Musicians know how real music sounds up close. Up close some instruments can sound bad if played too loudly. Yet, at the right volume it can sound quite exciting when raw. My suspicion is that those who seek expensive equipment often times want to hear titillating sound. Sounds that sound more euphonious than a true raw instrument. These folks seek out components to sweeten the sound, preferring an audio system to experience wonderful sounds rather than what real music can sound like. Keep in mind, mics are placed relatively close to the instrument when being recorded. Any musician who has sat in a rehearsal and sat/stood in close proximity with the band members knows that music of a band sounds quite different than someone listening from twenty feet away. Analog tends to sweeten the process, while digital can capture the raw sound. So, its really a matter of finding the right components to suite ones own taste. Some listeners really do not want live sound, though they can detect and like when something live was recorded by hearing the audience participation. IMHO- That's it, in a big nutshell.
I feel very priveliged to have my question answered Paul. Thank you for your experienced advice. I hope one day to tour your facility. I'll have to find a PS Audio dealer in Australia and have a good listen. Thanks once again :)
Great question. Not sure there is an answer. I would say that highly sensitivity speakers are key, but hearing a pair of LS3/5As coupled to a high-current power source blows that theory out of the water. I think it comes down to having well designed speakers powered by a well matched, high quality power source. Many speakers will simply sound better with a certain type of amp than others, and no amount of cable swapping or room treatment can fix that. I feel that once you get that correct, then you can sweat the other stuff.
About 90% of life-like sound is due to the recording. Once (90s) heard that truth demonstrated when a mediocre minicompo was belting out a phenomenal African village chant hand claps percussion, and a lot of people turned their heads. A kid went forward to the system then back to tell his dad there was no performance - it was just a recording!
🧐 AGREED. …IT’S ABSOLUTELY MIND-BOGGLING TO EXPERIENCE A ‘LOWER DOLLAR’ SYSTEM THAT MAGICALLY SOUNDS 10x BETTER THAN IT SHOULD. - THIS IS THE REASON WHY I COULD NEVER BE A ‘BIG SPENDER’ IN ACQUIRING AUDIO COMPONENTS. I’VE SEEN TO MANY ‘AVERAGE PRICED’ COMBINATIONS PRODUCE EXTREMELY STELLAR PERFORMANCE. 🔊 🔊 😊 🔊 🔊
Synergy. I think that that's one of the biggest factors when considering components to place you into the music. Finding that synergy is the hardest, & sometimes most expensive quest of the lover of music.
Correct - . Everyone can buy gear for any almost money but final perfect sound is not possible to sell to all because it is a combination of factors, conditions and units. It is art - the same as understanding light, colors and geometry is must for painter - quality of brushes and paints are only a part of game. .
I've got a Denon AVR-3808 7.1 channel AV amplifier connected to a pair of Tannoy Revolution R2 and Tannoy HTS200 for surrounds, I can tell you that when I got everything connected and turned on the system for the first time and ran the settings for crossover frequencies, my God it sounds amazing. My music is mostly digital, either Tidal or Qobuz through HDMI bitstream and CD media played on Onkyo DV-SP500 connected with Toslink. I can't pick up the difference between the two. Obviously the signal is the same unaltered straight into the Denon to decode it and these Tannoy speakers although they're not top class on the money some people spend, the sound is there, putting some more expensive systems to shame. At the end of the day it's what makes each one of us happy.
My 40 year old Pioneer 12 inch 3-way system.when I bought it, it had more living "sparkle more than speakers much more expensive. I still use them. When I listen to remastered albums with birds and crickets, it sounds like I'm outside listening to the real thing.They weren't expensive, but the high end is transparent. I toe then in and have them on plastic baskets I use and stands, so the tweeter it almost level with my ear. My receiver is 100 watts /channel RMS, and easily drives the speakers to levels that would make my neighbors complain.
That's probably a question that's been asked since Edison invented the phonograph. We've come a long way since then, but still can't completely reproduce live music. Lived with a music teacher and attended many live concerts. I've accepted the fact that a good approximation is what I'll get. I've had the same system for 17years and the sound is clear instruments are defined, imaging is very good and that makes me happy. Don't sweat the details because you'll make yourself crazy and broke. That's my advice
Listen to a quality horn loaded speaker, dome / cone speakers, electrostatic speakers. The majority of sound quality (assuming that your source recordings are high quality) will be in the speakers - spend your money there. It’s much easier to upgrade and trade an amp or a DAC - and the differences will be far less noticeable than the speakers.
