Quote:
Originally Posted by usbyte
U guys giving me the mc452 upgrade bug. Been thinking about it.
The salon 2s are very coherent and have zero listener fatigue. Heard them at the akg store in Manhattan.
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I'd say that's true for the 208s as well. Easy to sit and listen for hours, even to technically lesser recordings. Not to say I wouldn't have been overjoyed with any of a dozen other options...this was a confusing "shop" for me because it took me away from my pro audio roots, but in the end, they served me to the extent that I knew what I didn't want and to a somewhat lesser extent, what I did.
The Mc calls little attention to itself although one thing you get right away is how big the sound is relative to the speaker size. Bass is not as fully extended as it would be with a bigger speaker, but it's all there in good balance and however tight and defined as they recorded it. Differences in recording qualities/equipment selections and useages are immediately obvious if you know what to listen for. On multitracked studio recordings you hear the reverb quality, microphone variations (especially on solo voices) and that sort of thing. Rosin on bows is nice (
), or if it's a heavily/near field mic'd (or maybe an electric violin like a Zeta) you hear that too. I can't tell exactly if it's a Zeta or just has some sort of pickup that alters the way a violin sounds, but you can make out the fact that the fiddle has been processed or treated in some way.
Massed voices (try the Glory soundtrack for instance) sound luscious and orchestral works sound like the real thing.
On certain recordings, the thing produces an effect they used to call "presence." It's not a word I see used much anymore in reviews, but it's a real enough feeling. You know....a wavefront of sound that feels immediate and "here." I love that.
It's the kind of thing that's satisfying to my audiophile side, but like most of us, I prefer just to get lost in the music. My system does that for me so I'm ecstatic.
Gotta go spin some more tunes!
Again, it's really nice that all of you take pleasure in my pleasure. My feminine side wants to say it's sweet. My masculine side says......let's have a beer!