warm and bright amplifiers and the music taste

[anonymous]

hello

i wonder which common amplifiers are on the warm side and which common amplifiers are on the bright or cool side?

i wonder also what do that mean in sound warm and bright?

also i wonder which music is best to listen to warm amplifier and which music is best to listen to bright amplifier?

regards

 

[shadders]

hello

i wonder which common amplifiers are on the warm side and which common amplifiers are on the bright or cool side?

i wonder also what do that mean in sound warm and bright?

also i wonder which music is best to listen to warm amplifier and which music is best to listen to bright amplifier?

regards

Hi,

I have a Cambridge Audio Azur 650A, and as per review, this amplifier does sound bright after it replaced my 20 years of an Audiolab 8000A. Not sure about latest models.

Regards,

Shadders.

 

[anonymous]

good to know

ps. with bright what do you mean? also what music is best when listen to it?

 

[shadders]

Hi,

My interpretation of bright is that the higher frequencies are perceived to be slightly louder.

Any music will sound brighter. I think a demo would be better, so you can compare to others.

Regards,

Shadders.

 

[anonymous]

what is high frequensy? were in the spectrum?:

http://www.teachmeaudio.com/mixing/techniques/audio-spectrum

 

[anonymous]

ps. a demo wold be good but when i have money, so bright is more loud? then i guess i prefer warm amplifier i dont like listen to music loud!

 

[lindsayt]

Defintions in hi-fi can be flexible with the same word meaning different things for different people.

Warm, to me, implies a bass heavy sound. Bass being the frequencies below 200 hz. It can also be sound where the bass is there in the right proportion, but suffers from bass boom - where bass notes don't stop as quickly as they should but get smeared / drone on.

Bright, to me, generally means that the system has less bass at the listening position than midrange or treble content. Less bass caused by lack of bass extension (usually caused by the speakers) or by the bass being relatively quieter than the upper frequencies.

http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

I personally prefer a relatively neutral system, so that some recordings sound bright - eg INXS. And some recordings sound warm - eg Dire Straits first album.

Lean systems can sound more impressive on brief A/B demos than more neutral ones as the lean systems give the psycho-acoustic effect of sounding more detailed. However, I find extended listening on lean systems fatiguing - my brain gets tired / irritated by the music after a couple of albums and wants to turn it off and do something else.

 

[Electro]

what is high frequensy? were in the spectrum?:

http://www.teachmeaudio.com/mixing/techniques/audio-spectrum

This might be a useful chart to help you understand.

http://www.independentrecording.net/irn/resources/freqchart/main_display.htm

 

[Al ears]

On the warmer/darker side:

Sugden Arcam Pathos Audio Analogue Unison Research Naim Electrocompaniet

Cooler/More Neutral

Cyrus Bryston (Neutral) Pioneer Bel Canto Chord Devialet (Neutral)

Somewhere in the middle:

Creek Rega Ayre Hegel

By somewhere in the middle can I assume you mean neutral? This is how I would perceive the Hegels.

P.S.:- I don't consider you can consider amplifiers specifically as either category because you need to use them with speakers to determine this characteristic, and that brings the speakers themselves into the equation.

 

[CnoEvil]

On the warmer/darker side:

 

[chebby]

I think it's time to break out the glossary again ...

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sounds-audio-glossary-glossary#JPIwcJeZb8ugE9OT.97

... In particular ...

"[/i]dark[/i] A warm, mellow, excessively rich quality in reproduced sound. The audible effect of a frequency response which is clockwise-tilted across the entire range, so that output diminishes with increasing frequency. Compare "light."

 

[CnoEvil]

I think it's time to break out the glossary again ...

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sounds-audio-glossary-glossary#JPIwcJeZb8ugE9OT.97

... In particular ...

"dark A warm, mellow, excessively rich quality in reproduced sound. The audible effect of a frequency response which is clockwise-tilted across the entire range, so that output diminishes with increasing frequency. Compare "light."

 

As in all these things, there are varying degrees of all these adjectives, which can be used for comparative purposes (darker vs lighter).

I think it is clear that the OP is trying to sort amps into smooth/refined vs neutral/forward....either way, they can be detailed and exciting; so it comes down to speaker matching and taste.

 

[Al ears]

I think it's time to break out the glossary again ...

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sounds-audio-glossary-glossary#JPIwcJeZb8ugE9OT.97

... In particular ...

"dark A warm, mellow, excessively rich quality in reproduced sound. The audible effect of a frequency response which is clockwise-tilted across the entire range, so that output diminishes with increasing frequency. Compare "light."

I remember that.

It was suggestion to the OP that an amp, on its own, cannot be considered warm whereas the system as a whole can be.

Amps have to be used in conjunction with speakers and a source. Without the influence / interaction of said add-ons you cannot determine how an amp sounds.

Or is this just me being pedantic again?

 

[CnoEvil]

I remember that.

It was suggestion to the OP that an amp, on its own, cannot be considered warm whereas the system as a whole can be.