I noticed this aspect a bit, kinda think it's speaker efficiency / power amp interface related. + some sort of frequency boost / drop ( I go back to AR's which always seemed pretty laid back, actually bland as a harsh comment.)
I just heard a reviwer say that Boulder monoblocks and Constellation are the finest amps made by any American company, do you agree or can PS audio BHK Monoblocks compete ?
"live" as in a concert? Get some horn speakers and PA woofers. Turn volume up a tad too loud. There you go. Same (horrible) sound quality as live. Don't forget that this kind of "live" sound comes from a PA system that need to go loud over quality. They often have slight distortion and top and low end are boosted. Been working in the industry and PA systems usually do not sound very musical when compared to the instrument itself or even proper hifi systems in general. live as in purely instrumental with no electronic sound amplification? Like an orchestra? Violin? Piano? Etc. Impossible. You can get close to it tho with a good amplifier with no distortion, flat speakers with a great dynamic range and most importantly! A good solid recording of the Live instruments.
Eternal ... what BS is that? You working with El Cheapo PA? What distortion? You think someone like Adele or Mariah Carey will allow some distortion? In concerts with proper branded speakers such as L’Acoustic K2 or even the Kara (in a 3k pax indoor venue) it sounds musical. Almost like CD. Geeez ...
to the aussie guy, go for an active 4-way system using mixed professional and home audio electronics and speaker system, or watch kenrick sound of japan videos, or susumu sakuma san tube amps videos, research more on these......................
The pieces in the system need to work well together. Its not about numbers or circuit design..its about how they balance ..and that means try the unit in your setup. Try a few..and pick the one that works. What ive found is ..the best resolving setup may not sound the best because it picks out terrible recordings that less capable system cant resolve the mistakes... its very real.. situation. And paul found that many modern remixes are for owners of midfi..so he started octive records..
Sompli I had a set of Gold Series for many years. I was happy with the sound. I’ve now moved on to waaay more expensive stuff. But the Monitors didn’t disappoint for the money.
You didn’t answer his question. I would say, all else being equal, speaker placement and crossover frequency have a lot to do with “live” sound. You want good stereo imaging and for your subwoofer to stay out of the midrange. I know there are myriad other considerations, but I’ve noticed these two aspects to be less commonly addressed.
They look like acoustic damping panels. They will have some kind of materials inside that absorbs sound waves and converts them to heat. They're used to control reflections from the speakers. Since these are directly behind the speakers I suspect it's for bass management with a rear bass ported speaker (they're quite close to the wall and that can cause booming in the bass response)
So if the port was on the back it would make more heat? You must have a 4k tv seeing this. I just have a Junky phone. Just think, you would qualify as audiophilia salesperson. I hear there's good😀 money in it.😀
Get yourself some horn speakers!!! That is what you hear though on most lives.some tiny bits of distortion help too! It might sound funny but go to hear a pair of Klipsch and you will understand what i am talking about.
That was only one of a few different companies engineer Henry Kloss founded. Way back in 2001, I bought a set of Cambridge SoundWorks speakers, and while they're not really audiophile quality, they're not bad either. I'm generally pleased with the sound for the limited budget I have.
I would say some of the decision depends on what kind of "live" music or in general music you like to listen to. Rock music has different needs than piano or serious vocals. How loud do you like to listen? How big is your room? Is it a "live" reflective room or a "dead" carpeted room with drapes?
Sounding live is not always desirable. Yes, getting the sound undistorted through with the actual dynamics of the recording is essential, but most of the music I listen to are not live recordings and a large listening room might add some "live ambience" to the music that was not intended and can blur the precision of the sound. To take it to the extreme, imagine a studio recording of a vocal singer played through a pair of speakers inside a church. Yes, the music might sound more "live" but it's not at all what was intended and details will be lost with all the multi path audio reflected through the room. For most of the music I listen to, my preference is to get just enough room reflections to help make me not sense the location of the speakers.
Too much PS marketing in this one Paul. The one criteria, that makes a system sound live, is *dynamics*. And the cheapest way to get there, is through high efficiency speakers (95db+). You're welcome.
