How does the drum kit sound on your rig?


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I have heard it said that if you dial in the cymbals the rest takes care of itself. Do you find this to be true?

Can your system go BANG! I don't mean letting the magic smoke out but the sound - BANG!
Not thud, thump, pfud, pud, etc, but BANG like a gun or hammer hitting a piece of wood.

BANG!
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mikewerner
It took me a long time to dial in the cymbals but I must confess it came by accident. I was trying different interconnects and than for the first time I heard the cymbals come in correctly. As far as the rest of the system I ended up changing most of the cabling and power cords which improved bass and detail but Im sure I can still get a lot more out of the system. So I have to say no to your question the cymbals sound excellent but the rest does not take care of itself it takes a lot of work and perhaps a little luck so good luck and keep listening.
It depends on how well the drums are recorded, but on well-recorded albums, they sound spooky-real on my modest 2-channel system. I've been a drummer for 48 years.

The opening cut of side 3 of the Pat Metheny 3-LP set of the Day Trip album has astonishingly well recorded (and played) drums. I also have a direct-to-disk LP of the Buddy Rich Big Band and a couple of Sheffield DD Harry James disks (with monster fusion drummer Les DeMerle. Also have a Sheffield DD LP of Tower of Power with ultimate funkmeister Dave Garibaldi on the kit. These all sound quite real in m living room, dialed back for volume as previously mentioned.

To get the full effect of a live kit in-room, I think I'd need about 2,000 wpc driving a pair of Wilson Alexandrias or equivalent from YG, Magico, etc. But my modest 2-channel system definitely gets the fundamentals, timbres, overtones, transients and decay right. You can easily hear the differences among maple, mahogany, and acrylic shells, sharp vs. rounded bearing edges, etc.

It's an impressive testimony to just how good a well set up Audio Technica AT150MLX can pull the music out of the groove. Drum kits make extraordinary demands on a cartridge, including sharp, fast initial transients, bass drum fundamentals down to 30 Hz, bloom and decay, and the most complex and high reaching (up to around 16KHz) cymbal overtones. It takes a really good cartridge to track all that well. The AT150MLX proves it doesn't have to be a terribly expensive one.
I do some pro audio & drums on home audio sound like, well, drums on home audio. I've heard some really good systems that do an excellent job but most home audio falls short & some fall way short.

The drum kit sounds OK on my system but especially after playing w/8k watts running through a suspended EAW system, it's simply no contest.
Johnnyb53

I have all those discs you mention and indeed David Garibldi is awesome.

I expect you likely enjoy Dennis Chambers. He does an amazing job on Roots and Grooves by Maceo Parker.

ToP