What is “warmth” and how do you get it?

'Warmth' for me is created by a tonal balance that makes reproduced large-orchestra music sound like real music played in a good hall. Of course, a 'good' hall is one that supports the lower frequencies of the orchestra so that the music doesn't sound 'cool' or 'thin'. 'Rich' is another word for warmth. I think the recording processes remove warmth from the music, and a music-reproduction system must recreate it. Warmth is defined, for me, as a tonal balance with a dB or 3 more energy in the lower MR/upper bass...mayb eup a dB by 300Hz, rising to maybe 3dB by 100Hz and maintaining that thru the bottom octave.

Of course, one can go too far on the warmth scale, which turns to 'thick', and that too doesn't sound real to me.

Systems that measure flat tonally are too thin and too bright for me.

Vacuumtubes in the system help retain natural musical warmth, but IMO the speaker system is most responsible for a system sounding warm and real...or not.
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here is a definition of warmth:

a slighy peak in the upper bass/lower midrange in conjunction with a dip in the upper frequencies, usually starting at about 3k.

it is definitely a coloration.

there is a difference between accuracy of timbre and warmth.

when attending live unamplified music, one usually does not use the term warm to describe a musical experience.

what distinguishes live music from listening to a stereo is accuracy of timbre .

an instrument soundws real when you hear it, but not real, maybe almpst real when you hear it on a recording.

very often "warm" is synonym for tube coloration of a euphonic nature.

it is an audiophile term which is not part of the definition of music.

I am currently using a Dynaco ST-70 amp unmodified and a Hafler DH-110 solid state preamp and it gives me plenty of warmth. Instruments and voices sound natural not strained and I found I preferred this sound to the all solid state sound setup I had before. My vintage Mcintosh ma-5100 also gives me the warmth Im looking for even though it is all solid state. So experiment with vintage tube and modern tube equipment to find the sound u r looking for. Thats the fun in hifi is the experimentation and trying something new and different sounding.

Well said Mr. T...Many like the warm coloration of tubes , but it was one of the reasons I got ride of my tubes .
I must say though , I have friends with excellent all tube setups , and enjoy listening to them very much
Regards Tim

Thanks to everyone for your thoughtful responses.

02-04-11: Hifiman5
"Warmth" is a very difficult characteristic to describe with adjectives. It's for me, the way real instruments sound in an acoustically neutral environment...A "lack of warmth" for me would be if the pluck of each string was unnaturally exaggerated by a "hot" tweeter and the mid and lower mids were not able to deliver the woodiness of the instruments.

Hifiman - On good recordings, my system sounds warm, according to the standard you describe. In fact, I would say the most realistic sounding instrument on my system is acoustic guitar. You may be asking, ‘So what is the problem?’ There isn’t a problem, exactly. On well recorded material, everything is peachy. But on poorly recorded material, I wonder if a “warmer” sounding system would be more rewarding. So, my goal is to expand the range of recordings that sound excellent on the system.

Johnsonwu - You've given me a lot to think about and to research, since I'm not a modder (though I have had some gear professionally modded). This approach to adding warmth is one that interests me. Maybe it’s because changing internal components (caps, resistors, etc.) is as close as it gets to single variable changes, which is appealing to me for its conservatism and degree of control.

Hi Learsfool – I agree with you and with Hifiman that, for acoustical instruments, warmth is a necessary condition for the perception of “real.” Again, on good recordings, acoustic instruments do sound warm, and hence real (to my ears). It’s the poor or merely adequate recordings that I would like to enhance, if possible.

Noble100 - I am considering adding tubes somewhere. Probably not a tube preamp, because I have recently been swayed toward the school of thought that the best preamp is no preamp (i.e. source connected directly to amp; volume controlled, in my case, by computer software). That leaves a tube amp or a dac with a tube output stage. That choice raises some questions:

For the issue of adding warmth, does it matter where in the system the tubes are located? Is the common element of “warmth” in tube components simply the addition of low order harmonics to the signal? And what are the downsides of this approach to adding warmth?

The last question brings me to...

02-05-11: Kijanki
Enhancing even harmonics does sound really nice with guitar or voice but not so with instruments that poses a little more complex than regular overtones harmonic structure...NEUTRAL sound (whatever it is) is the best…

02-05-11: Tmsorosk
Having tuned musical instruments in the past, one thing we listened for was any unnatural warmth, if you could hear warmth something was wrong. Warmth was never considered natural or desirable. It would altar pace, pitch, flow and timing and make an instrument sound less NEUTRAL, most easily noticeable on sting instruments.

02-05-11: Bizango1
I want my system to be NEUTRAL and have the capability of being true to the source. That's my preference.

[emphasis added]

You folks sound like me in another thread, where I argued at great length, against great opposition, for the value of neutrality. Some may find it amusing that I am now asking how to make my system warmer. I haven’t really changed my mind about the whole subject of neutrality. On the whole, I still believe that it is one of the most valuable attributes in a system, for the reasons I expressed on that thread. But I am interested in experimenting with changes that might nudge my system just a bit in the direction of greater warmth. Whether or not that is a nudge AWAY FROM NEUTRALITY is a philosophical question around which we should probably tread lightly, lest this thread turn into Neutrality War II.

The real question I am hoping to explore is HOW you go about making a system warmer. That is, what characteristics of system design promote the impression of warmth, and what are the drawbacks of those characteristics, if any? Part of answering this question involves answering:

Is greater warmth in a system always achieved by ADDING something (e.g., low order harmonics)? Or is it possible that greater warmth can also be achieved by SUBTRACTING something (e.g., some kinds of distortion)?

Thanks again to all.

Bryon