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Let There Be Rock

Active Isobariks were made for rock, just put on Burn by Deep Purple as loud as you can... Beats any live gig by Deep Purple I've been to on pure musical enjoyment, the band are tight and every member makes a breathtaking contribution to the composition.
Not many systems can keep pace with the great timing and dynamic range.

I've heard great PA systems too at gigs, Camel are usually very good. Recently Kraftwerk at the Royal Albert Hall was superb... In some respects better than
my Isobariks.. ;)
 
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Big 15" format JBL's. There is something in the way their LF driver's were designed that made any distortions 'nice'. There actually wasn't that much distortion to start with compared to the wee things people use now that really struggle at anything approaching propoer impact volumes.
 
Mr Pig said:
The inability to play rock music is a perfect illustration of the fact that many, of not most, so-called Hi-End systems don't work.
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And I think this drives some of the "downgrading" we see people embark on - seeking a system that can rock. Most very expensive systems I've heard can't do it - but put on something boring like Diana Krall and they can sound great. (Yes, I said it. Diana Krall is BORING.)
 
If every A vs B development decision is made based on the pursuit of clearer sound, then what is being left behind in that muddy soup they are striving to get away from? Hopefully, all the musical goodness and funky timing is tied to the option with clearer sound, but my hunch is that this isn't always possible. So, after years of product development you can be left with something that can't do justice to rock, soul, R&B, funk, etc. and an early-80s Planar 3, NAD 3020 and pair of bookshelf speakers will be a lot more fun. Give me Sticky Fingers over Brothers in Arms any day.
 
Bob Edwards said:
And I think this drives some of the "downgrading" we see people embark on - seeking a system that can rock. Most very expensive systems I've heard can't do it - but put on something boring like Diana Krall and they can sound great. (Yes, I said it. Diana Krall is BORING.)
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A CD shop I used to visit in the 90's had half a dozen large domestic speakers on shelves around the place and it was always cooking with rock stuff. Not very accurate but it just 'worked'....I'd say the owner even played with the Bass and Treble controls (shock!)

Sometimes you just need displacement
 
Bob Edwards said:
And I think this drives some of the "downgrading" we see people embark on - seeking a system that can rock. Most very expensive systems I've heard can't do it - but put on something boring like Diana Krall and they can sound great. (Yes, I said it. Diana Krall is BORING.)
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Mr, Edwards, you read in my mind! I downgraded for this reason and I am now very happy with my Chrome Bumper Naim’s and Exposure IV.

By the way, I saw Diana at the Montreal jazz festival and despite she has the voice of an angel, she was boring !
 
Never had a system that could not rock or "keep time". The very idea of a hifi system "keeping time" is a sad example of the flat earth hogwash that was spoon fed to us.
 
Octavian said:
Never had a system that could not rock or "keep time". The very idea of a hifi system "keeping time" is a sad example of the flat earth hogwash that was spoon fed to us.
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I think you've said all there needs to be said and why many folks just don't get it. You don't hear it. But the problem is you don't believe that you can't hear it so you assume its all nonsense.

Do you even except that people experience music differently to one another? This has been proven now, with scans showing how different people use different parts of the brain to listen to the same piece of music. Some are predominantly left brain listeners, some right, and some are anywhere between the two.
 
Charlie_1 said:
This has been proven now, with scans showing how different people use different parts of the brain to listen to the same piece of music. Some are predominantly left brain listeners, some right, and some are anywhere between the two.
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I didn't know that but it does make sense.
 
In the early to mid 2000’s I was into Paradigm speakers. I had a pair of moniter 90 p’s,which have three 8 inch woofers driven from an internal amp. I had an Anthem MCA 50 driving the mids and tweeters. They really rocked, just ask my old neighbor that had to come bang on my door several times. He ended up getting fed up, and called the police on me. They banged on my door, and said they could hear it clearly from the middle of the street. I turned it down, for a while…this was around the time that Led Zeppelin released their excellent double DVD of all their concert footage. I couldn’t help myself officer.
 
No Quarter said:
In the early to mid 2000’s I was into Paradigm speakers. I had a pair of moniter 90 p’s,which have three 8 inch woofers driven from an internal amp. I had an Anthem MCA 50 driving the mids and tweeters. They really rocked, just ask my old neighbor that had to come bang on my door several times. He ended up getting fed up, and called the police on me. They banged on my door, and said they could hear it clearly from the middle of the street. I turned it down, for a while…this was around the time that Led Zeppelin released their excellent double DVD of all their concert footage. I couldn’t help myself officer.
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It baffles me how people can live in urban areas with setups like that, the temptation is too great. I had a pair of Mission 753's in a London flat once and got into no end of trouble. We now live a detached house in the middle of the countryside with the nearest dwelling over 100m away, but I still got self concious when playing my Quad/Kef set up at 110dB+.
 
Small speakers can rock, my audio smile Kensai fed by a 909 had spectacular slam, I think clarity and definition can go a long way to making up for bass depth.
Having said that it’s the room their in that dictates oomph factor, small speakers in the nearfield can be awesome.
 
No Quarter said:
In the early to mid 2000’s I was into Paradigm speakers. I had a pair of moniter 90 p’s,which have three 8 inch woofers driven from an internal amp. I had an Anthem MCA 50 driving the mids and tweeters. They really rocked, just ask my old neighbor that had to come bang on my door several times. He ended up getting fed up, and called the police on me. They banged on my door, and said they could hear it clearly from the middle of the street. I turned it down, for a while…this was around the time that Led Zeppelin released their excellent double DVD of all their concert footage. I couldn’t help myself officer.
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Page did a great job on that dvd release, it really does rock!... or should I say Rambles On!
 
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