Why would I care what a musician wants for a system? Typically, I've not been overly impressed with the rigs that musicians have put together. Half of the ones I've seen, they are dropping the bottom frequencies under 40Hz, as if this is no problem. I'm going to let someone like that direct a system build? NO, thank you! :)
Nothing personal, phasemonger, but your comment, "Put another way, there’s every bit of music to hear and experience from a crappy radio vs. a great sound system. Articulation, pitch manipulation, tempo, instrument usage, and dynamic choices come through pretty well even on a static-ey AM station. Agreed you lose a huge amount of timbre and sound fidelity, but you don’t lose much if anything of the musical performance characteristics," is a good example.
I strongly disagree with the assessment that there is every bit as much articulation as with a more capable system. I also find "instrument usage" to be nebulous; perhaps it refers to complex passages in which many are playing simultaneously, in which case there is NO comparison between a poor radio/system and a formidable system. One clearly hears the performance better, and imo, in a much more impactful way, with a high end rig. Just because one may be able to get emotionally into the music in no way means it's a great listen, i.e. worth listening to by someone who wants superior, quality listening. It's not terribly exciting to hear distortion of a low end rig slaughtering the performance, especially since it does not have to be that way.
Yes, when you have cheap audio you lose "sound fidelity", which IS the quality of the music. Crappy or heavenly performance is one thing. Sound quality is entirely another. Anyone can excuse away mediocrity, for any number of reasons. I chose not to have mediocrity in the sound I am hearing. :)
Nothing personal, phasemonger, but your comment, "Put another way, there’s every bit of music to hear and experience from a crappy radio vs. a great sound system. Articulation, pitch manipulation, tempo, instrument usage, and dynamic choices come through pretty well even on a static-ey AM station. Agreed you lose a huge amount of timbre and sound fidelity, but you don’t lose much if anything of the musical performance characteristics," is a good example.
I strongly disagree with the assessment that there is every bit as much articulation as with a more capable system. I also find "instrument usage" to be nebulous; perhaps it refers to complex passages in which many are playing simultaneously, in which case there is NO comparison between a poor radio/system and a formidable system. One clearly hears the performance better, and imo, in a much more impactful way, with a high end rig. Just because one may be able to get emotionally into the music in no way means it's a great listen, i.e. worth listening to by someone who wants superior, quality listening. It's not terribly exciting to hear distortion of a low end rig slaughtering the performance, especially since it does not have to be that way.
Yes, when you have cheap audio you lose "sound fidelity", which IS the quality of the music. Crappy or heavenly performance is one thing. Sound quality is entirely another. Anyone can excuse away mediocrity, for any number of reasons. I chose not to have mediocrity in the sound I am hearing. :)