Amps have to be used in conjunction with speakers and a source. Without the influence / interaction of said add-ons you cannot determine how an amp sounds.

Or is this just me being pedantic again?  

I think Amps do have a house sound, as well as characteristics that are often dependent on their topology.

A Jadis will always sound different to a Chord, no matter what speakers you put them through...same with Sugden and Cyrus.

With amps that are closer in sound signature, you can tailor the way they sound with speaker matching (to be closer to each other) and to a lesser degree, source selection

All IMO, of course.

 

[Al ears]

I remember that.

It was suggestion to the OP that an amp, on its own, cannot be considered warm whereas the system as a whole can be.

Amps have to be used in conjunction with speakers and a source. Without the influence / interaction of said add-ons you cannot determine how an amp sounds.

Or is this just me being pedantic again?

I think Amps do have a house sound, as well as characteristics that are often dependent on their topology.

A Jadis will always sound different to a Chord, no matter what speakers you put them through...same with Sugden and Cyrus.

With amps that are closer in sound signature, you can tailor the way they sound with speaker matching (to be closer to each other) and to a lesser degree, source selection

All IMO, of course.

Yes I agree. If you had a perfectly neutral speaker and used that and the same source connected to several different make amps then you would hear a difference between them. This, however, does prove an amp on its is warm.

 

[CnoEvil]

Yes I agree. If you had a perfectly neutral speaker and used that and the same source connected to several different make amps then you would hear a difference between them.  This, however, does prove an amp on its is warm.

My own Kef Refs are pretty neutral and I have heard them sound wonderful, but I have also heard them sound thin, lean and bright. I didn't like them with Moon, Linn, Chord or Rega (Isis/Osiris).

 

[BigH]

I will add a few:

Warm: Marantz and Musical Fidelity

Cool/Neutral: Audiolab

I would say Creek is on the warm side of neutral.

Arcam not as warm as they used to be.

 

[thewinelake.]

I have a Cambridge Audio Azur 650A, and as per review, this amplifier does sound bright after it replaced my 20 years of an Audiolab 8000A. Not sure about latest models.

Yes, I've recently obtained an 8000A - and it is a little ponderous by modern standards. Interesting, as back in the 80's it seemed to offer quite an exciting sound!

 

[CnoEvil]

On the warmer/darker side:

Sugden
Arcam
Nad
Quad
Pathos
Audio Analogue
Unison Research
Naim
Electrocompaniet

Cooler/More Neutral

Cyrus
Bryston (Neutral)
Pioneer
Audiolab
Cambridge Audio
Chord
Devialet (Neutral)

Somewhere in the middle:

Creek
Rega
Ayre
Hegel
Classe
Bel Canto
ATC

 

[anonymous]

thanks i guess i prefer warm amplifiers because i like soft sounds? any way i go to demo in future

 

[anonymous]

I think it's time to break out the glossary again ...

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sounds-audio-glossary-glossary#JPIwcJeZb8ugE9OT.97

... In particular ...

"dark A warm, mellow, excessively rich quality in reproduced sound. The audible effect of a frequency response which is clockwise-tilted across the entire range, so that output diminishes with increasing frequency. Compare "light."

"bright, brilliant[/i] The most often misused terms in audio, these describe the degree to which reproduced sound has a hard, crisp edge to it. Brightness relates to the energy content in the 4kHz-8kHz band. It is not[/i] related to output in the extreme-high-frequency range. All live sound has brightness; it is a problem only when it is excessive.

Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/sounds-audio-glossary-glossary-b-c#xff3OhaqcYQhrEQO.99"

 

[anonymous]

yamaha use to have a knife bright caracteristic to my ears so i feel is not warm *scratch_one-s_head* but then if pared to a warmer speaker it will make sounds better? or maybe all the chain should be bright?

 

[bigboss]

Marantz is on the warm side.

 

[anonymous]

On the warmer/darker side:

Sugden Arcam Nad Quad Pathos Audio Analogue Unison Research Naim Electrocompaniet

Cooler/More Neutral

Cyrus Bryston (Neutral) Pioneer Audiolab Cambridge Audio Chord Devialet (Neutral)

Somewhere in the middle:

Creek Rega Ayre Hegel Classe Bel Canto ATC

with dark do that mean the music is better for rock and tecno hip pop and these kinds?

 

[CnoEvil]

with dark do that mean the music is better for rock and tecno hip pop and these kinds? 

 

"Better" is down to personal preference. Some people like the music to have "bite" and not have the edge taken off it. Others prefer a smoother more refined sound, so there is no "one size fits all", I'm afraid.

At one end of the scale you have Valve Amps like Jadis and Unison Research, which give a gloriously harmonious sound, with a warmer Bass. At the other, you have the likes of Chord and Bryston, which are very clean and neutral, with a vice-like grip on the Bass...and give a warts and all presentation.

Speaker wise, at one end you have Harbeth/Spendor Classic/Sonus Faber; at the other, Focal/Triangle/ATC.