What does the audio term 'air' mean?

What wonderful responses! I thank you for them. I read an audio review recently (sorry, I'm 78 and I can't remember where I've heard various things) in which the reviewer said that he was tired of "accurate" speakers in which the sounds are too well defined. I think he was talking about very highly regarded speakers. When I purchased my Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 5 speakers, I compared them to Vienna Acoustics Beethoven speakers costing about $15K. The instruments sounded accurate and I had no real complaint except that each instrument and note seemed to exist singularly on its own. When I heard the Sonus Faber I heard a more blended sound. Perhaps I could say that all the air was filled with sound, whereas the Vienna Acoustics were so accurate about insturment placement, the notes seemed to come out of a black background.

I have read reviewers who love speakers that produce a black background. I have no idea if they are talking about what I am talking about, but I see these two attributes in opposition. When I go to any kind of concert, classical, jazz, or rock, all the air around me is filled with sound. The air is alive with the sound of music. Very excellent speakers, however, seem to want to pinpoint sounds and the edges of sounds (attacks and diminishes). Although I am impressed by these speakers, to me they don't sound like music. 

On the other hand, when I inherited my Hovland Radia amp, I was using a McCormack DNA-1 upgraded to the top level. I thought it was a wonderful amp because it filled the room with sound. It kind of produced a wall of sound. When I compared it to the Hovland Radia, the McCormack seemed better. I was about to sell the Hovland, when slowly my ear began to hear how the Hovland was able to bring out inner sounds that the McCormack could not. 

As Mapman said in his excellent response, "The presence of air in audio can lead to a clearer soundstage, where individual elements of a mix are more distinguishable. This clarity is often described as removing a "veil" from the sound, enhancing the overall listening experience." I think it was the first time I ever really understood what air meant in audio terms. And I am very happy that I have now found it.  

When talking about black backgrounds, this comes mostly from the electronics, black backgrounds are the result of lowered noise floor which results in higher resolution/transparency. With lowered noise floors we hear far more of the 'inner' details, it is generally these 'fine' details which heighten the sense of spaciousness/air. Source extracts it from recording, pre/amps job to not lose any of that info, speaker reproduces it accurately, room allows speaker to reach full potential. In the final analysis it is not the speaker that produces air/spaciousness, the speaker can only reproduce what it's fed, some have greater potential to maximize what rest of system feeds it. SNS

I have no idea if my electronics produce a black background with a lowered noise floor. Even when I turn on my tubed phono preamp my speakers sound dead quiet. When I stream music I hear no background noise. Of course, when I play a record there is always some source noise even on my quietest records. And yet to my ears, records have more air than streaming does. I can hear more deeply into the music. The instruments sound more present and true to life. I guess that is a good part of what I think of as air.

I have listened and compared very good speakers with the same front-end electronics and one sounds like it has more air than the other. Not because one provides more inner detail, but I would say that one is more analytical and the other more musical. For example, I think my Sonus Fabers tend toward the musical end of the spectrum and Dynaudio or Vienna Acoustics more toward the analytical. And I can totally understand why someone would prefer Dynaudio and Vienna Acoustics over Sonus Faber. Yet audiophiles seem to drift one way or the other.

Another example, before Krell was off the market I really didn't like it. A friend let me borrow his Krell 250 while he was on vacation and I put it in the place of my McCormack DNA-1. The Krell had stronger bass and I think more definition. But I felt the McCormack was much more musical and the Krell was dry. Yet many people swore by Krell. 

There is something going on that I can't put my finger on, but I do think audiophiles tend toward one end of the spectrum or the other. Musical versus analytical? Air versus exactness? I don't know how to define it. 

Cey, I think you are right about smooth upper frequency extension, but I think there is something also to the way the musical notes sound on both uppers and mids. I'm not sure about bass. People love tube gear because it brings "bloom" to the sound, which to me means that the notes are voluptuous, as opposed to lean. (Sorry about the metaphors, but I can't find other words.)

In a way, the notes have inner air, and bass notes count too, I guess. I think of a jazz bass where the notes seem to float on air as opposed to cutting the air. So hard to explain. Perhaps a system with air embraces the listener rather than impresses the listener with its strength. 

I'm trying to compare very good systems in my mind. A Wilson speaker or Dytnaudio speaker which I think of as more lean and analytical versus Sonus Faber or other speakers that people think of as "musical." They both could have "smooth upper frequency extension," but one would seem to float on air and the other to penetrate the air. And that's the best I can do at describing what I think I am talking about.

prof, great explanation. On my system, I am sometimes suprised by a sound like drumsticks banging against each other. It comes from somewhere behind and off to the right of the right speaker. It will surprise me and I will look up from what I'm doing, like, huh? Where did that come from? Was it on my stereo or was it real? This happened sometimes when I had far less expensive speakers, but happens a lot with my new speakers.

fynnegan, I listen to music recorded in studios, live in concert, and in concert halls. The more I think about it, however, music is air. Waves traveling through air, but the air itself makes up the waves. When we listen to music live, it fills the air. It's all over the place, whether amplified or not. I think there is some sense that it's part of the air. Somehow, I think, as music is turned into an electronic signal, it loses that sense of being part of the air. It becomes a note from an instrument traveling through the air of our listening rooms. But it no longer seems to be part of the space as it does when it's live. A good system, I think, when a good recording is played through it, restores the sense that music is part of the place--part of the air through which it's traveling. And it can make a listener feel "there." When I listen to rock n' roll amplified, at some place like the Hollywood Bowl, the sense of air is not really something I'm interested in. 

You're right in the sense that a studio is not built for an audience of people listening--it's built for recording music. And now that you mention it, I don't hear "air" in most studio recordings. Many of them are rock and I am more interested in being blown over by the music coming like one great wave. Although I do have a few albums recorded in a studio by audiophiles, like "Orpheus" by the Isao Suzuki Trio. On the back cover of the album they show where the instruments were and where the mikes were place in order to get a sense of air. Of course, most other studio albums don't go to that trouble.

thom_oz, I also have floor standing Sonus Fabers and they weren’t cheap, either, but I stayed in the Olympica Nova range. Doublte that price was too steep for me.

Okay, so I know that Diana Krall is mostly shunned on the jazz thread, but her CDs are well recorded. All of her CDs sound good. 

The Sonus Fabers have brought so much more air into my listening room. I previously owned a pair of Goldenear 2+ speakers. I thought they were good, but I'd never owned a really good pair of speakers. I feel as though there is so much more space in the soundstage that I could walk around in there.