Home Speaker Asylum

General speaker questions for audio and home theater.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Speaker Asylum ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

RE: Why do my Vandersteen's sound...

How could one recording sound great and another recording sound bad? The answer is in the question: it's the recording. Ever think of all the ways recordings can sound bad? I have heard studio albums sound awesome, and some studio albums sound very bad. Funny thing is they were recorded in the same studio in the same year on the exact same equipment. So how can one album sound so good and another sound so bad?

The sound engineer that's how most are just average, and some are masters at their craft. Like Phil Spector, Les Paul, Alan Parsons, Eddie Krammer to name a few. But like I said, unfortunately most sound engineers are just average with average results. So, there can be huge differences in studio recordings, and studio recordings are the easiest to get right.

Live recordings are more difficult you're no longer in a controlled studio environment with sound deadening treatment and no room noise. So now let's say you're recording a live jazz quartet in a small venue you only have four instruments to capture with four microphones you can strategically place those microphones to accurately capture the sounds of the instruments perfectly and many live jazz recordings sound really really good.

Now imagine having 100 musicians playing 15 different instruments in a ginormous concert hall and you have to record them live!!! I would pass out faced with this incredibly difficult task. And you specifically said string instruments sound bad. Out of all the instruments in an orchestra the string section plays the lowest in volume/dB level brass and woodwinds are way louder than strings. Maybe that has something to do with the way they sound especially if those other instruments are drowning them out in the recording/Mix I would search maybe in some forums and try to find a well recorded orchestra recording if one even exists.

As far as your Vandersteen go don't sell them it's not their fault. Did you know the Vandersteen 2 is the most successful American high-end speaker ever made they sold over 200,000 pairs of these speakers. That is crazy and true. And since there are so many pairs in use today there is a lot of information on them and your Vandersteen 2Ce Sig II's as good as they are will not make bad recordings sound good no speaker on earth could do that.

I see a lot of people have an opinion on the amp you're using, and I must agree you need a different amp for those speakers. Did you know there is a Vandersteen speaker forum? Go on that forum and see what amps the actual owners of the speakers say are best. I know one amp will pop up and that is a Bryston 4b SST2 the Bryston has been around as long as Vandersteen speakers and has a huge following.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Schiit Audio  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]