Speakers that play piano properly?

That would be very difficult to do, without losing control over the balance of the entire mix. You could record the quartet with 2 overhead microphones, using AB stereo techniques, or even a coincident pair, but the finished recording would sound very different to what you might hear were you actually listening to the performance in person. The human ear is an amazing device, it allows us to discriminate between all manner of sources of audio. Once you record that same audio, with whatever technique, that ability is mostly lost. Binaural stereo might be one way of preserving this, but not everybody wants to wear headphones all the time, and the technique does not suit everybody.

Close-up micing is normally the best technique to use, since it allows the engineer complete control over the final mix, and the ability to compensate for any differences between what is recorded, and what is performed.

 

Alex..you need ATCs

Henry: things can be depressingly quiet when you are selling, even good things...dunno what has happened to buyers...I try to get stuff I won't have much trouble selling if I come to.

Piano is an interesting one....its not just mid, it is bass and treble, too...a very wide range...

they say human voices are about the hardest, too.

Listening, I would say brass and wood are less demanding, percussion fairly, strings farily, too.

 

For me, I usually find the source to be the main barrier getting inbetween believeability for orchestral/chamber string sounds, rather than the speakers. With vinyl traditionally being more fleshed out, more reasonant and less nasil sounding than CD, although these days this needn't necessarily be the case!

 

True... Must say though, that I've never known it so quiet in all the time I've bought and sold hi-fi... Guess we'll have to wait and see if things pick up in the new year...

I dunno, I'd also put brass on the hard to produce list myself, especially a brass ensemble of any kind - definitely a good test of low end dynamics and control to get the old oompa-oompa of a tuba sounding through clearly in everything else is belting it out. The harmonics of brass instruments probably come easier to the valve users whereas it's probably a bit more of a challenge for the SS guys.

 

Bastard - I only got merit

Haven't played for a while though - but in the new year I'm getting a Yamaha P90 digital piano and I'll be getting down to some serious practise again

Michael.

 

Some friends of mine have a bluegrass band called Wrekin Havoc. (The Wrekin is a well known hill close to the Ironbridge Power Station). Anyway, they had a cd made with a very simple crossed mike set up and it sounds great in stereo.

I appreciate that the simple approach isn't adequate for most recordings and that close-up miking is generally the best approach but it does put all of us very much into the hands (and ears) of the engineers.

I think though that hi-fi equipment should be designed and built for the perfect recording.

The great thing about brass band music is that it's loud, acoustic and easy to listen to live. Again though, walk around the band-stand and the perspective changes constantly.

Down in Oxted (I'll soon be back from my exile in Germany) we pride ourselves on having a pretty good local brass band. They have a couple of cds which I'm trying to get hold of. I'm not sure of the recording quality though.

Digital Michael :yikes:
I hardly think you're going to get your distinction that way.

 

The (long since departed and much missed) father of one of my friends spent years trying to find a speaker that could reproduce pianno properly - his search ended with a pair of Spendor BC1's.

Time has moved on of course but it might still be worth checking out a pair of BC1's or perhaps something newer from the Spendor stable such as the SP2/3E's.

Matt.

 

- digital pianos these days sound (and more importantly, feel) extremely close to the real thing. A real piano (either upright or grand) is a no-no for me as I'd drive my neighbours crazy (I live in an apartment) and I'd only be able to play at certain inconvenient hours of the day. They're also big and heavy.

Having something that sounds like 95% of a Steinway concert grand that I can play through headphones at any time of the day or night will be much more useable Also, I'll be able to use its MIDI output to drive sequencer software on my PC. Who knows, maybe I'll even write the next "bedroom studio" No.1 hit :MILD:

Michael.

 

I know, I know. As a matter of fact I'd love one. It's my wife who needs persuading; she wants a real piano.

How many notes does the P90 run to (and I'm talking money not music)?

 

Ms Grimaud is a bit clean-cut for me, especially with her doggy. Isn't there someone more sultry I could hire?

I think the piano is certainly the most challenging instrument for a hi-fi to get right and the parodox seems to be that the closer you get to it in terms of range, percussive impact, resonance and decay the more broken it can sound. In some ways the AE1s do better by doing less and letting my head fill in the gaps.

 

Big Harbeths or Spendors would be worth trying, or as mentioned before, big ATCs.

 

Joanna MacGegor might be more up your street

 

(Note that the "doggy" is just one of a pack of wolves to which she is deeply attached.)

Tom, you are obviously a man of taste and discrimination (so why do you have N**m gear?) - she was my second choice too. If she doesn't suit Alex, there's also a possibility of a two-for-one deal with the Labeque sisters (Katia and Marielle). Been around for a while, but they may do him.

(Viola Grade 8 - distinction - retired!)

 

A surprisingly low level, in my experience.

I used to have one of those quirky test discs that Technics used to produce, in the days when they actually produced turntables.

One of them had two solo violin pieces, one played on a quality, but standard violin, the other on a Strad or Guarneri or similar.

The difference wasn't subtle!

As for the differences between a Strad or Guarneri I guess these may be a bit more subtle, but I suspect most reasonable systems could differentiate, certainly in a solo situation.

Andy.

 

Speaking of solo situations, perhaps a cellist

 

I will have Diana Krall any time she wants...

 

As long as she doesn't play the piano or sing.

 

Aha, the well know woman plus musical instrument 'x factor' equation – I have come to the conclusion that nothing makes a woman look more attractive than a 62 Fender Jazz bass. Tinny and Susanna got it so wrong, they should take people to music shops, not clothes shops.

Tony.

 

Nothing like a young lady stroking away at a throbbing cello gripped firmly between her thighs as she loses herself in the music.

 

Alex's choice was a bit of a moose.

Has it always been this way, or is the modern scene. stick a few pretties in to keep the interest?