What is your reference?

Tremendous question. I am not trying to reproduce the "absolute sound" in my living room. I like rock, pop, r&b, jazz, blues and a smattering of classical. For the most part it's amplified music and alot of it is artificially created in the recording studio. My audio system reflects my musical tastes. Faithfulness to the signal input is important, but not paramount. Ultimately I've put together a system that doesn't distract me from listening to the music I like. At times the system even makes the music I like sound good. I acknowledge that this can be considered a form of distortion and/or coloration. I'm very happy with the sonic direction I've taken and for me, it far preferable to a system that sounds fantastic on a limited number of audiophile spectaculars and makes other music (the remaining 99.9%) sound bad. Any system you put together will be an amalgam of sonic compromises.

I have what I would characterize as an internal bell that goes off whenever I cross my personal leap of faith threshold. Live performances/concerts that I have attended are indelibly etched in my brain and hence, serve as my reference. While I don't expect I'll ever come anywhere near to being able to satisfactorily/convincingly recreate in my home, the experience of a live symphony orchestra in a concert hall, I do however find my experiences at intimate jazz club venues, clearly attainable. For example, when I cue up saxophonist Bennie Wallace's, "Someone to Watch Over Me" CD, can I truly/without effort envision that I am sitting there at that front corner table, sipping on that great micro-brew and splurging on that absolutely sublime rib-eye, downstairs at NYC's Jazz Standard. What also helps is that we have a baby grand piano in our home. Though I myself don't play, two of our sons, ages 12 & 7 do, and as a result, I have come to know very well what a live piano sounds like. I'm afraid that many people who do not have the luxury of having an un-amplified instrument (any un-amplified instrument) regularly playing within their home, tend to forget what the real thing is actually supposed to sound like. I find the piano in particular, extremely difficult for many systems, irrespective of their cost, to recreate convincingly. Hence, when my system and/or other systems/components do a convincing enough job in portraying a live piano such that it does not require a leap of faith beyond my personal threshold, then I know I have a keeper! Live, un-amplified music---no better reference as far as I am concerned.

For me, it continues to evolve as I listen to different equipment and learn more about what is possible (as well as what is not). I'm not a musician and don't have classical music in my blood, don't go to symphonies, etc. I have, however, always had recorded music I enjoy in the house and playing, and find that it can enhance almost any mood. Since most of the music I listen to is somewhat arbitrarily recorded (ie, rock/pop and all it's sub-genres), my reference is pretty much how the reproduction makes me feel. I'm not sure I want to recreate what an electric guitar "really" sounds like, or a kick drum, inside my house, though there is no doubt that as the system gets better, it recreates these instruments in progressively more exciting / involving ways. I went to the AC/DC concert the other night and paid attention to the fact that there really isn't a soundstage, and furthermore, the sound is pretty bright and edgy, definitely fatiguing (and no room treatment to boot!) - it was also fabulous, with a really great sound system, energetic instrumentation and vocals. In the end, the grading scale is how much the system / music makes me want to turn it on and listen.

An 1878 Steinway B Grand Piano. I have had it in three different homes--and does it ever sound different depending on the acoustics around it. The harmonics that an actual piano creates (in it's environment) is incredible--and difficult to reproduce very well. I intend to record this piano, but until then, I use Ito Ema's Goldberg Variations (M*A recordings). She plays a similar vintage Steinway, but a D version. This is one of my favorite recordings. Todd Garfunkle deserves a medal for this one.