So plug them speakers directly into that sprout and it will sound good? it will sound either dull or thin.. Hands up if you think your system actually sounds better set to direct? No added treble no added bass... None! That's why powered speakers have bass and treble cuts and gains..
Steve Roginski it would be no different than the Sony. Yamaha is a mega company that is no different than Sony. I’m sure it’s great at the higher end. But not at $299
Yep that was my thought too...heard many really expensive and well known systems that sounds very good but no live feeling and a little boring...and cheaper ones that played with "real live feeling" Could it be about what type of music y like maybe?
@LD Blake I got myself a quite good system but when I play music that are really bad recorded it sounds terrible so i play it on my cheaper system instead. Not a perfect solution but thats what i do. When I bought my lastest system it took me a while to find the right speaker for it because it didn't sound "live" so matching is important too of course...
In my view, fwiw, everybody identifies different sound signatures as being "live". For me, it's dynamic range and instrument positioning in space. Maybe you are right, certain genres of music lend themselves to this, but there are so many variables! I was hoping Paul would go down that road.
I think that guy was talking about things sounding like live musicians not recorded ones. The only speakers I've ever heard they can accomplish that are Wilson audio.
@@GeerladenladThat sorta makes sense. In the last video he was describing walking around the room and if an area sounded live then you could put up a panel of sound deadening material to mute it. So I took it to mean that live=echo dead=flat or unreflective acoustically.
Maybe they mean not over emphasized bass? I probably prefer mine a bit emphasized because I think bass guitar and drums give a palpable chest thump which I want reproduced.
SONY it is a bad example for audio , every audiophile knows it, they are excellent in VIDEO ! You should compare Yamaha , Pioneer , ONKYO to your Sprout !
sound live, sound musical. i've heard these two words a friggin lot of times. can somebody please... give me a definitive answer what in the heck do they mean? if you're gonna say this system sounds live that system doesn't sound musical, there's gotta be something measurable about it to tell if a system sound live or musical or at least explainable right? we are living in the same universe and everything works in accordance with laws of physics so it must be explainable. it's not that some sound systems have some ethereal properties that can't be explained or measured but can only be detected by your over-the-universe-ears... don't say you believe that.
I think what the words "Live" and "Musical" mean in audiophile terms really means does it sound real? Does a sax sound like a sax? Can you hear the breath in the singers voice? Does an acoustic guitar sound the way it should? It does depend upon the recording though. All too often saxophone sections, particularly in rock music have some sort of effect added to them so they don't sound live at all.
@@cbcdesign001 there's another word "natural" sound natural? the hell does that even mean? geez... these people are so keen to invent weird audiophile-ish terms.
I'm not sure about Paul's assertion that you need a product made with passion. It infers that products made at a price point by a big company lack the passion, so are probably not good. Of course the Sprout is ironically also designed to a price (twice that of the Sony), but we'll leave that there. I guess my point is that products in a certain price bracket made by big companies aren't necessarily made by people that lack passion, and they aren't necessarily bad products. Big companies have the advantage of economies of scale, so they can make the same product cheaper than a small company can. I'd say to make almost any half-decent system shine and sound 'live', you need to get serious about proper room treatment and speaker placement etc first. A super fancy system in a bad sounding room will always sound terrible, and a non-treated room will have huge acoustic issues. Do some proper bass-trapping, it's super important for a good low-end. Take care of early reflections (a carpet on the floor and some strategically placed bookshelves can already do wonders). Play around with speaker placement and listening positioning. It makes way more difference than a $600 amp vs a $300 amp, and the good news is: acoustic treatment isn't expensive (just a bit of work and research about what works and what doesn't).
Love your videos Paul, but you missed this one. Speaker manufacturers are out to make money, and so they must target the tonal character of their speakers to appeal to a mass market for maximum sales. Most folks don't know about such live sounding systems nor do they necessarily want such, nor has most music been produced to recreate such quality, "live" sound. The bottom line for me is that if any of us want real high quality sound, we have to build our own speakers.
I wish I could build my own, but I feel the experts already have untold amounts of knowledge and tools that I dont have, they probably know better than me where to allocate the money to get the most bang per buck. Focal, for example, have quarter million dollar speakers which allows their engineers to really invest into understanding computational models of fluid dynamics etc. I assume that trickling down into the affordable range will be vastly superior to anything i could build. Still, I want to get into building my own haha.
