Today a bit about the terminology used in reviews and by audiophiles / music lovers.
Many of us are looking for warmth playing equipment. Only in a strange way, trying to purchase such on the basis of advice in the store, reviews or user opinions, it turns out that the given devices play completely differently than we imagined.
Warm, which is what?
During the joint listening with friends, I watched how they react to changes in the system. It turns out that most of us call different sound features differently.
Warm on top
The amplifier on the 300B lamp is usually ethereal – lightness, smoothness, delicate rounding and lightness. Here the heat emanates at the top, while the sound is usually very linear, so this sound does not burst, but rather is a bit too light for many.
Amplifiers on the 845 lamp also have a bit of what 300B, but they play even more studio (usually) center – vocals, instruments are not embedded and, for example, in combination with small / narrow speakers, it is difficult to find the ‘warmth’ sought after.
Heat downstairs (bass)
Another type of heat is simply to properly heat the sound from below – with low registers. We have a stronger sound pressure, so the impression is as if it was playing ‘Fuller’. Loose bass often gives the impression of warmer sound.
Heat in the midrange (e.g. vocals)
Sometimes it is a greater color saturation, sometimes a slight coloration from the bottom, sometimes a slight mitigation of the top so that the tonal balance moves down. The exposure of the diameter, pushing it forward is often called heat. For example, Harbeth uses this type of treatment.
Below are a few amplifiers from my collection that can be perceived as warm, although each in a different way and in a slightly different place.
heat and the structure of the column
Very often, as warmer, we perceive loudspeakers with a wider wide front wall – Harbeth, Snell, Audio Note, Spendor, Devore and many others.
The midrange sound is slightly more embedded and we perceive it as more present, essential.
The chance to play, which we perceive as warm, will be precisely in the case of wider front walls, in structures where the woofer is responsible for bass and medium tones.
For example, the JM Lab 920.1 was an ethereal loudspeaker with a noticeable rich palette of colors, the sound was contoured, fast, but it seems that due to the size of the midrange speakers it was light and poorly embedded in the middle. So it was more technical and ethereal than warm according to my dictionary. There was no meat.
JM Lab Spectral 913.1 (Read morehere) had this sweetness and sounding much more, despite the 8 inch rather than 10 inch woofer. This playing is neutral, vivid, and at the same time very essential and embedded – very, very difficult to achieve.
The warmth of the loudspeakers – potentially, because each in a different way 🙂
Snell E3And this is one of the most present and at the same time linear sounds. The loose bass suspension means that we will not get such a controlled bottom as from newer drivers, but the size of the membrane, its material and tuning + wide wall means that they play extremely pleasant to the ear, and at the same time true. These are one of the most interesting all-time speakers, despite the fact that they use very cheap pickups and were a low-end model in the 90s.
warm differently
Many audiophiles call heat:
- dirt
- coloration
- sweetening
- unnaturalness
- muddy and gluing
- averaging
- distortions
It does not necessarily mean that a given device has such features – it can simply be combined with another that brings something similar to the track, and then these features overlap and sound bad, unnatural, tiring, opaque.
These are also not bad qualities for our ear, but they must be consciously applied and identified.
Heat is also the size of apparent sources– So how we perceive the size of the vocals, instruments on the stage and how much space / air is between them. Thus, the enlargement of apparent sources gives the impression of a more present vocal. Larger size of the scene, but often also more gluing, less freedom of sound.
Many of the American equipment – Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, Pass Labs make such an impression. In large rooms, with a wide speaker spacing, it ‘fits’ in our 20-30 sq m salons causes the sound to stick together and unnatural proportions.
Warmth and tonal balance
Finally, probably the most popular way to ‘warm systems’. Linear character – strongly audiophile for an unheard ear and in an unadopted room – is often too bright, analytical.
In combination with, for example, poor recording, we have the impression that it is sharp and unpleasant.
The most popular method of treating the problem (though unfortunately not the cause) is a warm cable that silts the sound, cuts high. It gives the impression that it is less tiring and pleasant. We are compromising and losing some valuable information.
Many amplifiers, or some sources also have this character – the delicacy shifted down tonal down always slightly spoils the space, readability, detail, takes away the truthfulness, but is more tolerable
So how do you assemble a good, warm-playing system?
Such a system must contain a lot of good class neutral elements, be adapted to the size of the room and the listening distance. There are many recipes. There is no one good, universal one.
Certainly, the purchase of a small, analytical / retail column that requires a lot of electricity is something that I would avoid at the start.
Often, really large columns can be inserted up to 15-20 sq m and have great sound. Rooms above 25 sq m are a must-have for a large column with a separate bass.Then it can be driven by weaker electronics, which has the first watts of power simply better, more colorful.You can then use amplifiers inA classwhich are received by our ear by far the best.
pamper the source (the easiest way to rent) and cables – I also recommend neutral ones and then test the warming ones very gently.
However, if we start wrong (columns), no cable, nose lamp, amplifier or fuse will straighten it out.JackHe fought like this with Yaqin and Sonus Faber.
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