Audio shows like RMAF are wonderful venues for learning new things and seeing new products. I wander the show and poke my head in rooms new to me in the hopes of finding undiscovered gems: new products that float my boat.
What amazes me is the amount of bad sounding rooms. I don't mean sound that could be a little better or that is somewhat problematic. I mean just plain awful, screechy, tinny, sound unworthy of even an entry-level home system. At an audio show!
I know these are harsh words and I don't mean them to hurt or offend—nor do I stand on a pillar saying our sound is so much better. Heck, our setup too had its problems: a bit boomy, often tubby in the midbass, too narrow a sweet spot. But, it sounded like music.
Kevin Jackson grabbed my arm and hauled me down the hall to see the biggest horn speakers I had ever laid eyes on. Wow. But then the music started playing and I found myself aghast at its sonic assault. My jaw dropped and I looked around the filled room for the reaction of others. Toe tapping and smiles. Do they not hear what I hear?
We speak so much of subtle nuanced differences that it is hard for me to wrap my head and ears around sound so grossly wrong and untrue to what real instruments sound like that I cannot muster the words to explain.
Shrugging one's shoulders and uttering "different strokes" does not help me understand.