I don't mean to sound offensive, but that business model "sounds" ridiculous... Common sense says the goal would always be to duplicate the actual sound of the live or original performance. What does " a tonal characteristic that appeals to mass markets " even mean ??
Don't let all the hype and professionalism of the factory speaker makers intimidate you. Anyone can build good sounding speakers, often sounding much better than most factory speakers, and for a fraction of the cost. See my channel for more info, and no, I am not trying to make any money on any of my speaker building work.
Unlike Paul, I am not trying to make any money from any of my speaker building work, nor trying to make my channel popular, etc. I have two other businesses I have been running very successfully for many years, so I do this just for fun. I could never build speakers professionally, because as soon as the sales team came in and started demanding this and that for the sake of mass sales (which of course they would have to do, and having run my own businesses, I understand all that), at that point I would walk out. That's what's so cool about building your own speakers: you can ignore all the foolish compromises for the sake of sales and marketing, and build what will really sound good. And there are some gigantic compromises (like passive crossovers to name just one) in nearly all factory speakers.
@@chrisvinicombe9947 A two way would be MTM and even a small proportion of MTM's are really 2.5 way . There is no good acoustical reason for designing a MMT to be a two way , but a very good reason to design a 2.5 way as an MMT .
When I think about it. I don't think I've ever heard a real proper sound system, ever. I can't have. Everything sounded great to me, but it was so affordable.
Musicians know how real music sounds up close. Up close some instruments can sound bad if played too loudly. Yet, at the right volume it can sound quite exciting when raw. My suspicion is that those who seek expensive equipment often times want to hear titillating sound. Sounds that sound more euphonious than a true raw instrument. These folks seek out components to sweeten the sound, preferring an audio system to experience wonderful sounds rather than what real music can sound like. Keep in mind, mics are placed relatively close to the instrument when being recorded. Any musician who has sat in a rehearsal and sat/stood in close proximity with the band members knows that music of a band sounds quite different than someone listening from twenty feet away. Analog tends to sweeten the process, while digital can capture the raw sound. So, its really a matter of finding the right components to suite ones own taste. Some listeners really do not want live sound, though they can detect and like when something live was recorded by hearing the audience participation. IMHO- That's it, in a big nutshell.
I feel very priveliged to have my question answered Paul. Thank you for your experienced advice. I hope one day to tour your facility. I'll have to find a PS Audio dealer in Australia and have a good listen. Thanks once again :)
Truer words have never been spoken Paul thanks for making quality musical reproduction products
Great question. Not sure there is an answer. I would say that highly sensitivity speakers are key, but hearing a pair of LS3/5As coupled to a high-current power source blows that theory out of the water. I think it comes down to having well designed speakers powered by a well matched, high quality power source. Many speakers will simply sound better with a certain type of amp than others, and no amount of cable swapping or room treatment can fix that. I feel that once you get that correct, then you can sweat the other stuff.
Hey Paul when are you going to film a new outro with the people waving infront of your new building?
About 90% of life-like sound is due to the recording. Once (90s) heard that truth demonstrated when a mediocre minicompo was belting out a phenomenal African village chant hand claps percussion, and a lot of people turned their heads. A kid went forward to the system then back to tell his dad there was no performance - it was just a recording!
🧐 AGREED. …IT’S ABSOLUTELY MIND-BOGGLING TO EXPERIENCE A ‘LOWER DOLLAR’ SYSTEM THAT MAGICALLY SOUNDS 10x BETTER THAN IT SHOULD.
- THIS IS THE REASON WHY I COULD NEVER BE A ‘BIG SPENDER’ IN ACQUIRING AUDIO COMPONENTS. I’VE SEEN TO MANY ‘AVERAGE PRICED’ COMBINATIONS PRODUCE EXTREMELY STELLAR PERFORMANCE.
🔊 🔊 😊 🔊 🔊
Synergy. I think that that's one of the biggest factors when considering components to place you into the music. Finding that synergy is the hardest, & sometimes most expensive quest of the lover of music.
