Progressive Rock


Have any of you specifically built your system to listen to progressive rock, i.e. Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, etc.? I'm curious because I have, and was wondering what components you have found that lend themselves well to this particular type of music. The reason I asks is that I attended the Home Entertainment show last month in NYC. And not one of the rooms I visited were playing rock of any kind - and they did not seem receptive to taking request - especially at the volume I would need to hear before plunking down oh say $12,000 for a pair of speakers. Any incite you care to share is appreciated. Thanks, Matt...
yes9

Showing 1 response by piezo

In the 70's i listented to a lot of prog (still do to a lesser extent now) and the best system i assembled for that was vinyl based with a pair of old Klipsch Cornwalls. The dynamic responce of the horns was great for rock music. I have to admit i had them set up terribly for overall accuracy (stuffed perfectly into the corners to get all the bass i could) but i can still remember a couple of tunes on the Genesis live album (afterglow being one of them) where i could feel bass more than hear it. When you consider that colisium pa's provided the sonic reference point accuracy wasn't really all that big of an issue anyway.

My Dunlavys rock (my vandersteens didn;t) but they don't have quite the dynamics of the horns nor the bass thump of a 15. There is a distinct difference between a speaker hitting a low note with accuracy and moving a lot of air with that note. It's moving the air that provides the impact, thus the multi folded 18 in subs in live rock shows. My Dunlavys have a 10 in driver that will get into the 30 hz range pretty solidly but they don't hit you in the chest doing it. I think that is where some of the accurate speakers work well for more controlled music like jazz where they may seem to fall apart for rock (or big orchestral works). Trying to get the viseral impact from a speaker not designed to provide it usually results in everything being played too loud and the overall result suffering.