Video Interview with peter Qvortrup of Audio Note...

[RGA]

yeah well English is his fourth or fifth or sixth language - so some thing are a little lost in translation.

I think I can address some - the ceiling is not as controlled because they're at different heights and dimensions - they factor in the corner and the floor because those can be factored readily.

Peter is a huge classical guy but he has kids who listen to it and introduced it to him and he likes it. He usually brings very hard metal to audio shows and I know he likes Slipnot and Rammstein kind of stuff. Way the hell too hard for me. But then I've not heard it on my system - maybe I'll like it more

With the music comment is to judge gear - doesn't matter what the music is - the system that homogenizes the differences the least (or maximizes the differences most) is the one that is being more truthful to the recordings. And the stereo should not care what is played - whether it is Slipnott or violin. I have always agreed with that. If a speaker is weak at one - in all likelyhood it is weak at the thing you think it is doing well. Many products stamp a heavy signature on the sound over a wide number of recordings - very popular big name high end ones IMO do just that. But don't get me wrong they often stamp a sound on things that are very appealing.

Yeah he is not a proponent of SACD - quite the reverse.

[atomicAdam]

RGA -

Don't get me wrong. Slipknot ROCKS, and I mean ROCKS. HAHA.

Well, I'm just kidding. Anyways, those are my notes in case no one wants to watch. I've had a couple beers, a bottle of wine, a shot of something, and am just taking notes but don't mean much by them.

I actually love what Audio Note is trying to do. Though I am fearful of spending a lot of time listening to awesome music on a system that makes it sound bad!

[Ajani]

With the music comment is to judge gear - doesn't matter what the music is - the system that homogenizes the differences the least (or maximizes the differences most) is the one that is being more truthful to the recordings. And the stereo should not care what is played - whether it is Slipnott or violin. I have always agreed with that. If a speaker is weak at one - in all likelyhood it is weak at the thing you think it is doing well. Many products stamp a heavy signature on the sound over a wide number of recordings - very popular big name high end ones IMO do just that. But don't get me wrong they often stamp a sound on things that are very appealing.

That reminds me of when I went to audition a pair of Magnepan MG12s a few years ago... I was all excited to audition my first Maggies (based on the generous heaping of praise I read about the brand)... So I put on some of my favorite Songs: Billie Jean, Hotel California, Here and Now... and frankly it was the only time I've ever thought that a hifi product sounded truly awful (I've heard lots of bland and disappointing gear, but nothing else that left me scratching my head)... The Salesman was quick to point out that I had the "wrong type of music" and ushered me towards some Revel Performa M22s... Now those speakers did the trick... They sounded good with everything I threw at them...

Despite the claim made by many audiophiles, I really doubt that the aim is always to "recreate the live performance"... Most gear is colored (often in a pleasant way) but clearly colored.... If not, then there would be no such thing as a "house sound" for any specific brand... and all Brands would sound essentially the same...

Also, a speaker that only sounds good with specific types of music cannot really be accurate... If it was accurate, it would be honest to all recordings.... not flattering to a specific genre, but nasty to others...

While I admire the goals at AudioNote to have real accuracy... I don't think it's necessary for many persons... Many Audiophiles listen to only one genre of music (classical being a common example) and hence would be far happier with an "inaccurate" speaker that flatters all their classical recordings, than an "accurate" one that would be equally honest with all genres...

Since I have a wide taste in music, I tend to avoid brands that are too genre specific...

[Feanor]

...

While I admire the goals at AudioNote to have real accuracy { Audio Note, you say?? }... I don't think it's necessary for many persons... Many Audiophiles listen to only one genre of music (classical being a common example) and hence would be far happier with an "inaccurate" speaker that flatters all their classical {bad example} recordings, than an "accurate" one that would be equally honest with all genres...

Since I have a wide taste in music, I tend to avoid brands that are too genre specific...

NO FURTHER COMMENT!!!!

[Ajani]

NO FURTHER COMMENT!!!!

HEHEHEHE... Yeah I was kinda taking a few cheap shots at you for the fun of it... Though the main point remains.... I don't think accuracy to the recording is a necessary goal to everyone... and worse yet, try defining accuracy... AN, defines it one way (which seems sensible enough to me) but many others are concerned with making it sound like you're in a Concert Hall (regardless of whether the music was recorded and heavily processed in a Soundlab, rather than at a live performance)....

Another point I've seen made, is our focus on pinpoint soundstaging... At live events, the soundstage is far more diffused than many of these pinpoint monitors that we enjoy... The reason we can readily determine the position of individual band members is more because we can SEE them than what we Hear... I tried that test, about a week ago listening to a church choir... once I closed my eyes, I realized that it was not all that easy to pinpoint individual singers....

[RGA]

I don't necessarily agree with Audio Note wholly on this - what Peter is doing is creating a system (and believes a system) should have the highest level of contrast to determine accuracy. But that is not the same as overall accuracy (which we can never know). So while his view of acuracy is not absolute in any real sense - from a logical perspective it's about as good as we can attain in my view.

Many systems have a signature sound that people immensely enjoy (so do I) that will score less points in the contrast criteria that you may end up liking more. The Quad 2905 which is one of my 5 favorite loudspeakers (so far) has a nature that on classical acoustic instruments is highly appealing. That strength on rock music and pop and amplified music is homogenized creating a kind of similar structure especially in the lower registers and treble creating a limited dynamic envelope. So I find the speaker to have incredible transients and speed - perhaps due the lightness of the membrane and timing tends to be first rate but tonal decay and dynamic pressure of instruments (front to back) is not really there. So it's more of a philosophical rather than visceral presentation - and it's noticeable across genres. But it never sounds "bad" - it's all day listenable and those transients are "state of the art" in the hairs on the back of the neck goosebump realism.

I know several people who prefer a speaker to be state of the art in a particular are even if they're very poor at something else. I prefer more balance. I will take a speaker that scores 8.5 to 9 out of ten across the board than a speaker that gets a 10/10 in 3-4 areas and a 3/10 in a few other areas. Largely this is because I listen to a lot of classical, jazz, rock, pop, trance, dance, some hard rock/metal, country, new age, folk, Latin, instrumental and vocals. Some people only listen to light strings and coral works at low volumes - in which case there are speakers that excel at that.