Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems Should I Turn Up the Volume - Is Louder Better???

At the end of the day you could say it's all subjective - and we could get totally bogged-down in semantics....

When you're at a live performance - what is "accurate" in those terms - or is that term really applicable even in those circumstances ? The near-field measured waveform at the instrument is not what you actually hear - it's not the same once it's been affected by the "environment" of the performance & it doesn't take into account the filters your body physically applies, and then of course your brain (and current state of mind / inebriation etc !) has a further influence to finally colour what we call "sound". And of course the person next to you or elsewhere at the same venue is hearing something slightly different....

In a studio recording, there are of course further caveats - the recording engineer applies their knowledge & sound-bias to the process - and hears / tunes what comes out of the studio monitors to their / the artist's liking - which is also affected by many other factors.

This is why my idea of accurate is the "delta" between the "software" - which I would specifically define as the CD / DVD / FLAC file etc - and what comes out of the speaker. In my opinion, the equipment chain between the CD data (for example) and the speaker cone should not add or subtract anything at all. And of course if you can apply some correction to negate the affect of the room / environment on this process before the waves get to your ears, then all the better.

I know others have different ideas of what accuracy might mean, but that's how I'd define it. I go to enough concerts to know that reliving a live performance in your own home is a bit of a dream - but you're not giving yourself a chance if the kit on your rack is distorting the signal it's reading....