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What s Your Frame of Reference?

Whenever I make a change to my system I pull out a select few records to evaluate the "upgrade". Gross differences in sound quality are fairly easily judged, but most likely the change in sound quality is subtle and better judged over an extended listening period. This is my problem: let's say I change something and on one of my reference records the trumpet now sounds a little more brash and upfront, maybe even bordering on harsh. How do I know whether the upgraded system is more accurately portraying the sound of the recorded trumpet, or has the upgrade merely added an upper midrange resonance problem? I have a good idea of what a generic trumpet (w/ and w/o mute) sounds like, but I wasn't at the recording session. The studio, the mic, EQ, recording medium, etc. all add an enormous amount of variables to what is actually recorded onto the record. If I judge the sound to be harsh and make changes to my system to remove the harshness, then maybe all I've done is make the system more pleasant, euphonic, but less accurate. The "live music in real space" paradigm is not particularly useful in that the overwhelming majority of the music I listen to is not of this type. Besides, the transparency of the audio engineering is still a variable. Ideally, I need a wide bandwith recording where I was present at the recording and which the engineer faithfully recorded the music. Unfortunately, I don't have such a recording. How are other dealing with this issue?
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onhwy61 OP
5,141 posts
 
I do the use the Chesky disc. It's very good for it's intended purpose. In practice I following what Garfish does, but I wonder if I could be boxing myself in. My background is that I've assembled a system that gets the basics done. Obviously, it doesn't sound exactly like live music, but it's very high quality reproduced sound. It's comparable to what you would hear at a well done dealer demo of high quality equipment. Any changes to the system I would now make are fine tuning, but I wonder if I'm just making my record collection (both vinyl and CD) sound nice, as opposed to getting at what is actually on the records. Part of what got me thinking of this is my recent acquisition of a 5-band, parametric equalizer which affords me an enormous ability to vary the tonal quality of the music. Maybe I'm getting too hung-up on this accuracy thing.

Thanks for the replies. Rcprince, I envy your situation.
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