Correct - . Everyone can buy gear for any almost money but final perfect sound is not possible to sell to all because it is a combination of factors, conditions and units. It is art - the same as understanding light, colors and geometry is must for painter - quality of brushes and paints are only a part of game. .
I've got a Denon AVR-3808 7.1 channel AV amplifier connected to a pair of Tannoy Revolution R2 and Tannoy HTS200 for surrounds, I can tell you that when I got everything connected and turned on the system for the first time and ran the settings for crossover frequencies, my God it sounds amazing.
My music is mostly digital, either Tidal or Qobuz through HDMI bitstream and CD media played on Onkyo DV-SP500 connected with Toslink. I can't pick up the difference between the two. Obviously the signal is the same unaltered straight into the Denon to decode it and these Tannoy speakers although they're not top class on the money some people spend, the sound is there, putting some more expensive systems to shame. At the end of the day it's what makes each one of us happy.
that so makes so much sense,great answer,thx
My 40 year old Pioneer 12 inch 3-way system.when I bought it, it had more living "sparkle more than speakers much more expensive. I still use them. When I listen to remastered albums with birds and crickets, it sounds like I'm outside listening to the real thing.They weren't expensive, but the high end is transparent. I toe then in and have them on plastic baskets I use and stands, so the tweeter it almost level with my ear. My receiver is 100 watts /channel RMS, and easily drives the speakers to levels that would make my neighbors complain.
Love the vids Paul. Watch every one.
Simple explanation for complex topic, you are great teacher. Thanks.
i think i am sick,,i have ps....and it feels good.lol...thanks Paul and team off ps audio...
I would also add that proper "sound-staging" is needed to make a system sound realistic and live sounding.
Also the recording, the venue it is recorded in and the day you hear the system and where in my case
That's probably a question that's been asked since Edison invented the phonograph. We've come a long way since then, but still can't completely reproduce live music. Lived with a music teacher and attended many live concerts. I've accepted the fact that a good approximation is what I'll get. I've had the same system for 17years and the sound is clear instruments are defined, imaging is very good and that makes me happy. Don't sweat the details because you'll make yourself crazy and broke. That's my advice
Listen to a quality horn loaded speaker, dome / cone speakers, electrostatic speakers. The majority of sound quality (assuming that your source recordings are high quality) will be in the speakers - spend your money there. It’s much easier to upgrade and trade an amp or a DAC - and the differences will be far less noticeable than the speakers.
I noticed this aspect a bit, kinda think it's speaker efficiency / power amp interface related. + some sort of frequency boost / drop ( I go back to AR's which always seemed pretty laid back, actually bland as a harsh comment.)
I just heard a reviwer say that Boulder monoblocks and Constellation are the finest amps made by any American company, do you agree or can PS audio BHK Monoblocks compete ?
Yup. So many variables involved.
"live" as in a concert? Get some horn speakers and PA woofers. Turn volume up a tad too loud. There you go. Same (horrible) sound quality as live.
Don't forget that this kind of "live" sound comes from a PA system that need to go loud over quality. They often have slight distortion and top and low end are boosted.
Been working in the industry and PA systems usually do not sound very musical when compared to the instrument itself or even proper hifi systems in general.
live as in purely instrumental with no electronic sound amplification? Like an orchestra? Violin? Piano? Etc. Impossible.
You can get close to it tho with a good amplifier with no distortion, flat speakers with a great dynamic range and most importantly! A good solid recording of the Live instruments.
Eternal ... what BS is that? You working with El Cheapo PA? What distortion? You think someone like Adele or Mariah Carey will allow some distortion?
In concerts with proper branded speakers such as L’Acoustic K2 or even the Kara (in a 3k pax indoor venue) it sounds musical. Almost like CD.
Geeez ...
Howdy.
I believe the answer Paul tries to convey is:
The designers are dedicated to sound quality.
Regards.
Hey Paul ! U R so right (again) :) !!!
to the aussie guy, go for an active 4-way system using mixed professional and home audio electronics and speaker system, or watch kenrick sound of japan videos, or susumu sakuma san tube amps videos, research more on these......................
The pieces in the system need to work well together. Its not about numbers or circuit design..its about how they balance ..and that means try the unit in your setup. Try a few..and pick the one that works. What ive found is ..the best resolving setup may not sound the best because it picks out terrible recordings that less capable system cant resolve the mistakes... its very real.. situation. And paul found that many modern remixes are for owners of midfi..so he started octive records..
