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"Air, Extension, Resolution" Music or Hi Fi?

I have mentioned in other threads my efforts to tame the treble on my Tympani IV a's which has led to a number of upgrades:

tweaky resistors in line with the tweeters
MYE stands
a Musical Fidelity tube buffer
new tubes for the Audio Research SP11
new Signal Cable speaker cables and interconnects

Once in a while, with the right recording, late at night, the system sounds very, very good, and although not quite the midrange magic of my Apogess Stages with Jadis preamp and Aragon 4004 MK II, probably some of the best "sound" I have ever heard.

But to be honest, I dont find myself compelled to go and listen to the system and often, the system still sounds fatiguing.

Ever the audiophile, I have wondered if

Rives Audio room treatment and/or
Replacing the SCD-1 with a TURNTABLE

would really restore the passion that got me into this hobby nearly 30 years ago.

But reading an ad for Tympani 1-Ds on ebay a couple of days ago gave me a Eureka?! moment:

As much as the ribbon tweeters sound really impressive, with air, extension and detail that the non ribboned models clearly dont have...

...I am suddenly wondering if all of this comes at the expense of the MUSIC.

I cant ever remember, for example, listening to my Magneplanr MG-1Bs, for example, and saying:

"I stayed up all night listening to MUSIC, but sadly the experience was ruined by my craving for more "extension" "air" and/or "inner detail".

All of this is making me wonder if the evolutionary push for "transparency" "lifting veils" "inner detail" "resolution" is exactly what turns music into hi fi, and if I might enjoy a newly restored pair of Tympani 1D's more than my Tympani IVa's.

Just my latest thought.....thank you for listening.
cwlondon

Showing 1 response by sogood51

sogood51
2,157 posts
 
To be honest, I don't think Maggies (maybe some do?) integrate as well as they should. When comparing my Apogee Duetta Signatures to a pair of Maggie 3.6's a couple years ago I first came to this conclusion.

First thoughts were that the Maggies had better "Air, Extension, Resolution" and that the laid back sounding Duetta Signatures had less of this quality... "rolled off" so to speak.

Longer term listening to the Maggies changed my mind though. My opinion as it turned out was that the Apogees integrated so well, that I was fooled short term into thinking in reverse. The Maggies in truth sounded as if their high freq's were floating on another layer of sound...not as well integrated into the picture.

I think this is one reason why Maggie owners play with toe and inside/outside setup so often. The Apogees on the other hand (at least the large models) do not require any toe or outside HF ribbon placement to get a good image...sweet spot is much larger also.

I hope Maggie owners don't get the impression I'm doing an Apogee-Maggie shoot-out here and trashing Maggies...I'm not...I like Maggies a lot!.

I do think the integration problem (as I hear it) that I mentioned above is what gives them "that HiFi sound" your talking about.

Dave
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