War, robbing music of its dynamic by making it all sound 'loud' is the most likely explanation.

 

[Andrew Everard]

Jinx, innit?

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks - this makes a lot of sense. I once heard that some artists mix in the studio by playing the output on a small radio and tweaking until it sounds good on the small tinny speaker - regardless of anything else. SAW I believe did this.

I would love to hear if other people experience the same with the same tracks.

 

[Anonymous]

True. It's just that if the same thing is evident over a couple or more CDs you start to wonder if it is related to the kit or not. I am absolutely astounded by how good the system currently sounds with many CDs but it was just the fact that it was the same male vocal/guitar/drum combination that led me to wonder if this was a downfall of the system.

 

[Overdose]

Some recordings are a little p**s poor to say the least, which is why I posted a question about the best recordings to test for soundstage some time ago.

You can look for a system to be accurate in it reproduction of music, or you can look for a sound that you like in particular, but the better the quality of equipment that you have, means that you are much more likely to notice the shortcomings of any recording.

Not a problem that I personally have right now though.