What do you people think about Monitor Audio?
Sompli I had a set of Gold Series for many years. I was happy with the sound. I’ve now moved on to waaay more expensive stuff. But the Monitors didn’t disappoint for the money.
You didn’t answer his question. I would say, all else being equal, speaker placement and crossover frequency have a lot to do with “live” sound. You want good stereo imaging and for your subwoofer to stay out of the midrange. I know there are myriad other considerations, but I’ve noticed these two aspects to be less commonly addressed.
If transformers make sound good in weight at all how does a sprout sound better than a larger amp.thanks Bob
All home audio systems colour the music. It just depends what brand/flavor you like.
+PS Audio Please do 6 more minutes on this subject :D
Can anyone tell me what those gray things on the wall behind the towers are? And what their function is?
They look like acoustic damping panels. They will have some kind of materials inside that absorbs sound waves and converts them to heat. They're used to control reflections from the speakers. Since these are directly behind the speakers I suspect it's for bass management with a rear bass ported speaker (they're quite close to the wall and that can cause booming in the bass response)
Turns sound waves into heat? so you can heat your room at 120db?
Watching the video again I see the speakers are front ported.
@@SJMessinwithBoats go for it 😄😄
So if the port was on the back it would make more heat? You must have a 4k tv seeing this. I just have a Junky phone. Just think, you would qualify as audiophilia salesperson. I hear there's good😀 money in it.😀
Get yourself some horn speakers!!! That is what you hear though on most lives.some tiny bits of distortion help too! It might sound funny but go to hear a pair of Klipsch and you will understand what i am talking about.
I loved the ethos of AR, Inc. It was all in the name: "Acoustic Research" :)
That was only one of a few different companies engineer Henry Kloss founded. Way back in 2001, I bought a set of Cambridge SoundWorks speakers, and while they're not really audiophile quality, they're not bad either. I'm generally pleased with the sound for the limited budget I have.
THANKS GREAT VIDEO
The Sprout retails for $799
Hey what do you have against white lab coats, Paul?! 😀 6:49
Want live sound ? Try an omni or dipole set of speakers instead of a classical monopole design . Makes all the difference
Go to a small club and listen to a band play live. Then notice the speakers are all horns. (Except for the woofers). I rest my case.
I would say some of the decision depends on what kind of "live" music or in general music you like to listen to. Rock music has different needs than piano or serious vocals. How loud do you like to listen? How big is your room? Is it a "live" reflective room or a "dead" carpeted room with drapes?
Terrible, pls answer the question. Is it the amp impacting sound? Powering a spkr seems key
For low budget ...guys
1.yamaha
2.sony/marantz
3.denon/onkyo
4.pioneer&phillips
For low budget you design and build your own....thats what am doing 😊
Sounding live is not always desirable. Yes, getting the sound undistorted through with the actual dynamics of the recording is essential, but most of the music I listen to are not live recordings and a large listening room might add some "live ambience" to the music that was not intended and can blur the precision of the sound. To take it to the extreme, imagine a studio recording of a vocal singer played through a pair of speakers inside a church. Yes, the music might sound more "live" but it's not at all what was intended and details will be lost with all the multi path audio reflected through the room. For most of the music I listen to, my preference is to get just enough room reflections to help make me not sense the location of the speakers.
First glance i actually thought Paul had bought some SCM 40's! Ha.
Yes, that's the way to get a live sounding system !
Bass slam and depth minus bass flabbiness. Too much upper bass flattens everything out.
Sonys sound great
Too much PS marketing in this one Paul. The one criteria, that makes a system sound live, is *dynamics*. And the cheapest way to get there, is through high efficiency speakers (95db+). You're welcome.
Paid only 300 euro for my Hypex UcD 2x180 watt amp kit ...
Live sound .open speakers with fast bass
So plug them speakers directly into that sprout and it will sound good? it will sound either dull or thin.. Hands up if you think your system actually sounds better set to direct? No added treble no added bass... None! That's why powered speakers have bass and treble cuts and gains..
Basically you then listen to the music how the producer intended it to sound.
Because they have JBL speakers which sound really rough and harsh, which is how live music sounds.
I'm joking of course, there's more to it than that!
