A forum for discussing "source material" ?

For all the fascinating and informative subjects I have encountered on the various forums here, it seems to me that there should be a forum for discussion of our favorite musical selections, and their sonic merits / pequiliarities, as played on Altec and/or JBL loudspeakers. For example, I have one CD by a great Western Swing group, which has a nice, and fairly large orchestrial string section on one song. Besides its obvious value as great "ear candy", over several years of evaluating speakers by listening to this song, I have found that any crossover design and driver compliment will sound quite excellent, providing the system can reproduce these strings without imparting a vaguely out-of-phase sort of quality to the sound, and/or or failing to hold this string section in a solid, unmmoving location in the stereo image. I can hear the "lack of compliance" easily, and when proper corrections are made, there is no doubt about the tonality of the string section being acceptable.
There is also the pure enjoyment of music over Altec and/or JBL loudspeakers, with or without any technical asides.
Thank You, Rich

Hi Rich

As you will see, there is now a poll to see if there is support for this issue. By all means vote and add your suggestion to the poll.

I feel that JBL speakers with associated hardware is already clouded with subjective interpratation. Though Giskard tries to keep things "scientific" with charts and curves, there still is the constant opinions that keep any of us from conclusively knowing the answers to the questions that arise. Though I'm always interested in hearing about some recorded material that is new and really good, I'm afraid that when the discussion comes to music, sonic qualities and asthetic preferences, we will have a mish mash of dialogue that won't be very productive.
I'm not opposed to it, I just feel it should be kept away from the JBL hardware discussions as to not clutter this area with too much unscientific banter.

Tom

Hey, Tom...

Some great points. This will be difficult, of course, because in-spite of what the maths tell, the ears rule. Through a bit of trial and error, I have begun to profile (uh-oh... :p ) some of our contributors "tastes", which helps me better predict some outcomes.

As Giskard, and others always remind, its how it sounds to YOU that counts. ;)

And, as Ken Pachkowsky and I discussed at-length over excellent wine, as your cabinets and components improve, the vagaries of the mix (i.e., production) are increasingly apparent, and not always pleasing. And, that lead to a copyrighted idea from his lovely wife for two-sided CD's: one side for the automobile mix (more compression, where subtleties and the dynamic range of the mix is lost to road noise) and one side for "pro" (no compression, big dynamic range)... :D

IMHO, only controlled, double-blind testing would not render subjective interpretations.
But it seems out of character that not only from the perspective of these discussions, but in fact in view of the whole breadth of the Lansing website (dedicated to the technology and craftmanship which results in the reproduction of music at high levels of quality and musicality) that discussing how the loudspeakers produce music can be a less than important pursuit.
If strict objectivity were the biggest issue, we would all be listening to the same exact speakers.
I have a Mancini cd which has a recording of "Theme From Mr. Lucky" performed by the Bobby Hackett Orchestra. The sound as reproduced by my modified 4410's (baby cheek tweeters replacing the 035TiA's) is a study in imaging, depth of soundstage, and [reasonable, cosidering the monitors' medium sensitivity] dynamic response. IMHO, the system configuration is very closely tied to this excellent sonic result, and discussions of such interactions would be interesting. And also would contribute to everyone's ongoing exposure to more great music.