Week Forty- Six If It Hits Your Ears, It Might Be Music
I went to a trendy university called UEA. One that had been given such status back in the Sixties. It is in Norwich and as well as the Environmental Science department I attended, that has been in the news in recent years due to climate change stories and issues, it also has very schprauncey art and music schools as well. There is a big arty hangar called the Sainsbury centre, that always felt too posh for me to frequent, as a muddy footer in my green wellies. For it was tremendously cool and the eaterie was expensive. Likewise, the music department was a bit avant-garde.
I met a few of its music students, one of whom I recently got back in touch with via Facebook. He has, like so many musical paths, travelled to end up at jazz. And he told me way back when about his friend, who considered every sound that reached his ears to be a potential musical experience. He especially enjoyed recording girls’ in ‘˜durance exquisite’ moments. Apparently, he’d set a cassette recorder with electret mic up and running before er ‘˜closing escrow’ as they say in America.
I was deeply fascinated, as I had been gripped by sound while still at school. I had been to an organ recital in the hall, where the head of our music department decided to tempt us in with rugby songs and then hit us with some Bach toccata and Fugue down to pedal notes of 15Hz, by way of cultural enlightenment. It was a ‘˜talk’ entitled ‘Noises Loud & Obscene.’ I owe that man more than he will ever know. I recall the utterly literal pulling out of all the organ stops and then marvelling as the fucker PLAYED a full keyboard of pedals under the long seat with his feet. That REALLY big note is a shiny posh leather soled shoe upon a wooden pedal… all the way to the damn left! I can hear it nowdiddle-um, dum DAAAHHHHH! It was awesome.
Later, I even got it played for me, while I was inside the pipe gallery, fifteen foot up, halfway up the really big pipes, stood to one side. The organist was not as loud and crazy with the pump and pulled less stops but it was so deep and wobbly that I only saw I was literally toppling out of the gallery by eye to catch and stop myself. The Organs of Corti in my ear’s inner snaily-semi-circular-canally bits were so shaken around, I was like a lobster with iron filings replacing the sand grains that they use to tell which way is up. I couldn’t ruddy tell!
Likewise, as a journalist, do be advised that all my experiences are liable to be used as fodder! Thus, I shamelessly reproduce this below, that I got via the Private Messenger system on the Talk Audio forum boards.
‘It would seem I am destined to use kit reviewed by your good self! I started with the Alpine 815, recently followed by the Kenwood 7 inch 1800s great fun getting those to fit! All of which I have to say, does sound amazing. It’s all still powered by the stock head unit in a Subaru Impreza. I have spent many hours now reading and researching this stuff. It’s highly addictive behaviour and now it would seem that an amplifier is in order, to get the best from these speakers. The actual volume as in loudness is OK. I’m just wondering if a decent amp will improve the sound quality at lower volumes?
And once again after trawling around, have found myself back reading one of your reviews, the Clarion 2420. I could maybe bridge this for two channels to start and if I get ambitious in the future, I understand it may be possible to use this amp to run the components separately? I guess what I’m asking please is, will something like this make a significant improvement to the above setup? Cheers’
I replied thus: You are a perceptive fellow! LOL… but I WOULD say that, wouldn’t I? But YES that will be a vast improvement. The sheer speed through the amp, with what’s called slew rate or how fast a transient can be made, is where the leading edges of drum hits and cymbals live. It’s about immediacy and sheer quality.
So, yes, it’ll be a vast improvement and you can buy Clarion directly now and you can run the comps ‘active’ later, too. link
So, yes, I do engage one to one where I can but do know.. I might write about ya!
Adam Rayner On Line Editor