Reggae music and high fidelity

[Gaiger71]

Hello, yesterday I went out to buy a new hi-fi..I've taken with me some reggae cds (Bass Culture-LKJ, Catch a fire-BOB, Open the gate-DENNIS BROWN etc), just to have an idea of how it sounds. The result of the listening was really horrible. Reggae music and his low quality seems to be far from the high fidelity world. Does someone here have a good hi-fi (not the usual technics, teach, marantz etc...) but high fidelity sistems? The seller just told me that if you've a good hi-fi, it works to show you as better as the music has been registered...so that if you have a jamaican made cd, you can't have a good sound. What do you think about that?

[leggo rocker]

I have audiophile Hi-Fi. Not brilliant, but a cut above the average.

My take on it is this:

The better the hi-fi, the more you can get out of a poorer quality recording. However, you need to choose your hi-fi carefully, it needs to be tuned for reggae.

Another problem you face is that a huge number of CDs produced from JA music are not well mastered. They are even poorer than the original vinyls. I've tried this many times and so many of the CDs sound really harsh and glassy compared to the original vinyl.

A really good hi-fi shop will be able to help you select the equipment that serves your reggae needs best.

My local hi-fi man has been brilliant. He has lent me expensive equipment on trial and it has really helped me get this as near to right as I can afford.

You need to look for stuff that is warm. Warmth is far more important than detail. If you select stuff that brings out the detail too much your reggae music may sound harsh and over-bright.

You might even consider going down the retro hi-fi route. I have power amps, pre amps and record decks that come from the 70s and 80s - when analogue sound was still king. But, after several mistakes I've ended up with new speakers as retro speakers are great but finding a pair that are in top notch is very very hard.

[Gaiger71]

Thanks leggo rocker! I've had the same impression about the fact that the better the hi-fi, the more you can get out of a poorer quality recording. My problem is also that I listen also to other music (world music, acid jazz, jazz and so on) even if in my cd collection most of the music is reggae (about 1000 cds). That's my problem...I'd better choose an hi fi that let me listen to reggae and also to other genres with a good quality. I've found a good local hi-fi man, and together we've to find the best solution. Suggests about amplifiers, cd players and speakers are welcome...so that if you can give me your suggestion..thanks! I think that talking about hi fi and reggae music could help everybody to find the best solution to listen to our favorite music that, unfortunately, has often an horrible quality. Ciao

[AnorakTrev]

Hi Gaiger71,
Try listening to some of the new generation of valve amps,either integrated or pre/power combinations that are currently avaliable.A good one are the Prima Luna range,but not very powerful!Nowadays valve amps are pretty reliable,not necessarily "warm",but good at making the best of the avaliable source material.Of course ,if you are well- healed the choice is wider!See if your hi-fi man can demo some for you.Also a three way speaker will help you achieve a better sound as each drive unit will be operating within its frequency range easier,eg bass,bass-midrange and tweeter.
Happy listening.
Trevor

[leggo rocker]

Has anyone used a high end hi-fi (NOT AV) sub woofer with and reggae?

[I-Lion Tafari]

Hi Gaiger71!

Don`t choose equipment which sounds too analytic. This could spoil the music and sound like neon light instead of candle.

An important question is which cables you would choose. Each material has it`s own character. A cheap copper is different to a 99% silver cable. I use silver cause mids and highs are reproduced very silky, dynamic and not harsh.
I recommend to do a good research as there are so many facts to be important for a good sound.

[dubunion]

Hi,

As mentioned a few times previously reggae recordings (CDs, MP3s, and in many cases also vinyl) vary wildly when it comes to mixing and mastering. The recordings are simply not high fidelity (=true to the original sound source), because reggae mixing and dubbing is the art of engineer distorting the original sound sources so that they sound so much nicer and touch our very souls.

Since the sources are distorted it is important that your amp and speakers are not detailed sounding, and that the amp has flexible tone controls in order to tune the sound to suit your speakers and room, and how these interact with the variance in different recordings, the volume you are listening at and your mood.

Most recent amps either have dropped these tone controls completely, aka the audiophile straight through no coloration approach, or have replaced these with digital preset effects with all bells and whistles, aka the cheap impress your neighbor home cinema set.
I think good tone controls were dropped by the manufacturers because they require extra hardware to be built in, extra components costing money, and most people who listen to britney's last cd don't care anyway. On the other end the audiophile community focus on buying top notch recorded stuff which does not need eq'ing, something which is not widely available in reggae.

Older designs with a 2 or 3 EQ which you can actually adjust while listening (no preset nonsense) work best to my ears. I have used older QUAD transistor amps for a long time (33 pre and 303 and 405 power) with very pleasant result to my ears. This particular 33 preamp has bass, treble, and a special roll of filter for treble (semi-parametric), and allows very easy adjustment of most recordings, but I am sure many others are good as well. Adding an external graphical EQ can also help (choose a simple model, the more bands the more hassle to adjust)

My advice: Go back to the hifi shop, choose amps with real tone controls or an EQ, and fiddle with the knobs of the amp you want to buy while listening to your reggae discs through different speaker sets and sub woofers, and trust your ears.

dubunion.


BTW: Before spending lots of money on huge systems, bear in mind that the size of your listening room limits the bass response of any device. The lower the Hz of your equipment, the bigger your room has to actually be able to hear it.

[Rob Strictly-Rockers]

Bearing in mind all that has been said above about the poor mastering quality of a lot of Reggae, I take a simple approach to this and I totally agree with Dubunion on the necessity of tone controls for Reggae. Here's what I said in another thread earlier this week:

"Yes, that for me is one of the joys of Reggae - you can play about with it. Sounds just like the Sound Systems, start off all high end, then hit the button and the bass thumps in. It is all a matter of choice but I like my records thumped out at high watts with the bass turned up. I'm fairly sure that a lot of Reggae was recorded with Sound Systems in mind and they certainly didn't go for the pure sound reproduction, no filters approach."

I personally use Audiolab pre and power amps and old KEF Reference speakers with very heavy magnets. The good thing about the speakers is that no matter how loud you play them, they don't distort the sound at all so if you turn the bass up full you get full bass rather than a noise that sounds like the speaker has blown. I also find the Audiolab 8000 CD player to be very solid and unfussy. I can't say what it is like for other music because I only have Reggae.

Regards

Rob

[leggo rocker]

I can't say what it is like for other music because I only have Reggae.

[ton1]

I personally use Audiolab pre and power amps and old KEF Reference speakers with very heavy magnets. The good thing about the speakers is that no matter how loud you play them, they don't distort the sound at all so if you turn the bass up full you get full bass rather than a noise that sounds like the speaker has blown..

Yes Rob, KEF speakers are great for reggae, I have a pair of Corelli (70s) and a pair of Carlton III (80s) driven by an old Marantz amp (with 2 EQ) and that sounds great, especially the Corelli, not very powerful but so sweet to my ears.