If it has grand scale, it looses focus, naturally. If the singer stands in your living room ie. forward of the plane of your boxes, everything else is more forward (grander in scale) than a system which projects slightly behind of the speakers, normally more focused with more of an impression of depth.
One system which could be accused/praised of the former was my John Shearne amplification based one some years back. This renowned range of integrated/pre-power amplifiers, made by a tiny company (almost unthinkable now with a myriad of EU safety legislations though there are a select few left) tried to emulate a certain Valve sound with solid state technology. How? Distortion. They did it relatively successfully as my phase 2 showed though it has to be said it was just their take on what valves sound like.
It sounded simply huge and I don't think I've since heard anything quite like it. - The sound filled a large room when price comparable alternatives of the normal kind sounded withdrawn and distant. It added (!) beautiful colour to instruments and voices and was instantly impressive. My then wife, not interested in hifi whatsoever, immediately pronounced that it would stay. The blue marble look helped.
Problem was, with all its beautiful tonality, scale and impressive dynamics for a 50 or so watter, I soon missed subtlety, precision and depth to the sound. I got that when I changed it for a good valve amplifier which I had for a long time. Incidentally, moving up the JS range to their beautiful pre-power and mono blocks re-instated some precision and order to the sound but the cost was prohibitive and could'nt afford it at the time.
I have learned over the years that anything which imposes it's own character more than just subtly, is not for me. I'm an 'in-between' man, neutral like the swiss, which I am, are believed to be. There are various examples, Marantzes CD3SE/KI, widely praised for it's more 'analogue' sounding playback. I did'nt keep mine long. The wishy washy, phasey sound which lacked (to my ears) any precision soon gave a way to Trichords modified Genesis, a strange pioneer/trichord concoction which sounded heavenly in comparison.
On a similar note, the more you spend you normally gain, amongst other things, focus and precision. That goes for the various Naim, Rega, CA etc systems I've used. Power and with it, better control, tonal colour should be other bi-products of improved components, powersupplies etc but precision of sound field is, imo, the most important fact of upgrading. - To give just one example, some months ago I played around with various rega systems, from the most basic one to more elaborate ones. The overriding impression? Performers started larg'ish, perhaps a tad overblown, in front of the speakers with an uncertainty to bass and treble and a lack of precision. As I moved up the range, detail and focus increased, the sound became 'smaller' and slowly moved back, depth increased and whilst width stayed relatively similar, separation of instruments etc etc became more pronounced. Keb Mo, which I normally use to test something suddenly sat a good three yards or so further back than when we started. The same goes for Arcam or any of the other systems I tried.
Moral? Nothing wrong with an in-between system that does'nt impose it's own character to much. Tonal anomalities, such as the ones from my old shearne amp may impress immediately but sure as hell will get on your nerves eventually. I like to hear 'into' my music, I love depth to the sound and the precision that comes with better systems. I can accustom my ears to slightly wayward tonality (or colour, perhaps lack of it) of sound but a lack of precision I could never ignore. With that comes tight delineated bass and crystal clear treble and, usually, nice leading edges to notes, not the smeared ones I've often hear.
I currently use a strange combination of Denon/MS-Epos speakers and a sub. Everytime I listen to it I'm in awe of the things I like about it rather than what I don't, which is'nt much really. Just as enjoyable as my previous cyrus/Proac system, probably more so in certain areas and on par with a ruark/valve system I've owned years ago which did exactly the same to me ... transport me to another world for the duration of a track or album. I've used many many systems over the last few years and few, perhaps 5 or so, I could live with. They all cost a fair bit and they all have the traits I've mentioned in this thread, precision, relative neutrality and a level of accuracy.
There you go folks. It was huddling it down here tonight and we closed the cafe early so I had a few minutes to tell a tale.
One system which could be accused/praised of the former was my John Shearne amplification based one some years back. This renowned range of integrated/pre-power amplifiers, made by a tiny company (almost unthinkable now with a myriad of EU safety legislations though there are a select few left) tried to emulate a certain Valve sound with solid state technology. How? Distortion. They did it relatively successfully as my phase 2 showed though it has to be said it was just their take on what valves sound like.
It sounded simply huge and I don't think I've since heard anything quite like it. - The sound filled a large room when price comparable alternatives of the normal kind sounded withdrawn and distant. It added (!) beautiful colour to instruments and voices and was instantly impressive. My then wife, not interested in hifi whatsoever, immediately pronounced that it would stay. The blue marble look helped.
Problem was, with all its beautiful tonality, scale and impressive dynamics for a 50 or so watter, I soon missed subtlety, precision and depth to the sound. I got that when I changed it for a good valve amplifier which I had for a long time. Incidentally, moving up the JS range to their beautiful pre-power and mono blocks re-instated some precision and order to the sound but the cost was prohibitive and could'nt afford it at the time.
I have learned over the years that anything which imposes it's own character more than just subtly, is not for me. I'm an 'in-between' man, neutral like the swiss, which I am, are believed to be. There are various examples, Marantzes CD3SE/KI, widely praised for it's more 'analogue' sounding playback. I did'nt keep mine long. The wishy washy, phasey sound which lacked (to my ears) any precision soon gave a way to Trichords modified Genesis, a strange pioneer/trichord concoction which sounded heavenly in comparison.
On a similar note, the more you spend you normally gain, amongst other things, focus and precision. That goes for the various Naim, Rega, CA etc systems I've used. Power and with it, better control, tonal colour should be other bi-products of improved components, powersupplies etc but precision of sound field is, imo, the most important fact of upgrading. - To give just one example, some months ago I played around with various rega systems, from the most basic one to more elaborate ones. The overriding impression? Performers started larg'ish, perhaps a tad overblown, in front of the speakers with an uncertainty to bass and treble and a lack of precision. As I moved up the range, detail and focus increased, the sound became 'smaller' and slowly moved back, depth increased and whilst width stayed relatively similar, separation of instruments etc etc became more pronounced. Keb Mo, which I normally use to test something suddenly sat a good three yards or so further back than when we started. The same goes for Arcam or any of the other systems I tried.
Moral? Nothing wrong with an in-between system that does'nt impose it's own character to much. Tonal anomalities, such as the ones from my old shearne amp may impress immediately but sure as hell will get on your nerves eventually. I like to hear 'into' my music, I love depth to the sound and the precision that comes with better systems. I can accustom my ears to slightly wayward tonality (or colour, perhaps lack of it) of sound but a lack of precision I could never ignore. With that comes tight delineated bass and crystal clear treble and, usually, nice leading edges to notes, not the smeared ones I've often hear.
I currently use a strange combination of Denon/MS-Epos speakers and a sub. Everytime I listen to it I'm in awe of the things I like about it rather than what I don't, which is'nt much really. Just as enjoyable as my previous cyrus/Proac system, probably more so in certain areas and on par with a ruark/valve system I've owned years ago which did exactly the same to me ... transport me to another world for the duration of a track or album. I've used many many systems over the last few years and few, perhaps 5 or so, I could live with. They all cost a fair bit and they all have the traits I've mentioned in this thread, precision, relative neutrality and a level of accuracy.
There you go folks. It was huddling it down here tonight and we closed the cafe early so I had a few minutes to tell a tale.
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