If you assemble a good system, it probably does 90% of the things needed to reproduce music correctly. Most people would listen to it and be thrilled if they had the system in their home. Getting better then 90% is difficult and may require extreme efforts and probably some significant expense. I have had people come to my house and be blown away. Comments like "Now I understand why you enjoy listening to music.".

I have also had a golden ear or two come to my house and offer criticisms. I accept criticism but only if one strength is mentioned for each negative. In that format, the negatives sound fairly trivial. I don't claim that my system is perfect or even truely great, but I do believe that it has the potential to be appreciated by all levels of audio enthusiast. My system is also different from other people's systems, and they can also be enjoyable.

I once got a very interesting comment fomr a real audio unenthusiast, my wife. She claims not to hear the benefits of my efforts and is totally not interested. We were in a hifi store once looking for a set of chep headphones for work and the salesman insisted on showing us his top of the line set of speakers. I was not very impressed and was polite, my wife told him they sounded like crap.

"I can't get past the fact that musical instruments and musicians,(I think I remmember you play, is that correct?), are designed and forged through training by ear. Master Stradivari built his Violin w/o the use of waterfall plots or frequency response graphs.
I am not trying to be coy here; but what is the explanation for the universal aknowledgement of excellence of his instruments? Its a lot of people agreeing they excel through listening to them, all coming to the same conclusion."

Nope, don't play. How many instruments do you think he made that sounded bad, then so so, then pretty good, and then perfection? He probably learned by trial and error and a natural understanding of what he was after firmed up through experimenting. When you engineer a speaker you are trying to get 80% or 90% of it right through computer simulation. Same method, just no sawdust.

"The argument expressing the need to hear what the composer intended; not what the equipment does for the music begs the question; since the recording process distorts any and all attempts at perfect reproduction from the moment the sound touches the recording device.
Thanks for engaging in this discussion; I think it is the only reason to participate in audio."

In my opinion, reproducing recorded music will never ever be as good as a live performance. It is an illusion only. The goal is to get certain aspects right so that it is close enough to be enjoyed. Close enough to enjoy is a very personal definition.

"You're still up in Albany right?"

Yup, a few miles north of Albany.

Martin

• Quarter Wavelength Loudspeaker Design