Just need to swap out that Sprout with a nice little Yahama receiver.
Steve Roginski it would be no different than the Sony. Yamaha is a mega company that is no different than Sony. I’m sure it’s great at the higher end. But not at $299
No stereo system sounds live. We can all instantly tell when the music we hear is live or not. Some systems are merely better than others.
John LeBeau ... the mind will make it sound live. It’s all in the mind.
I'm not this was an answer to the question asked.
Yep that was my thought too...heard many really expensive and well known systems that sounds very good but no live feeling and a little boring...and cheaper ones that played with "real live feeling" Could it be about what type of music y like maybe?
@LD Blake I got myself a quite good system but when I play music that are really bad recorded it sounds terrible so i play it on my cheaper system instead. Not a perfect solution but thats what i do. When I bought my lastest system it took me a while to find the right speaker for it because it didn't sound "live" so matching is important too of course...
In my view, fwiw, everybody identifies different sound signatures as being "live". For me, it's dynamic range and instrument positioning in space. Maybe you are right, certain genres of music lend themselves to this, but there are so many variables! I was hoping Paul would go down that road.
Some speakers sound live, as in PA, which is not necessarily good.
Live means just that, has nothing to do with PA...
@@poserwanabe Well, most live music is heard through a PA system. Some speakers sound like that.
Sony has been resting on their laurels for years. They focus on mass market cheap production. Just forget them. They’re a relic.
Can someone inform me what it means for something to sound live vs dead?
I think that guy was talking about things sounding like live musicians not recorded ones. The only speakers I've ever heard they can accomplish that are Wilson audio.
@@GeerladenladThat sorta makes sense. In the last video he was describing walking around the room and if an area sounded live then you could put up a panel of sound deadening material to mute it. So I took it to mean that live=echo dead=flat or unreflective acoustically.
@@somethingsomethingsomethingdar that's what the guy meant who wrote in not based on anything Paul said in a previous video.
PS Audio Rocks👍🏽👍🏽👍🏽
If you're buying a Sony you should go with the ES series, much better quality than the standard entry level stuff.
Sony's entry level still sounds pretty nice, the core series speakers are ridiculously good for the price
The $300 Sony was for an experiment. Obviously that experiment did not include quality audio out.
I had TWO ES receivers, a 1000 & the 2000 . BOTH had problems early in their life ( projected by me as ten + years) VERY disappointed.
the answer is great dynamics+minimum bass
Maybe they mean not over emphasized bass?
I probably prefer mine a bit emphasized because I think bass guitar and drums give a palpable chest thump which I want reproduced.
they want the bass loud enough that move the neighborhood that is the definition of live system.
@Larry Niles exactly
Those contradict each other
Come on Paul ,you wouldnt get past designing the $ 300 . receiver , that woukd sport your name .
First, because of the loudspeakers... and then everything else... and never ''live'' like real ''live''... close, at the best.
Answer, because they're horn loaded
Guy is right get klipsch speakers sounds like live concert alll time
This guy literally didn’t answer the question
Wombats poop cubes.......not sure what it sounds like.
I’ve never heard dogshit. It smells awful but how does it sound?
SONY it is a bad example for audio , every audiophile knows it, they are excellent in VIDEO ! You should compare Yamaha , Pioneer , ONKYO to your Sprout !
sound live, sound musical. i've heard these two words a friggin lot of times. can somebody please... give me a definitive answer what in the heck do they mean? if you're gonna say this system sounds live that system doesn't sound musical, there's gotta be something measurable about it to tell if a system sound live or musical or at least explainable right? we are living in the same universe and everything works in accordance with laws of physics so it must be explainable. it's not that some sound systems have some ethereal properties that can't be explained or measured but can only be detected by your over-the-universe-ears... don't say you believe that.
I think what the words "Live" and "Musical" mean in audiophile terms really means does it sound real? Does a sax sound like a sax? Can you hear the breath in the singers voice? Does an acoustic guitar sound the way it should? It does depend upon the recording though. All too often saxophone sections, particularly in rock music have some sort of effect added to them so they don't sound live at all.
@@cbcdesign001 there's another word "natural" sound natural? the hell does that even mean? geez... these people are so keen to invent weird audiophile-ish terms.
