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<!-- #thumb --> <p>A good friend of mine popped over to hear the big speakers in Music Room One but the woofer system has gone fritz and I have it torn apart to try and fix (sigh). *As an aside, my director of engineering watched me struggling to figure out what’s wrong – saw my exasperated look – and said “what did you expect from a 30 year old system?” *I guess I was hoping it’d just work.</p>
<p>In any case, I was unable to play any music so we went to the newly renovated Music Room Two with the Thiels and subwoofer to spend some time listening. *Both of us were delighted with the sound from the system and thus he pulled out an old Jimi Hendrix recording he brought along to hear. *The recording sounded like, well, an old recording. *My friend Robert was disappointed because at home his system didn’t show the age of the recording and the finer details of that presentation. *In some ways, his home’s system smoothed out all the warts of the recording and he just listened to and enjoyed the music. *On my system you can do the same, but the age of the recording becomes obvious and until you can get over that fact, enjoyment may not be at its best; expectations different from reality.</p>
<p>We’re all familiar with the idea that the better the system gets the more we hear all the good and the bad of our recordings – and in some cases this may limit the music we listen to – which kind of defeats the whole idea of having a high end music system in the first place.</p>
<p>What I’ve come to understand over the course of many years is that high-end systems can be broken into three types:</p>
<ol><li><strong>Oatmeal</strong>. *Everything sounds acceptable, nothing sounds great.</li>
<li><strong>Highly detailed</strong>. *Great recordings sound spectacular, not so great recordings are not very enjoyable and over time get avoided.</li>
<li><strong>Enlightened</strong>. *The system is perfectly balanced, the electronics and loudspeakers capable of playing everything in its naked glory, giving the listener a more distant view. *Pretty much everything can be played an enjoyed for what it is.</li>
</ol><p>The third state is what I always shoot for. *Here you get the best of the first two categories with the added benefit that instead of getting immersed and agitated by a poor recording’s failings, you have a more distant view of it as an observer of the recording and thus can enjoy it for what it is, not how it upsets the system – and in the bargain you get all the detail there plus some you may not have heard in system 2 – so accepting of the sound you become.</p>
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<p>In any case, I was unable to play any music so we went to the newly renovated Music Room Two with the Thiels and subwoofer to spend some time listening. *Both of us were delighted with the sound from the system and thus he pulled out an old Jimi Hendrix recording he brought along to hear. *The recording sounded like, well, an old recording. *My friend Robert was disappointed because at home his system didn’t show the age of the recording and the finer details of that presentation. *In some ways, his home’s system smoothed out all the warts of the recording and he just listened to and enjoyed the music. *On my system you can do the same, but the age of the recording becomes obvious and until you can get over that fact, enjoyment may not be at its best; expectations different from reality.</p>
<p>We’re all familiar with the idea that the better the system gets the more we hear all the good and the bad of our recordings – and in some cases this may limit the music we listen to – which kind of defeats the whole idea of having a high end music system in the first place.</p>
<p>What I’ve come to understand over the course of many years is that high-end systems can be broken into three types:</p>
<ol><li><strong>Oatmeal</strong>. *Everything sounds acceptable, nothing sounds great.</li>
<li><strong>Highly detailed</strong>. *Great recordings sound spectacular, not so great recordings are not very enjoyable and over time get avoided.</li>
<li><strong>Enlightened</strong>. *The system is perfectly balanced, the electronics and loudspeakers capable of playing everything in its naked glory, giving the listener a more distant view. *Pretty much everything can be played an enjoyed for what it is.</li>
</ol><p>The third state is what I always shoot for. *Here you get the best of the first two categories with the added benefit that instead of getting immersed and agitated by a poor recording’s failings, you have a more distant view of it as an observer of the recording and thus can enjoy it for what it is, not how it upsets the system – and in the bargain you get all the detail there plus some you may not have heard in system 2 – so accepting of the sound you become.</p>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/hows-oatmeal-tasting/10945/]