The content: I have been studying this for several years.  Many of my reference recordings are in the 'commercial pop' category (Russ Freeman / Rippingtons, 'Curves Ahead', Weekend in Monaco'; Anita Baker, 'Rapture'; Andy Narell, 'De Long Time Band', and others you know about better than I), and these have the regular commercial pop mix; 3dB peaks at ~70Hz and 5KHz. There are lots of otherwise fab (see above) recordings that our rigs must reproduce without prejudice. Then there are the Mercury L P, Deutch G. , and so on (Jackie DuPre Elgar Concerto, Barbirolli Sebelius 2, John McLaughlin Bill Evans tribute, Lauridsen 'Lux Ǽterna', and others you know about better than I)

So, how do we reconcile these discontinuous virtual realities in our rigs?

Again, I've been working on this for a long time.

Make your rig with the widest bandwidth, the lease phase shift (least number of reactive[capacitive or inductive] components), the lowest net impedence possible.

I have just listed my reference recordings, and reference criterea baldly.  I cannot tell you how many times I have been disappointed in the results.  The sound does not have to improve for the experiment to be a success.  Repeat this.

Poinz

What about resistive/reactive circuits that cause phase to be more linear?

Simplest = Better musical experience?

Cheers!
Mike.e

Dunno; I haven't tried it.  There are some very sharp guys who do this all the time.  Remember also that simple (no feedback) audio circuits and speakers/crossovers are mostly phase-minimum situations, so the phase and amplitude responses are interdependent; correct one and you correct the other. Two of these corrective circuits that are getting a lot of discussion right now are the Baffle Step Compensation Circuit, and Sigfried Linkwitz' 'perceptual dip', a low-Q ~3dB dip centered at 2-3KHz.  These may be implemented at the speaker, passively at line level, or as part of a preamp/amp circuit. I would much like to scare up enough time to try these out.

My personal experience so far, however, is that when we use these circuits, we're playing the correction of the circuit against the degradation of the sound due to the insertion of passive components in the signal path.  All components have a 'sound'; that is, they degrade the signal to some small extent.  As an engineering sort, it drives me crazy that resistors have a sound.  Technically, it's insupportable; any nice quiet, low TC metal film should be sonically indistinguishable from a good piece of wire.  My 6V6 amp was the first piece I built without any grid-stop resistors and it sounded fab and displayed no overt signs of oscillation, but just to perform the experiment, I put a 150Ω Riken in front of the input grid, just to hear what I could hear.  Man, I couldn't get those things out of there fast enough!  These are nice resistors, my fave so far, and I never would have thought that the difference would be so great.

So, so far my opinion is that the circuit should be as absolutely simple as possible, with highest possible quality components, especially (in order) capacitors, resistors, connectors, wire.  Oddly, inductors (including transformers) don't seem to have as much of a sonic signature; as long as they are good quality, and are operated well down out of saturation.

JMO, YMMV, et dissing cetera; just one geek's experience.

Poinz

The problem for us down here is that our climate is very unkind to stored LPs.  There are molds and stuff that grow on the surface and degrade the vinyl, making it noisy.  As a result, we have nothing like the store of old records that you guys do in the mainland.  Being an analoghead becomes an expensive pursuit, even not considering the equipment cost, which is already far greater than that for digital playback.

Back to the original question, when I play pop-mixed recordings, yes, I hear the boom and sizzle; but because they are reproduced clearly and cleanly and not exacerbated by the gear, they are far less obtrusive than on mass-market dreck.

Besides, it's an artistic statement, they do it on purpose; pop is supposed to sound like that!

Peace,

Poinz

I wouldnt bother with the 'perceptual dip'-it sounds like bad use of EQ -ie what everyone uses an EQ for- to unequalise

I havent had the chance nor the quality components to test 'resistor sound' - my highest peice is a jbl2226 but my main speakers are regular sonys-For now!

Your problem now-Is how do you measure 'quality' of components- because you can hear the difference- where as i cant/havent.

Cheers!

Everybody (definitely including me) flaps their lips about this stuff; the only way for you to determine what is the actual TROOTH is to perform the experiment and post back your results.

We await,

Poinz

Ironically, compression drivers have power response that's just the opposite of this. Their output is greatest around 1kHz - 2kHz. That's why they sound absolutely terrible if their output isn't compensated with some form of equalization.