I'm not sure about Paul's assertion that you need a product made with passion. It infers that products made at a price point by a big company lack the passion, so are probably not good. Of course the Sprout is ironically also designed to a price (twice that of the Sony), but we'll leave that there.
I guess my point is that products in a certain price bracket made by big companies aren't necessarily made by people that lack passion, and they aren't necessarily bad products. Big companies have the advantage of economies of scale, so they can make the same product cheaper than a small company can.
I'd say to make almost any half-decent system shine and sound 'live', you need to get serious about proper room treatment and speaker placement etc first. A super fancy system in a bad sounding room will always sound terrible, and a non-treated room will have huge acoustic issues. Do some proper bass-trapping, it's super important for a good low-end. Take care of early reflections (a carpet on the floor and some strategically placed bookshelves can already do wonders). Play around with speaker placement and listening positioning. It makes way more difference than a $600 amp vs a $300 amp, and the good news is: acoustic treatment isn't expensive (just a bit of work and research about what works and what doesn't).
Love your videos Paul, but you missed this one. Speaker manufacturers are out to make money, and so they must target the tonal character of their speakers to appeal to a mass market for maximum sales. Most folks don't know about such live sounding systems nor do they necessarily want such, nor has most music been produced to recreate such quality, "live" sound. The bottom line for me is that if any of us want real high quality sound, we have to build our own speakers.
I wish I could build my own, but I feel the experts already have untold amounts of knowledge and tools that I dont have, they probably know better than me where to allocate the money to get the most bang per buck.
Focal, for example, have quarter million dollar speakers which allows their engineers to really invest into understanding computational models of fluid dynamics etc. I assume that trickling down into the affordable range will be vastly superior to anything i could build.
Still, I want to get into building my own haha.
Larry, he's got more content then just being a heckler. We have had many intelligent subjects from Paul and this one is in flames.
I don't mean to sound offensive, but that business model "sounds" ridiculous... Common sense says the goal would always be to duplicate the actual sound of the live or original performance.
What does " a tonal characteristic that appeals to mass markets " even mean ??
Don't let all the hype and professionalism of the factory speaker makers intimidate you. Anyone can build good sounding speakers, often sounding much better than most factory speakers, and for a fraction of the cost. See my channel for more info, and no, I am not trying to make any money on any of my speaker building work.
Unlike Paul, I am not trying to make any money from any of my speaker building work, nor trying to make my channel popular, etc. I have two other businesses I have been running very successfully for many years, so I do this just for fun. I could never build speakers professionally, because as soon as the sales team came in and started demanding this and that for the sake of mass sales (which of course they would have to do, and having run my own businesses, I understand all that), at that point I would walk out. That's what's so cool about building your own speakers: you can ignore all the foolish compromises for the sake of sales and marketing, and build what will really sound good. And there are some gigantic compromises (like passive crossovers to name just one) in nearly all factory speakers.
Why do some stereo systems sound live?
You did not answer !
ClicBait?
Is that why my portable Phillips player sounded so good? and that was on 128kbs!
I can see buying 75 dollar shoes but hundred dollar jeans? 500,000,000 Audiophile system. That makes total sense.
Those speakers are with 99% probability not 2-way but 2.5-way (two and a half)
Ummmm I'd say that's still a two way. Number of drivers is kinda irrelevant. It's either got a three way crossover or it doesn't. 😉
@@chrisvinicombe9947 A two way would be MTM and even a small proportion of MTM's are really 2.5 way . There is no good acoustical reason for designing a MMT to be a two way , but a very good reason to design a 2.5 way as an MMT .
@@chrisvinicombe9947 2.5 crossovers are a thing. 1 drivers does the highs, 1 driver does the mid AND lows and 1 drivers does mostly lows.
OMG you smoke to much weed bro deffo,,,!!!!! Take marantz,,, the K1 signature was awesome,,,!!! But marantz amps,,??? No no no,,,!!!
Bollocks, Marantz are very musical amplifiers!
When I think about it. I don't think I've ever heard a real proper sound system, ever. I can't have. Everything sounded great to me, but it was so affordable.
Sony sucks! Except for older gear!
Paul, be professional. Abstain from profanity. It's offensive
Once again Paul ignoring the question.
thats some of the nicest waffle ive ever heard ,, didnt really answer the question , but seven mins of very colourful nothingness.