I’m running the LS50s full range right now, with the RELs supporting the bass under 80 Hz. That’s the official REL recommendation. I don’t drive my loudspeakers very hard, so the KEFs are probably not working too hard. Their spec says they can go up to 105dB, but I don’t ever recommend listening at that SPL if you want to preserve your hearing. Anyway I imagine the bass distortion would be severe at that volume.
Yes, unfortunately too many jazz recordings have an artificial separation into hard left and right sound. You get used to it after a while. But with a great DAC, the sound should float over the left and right channels and create a compelling soundstage.
Another of my go to jazz albums, which again has that left right extreme separation is the immortal Bags Meets Trane pairing of jazz legends John Coltrane with Milt Jackson. Don’t listen to the shorter 192 kHz 24 bit version on Qobuz, which omits many of the great tracks. I have a remastered CD version that runs a full 70 minutes and blows away the high Rez Qobuz version. On Stairway to Heaven, when Coltrane’s saxophone enters on the left channel, on a great DAC, it should sound warm and full bodied, floating high above the left loudspeaker and echo all across your listening room. Gives me goose bumps each time I listen to that track. Miles Davis used to complain that Coltrane, once he got going, wouldn’t stop! He loved those long lingering notes, drawing out so much emotion from his saxophone. This recording shows him at the height of his powers and is a very bluesy album. A desert island disc for sure.
I have this in its original mono version on vinyl, as part of a deluxe Atlantic reissue called Coltrane in Mono. As always, for the jazz greats, as well as The Beatles and Bob Dylan and Ella Fitzgerald and Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley etc., mono is the true way to hear them. That’s the true sound they were aiming for. The stereo versions are always poorer sounding and were largely made to sell the newfangled stereo records, often without the artists permission. I don’t think the Beatles ever cared about their stereo releases, and often didn’t even hear them. They really cared about their mono releases. If you want to hear the true dynamics in the Beatles albums, you have to listen to their mono album releases.
Absolutely nothing personal as far as musical taste is concerned intended, and keep enjoying the music and recordings you like.
But seriously what dynamics are you talking about with Beatles mono recordings , I would guess maximum 20-30dB?
Even a DGG classical music LP from the same period could have a dynamic range of 50 -55 dB.
And much as I still as an aging adult,actually like some, but only some, of the Beatles´ music for strictly musical reasons, most of their recordings are only OK at best, mono or stereo BUT never really good or anything I would ever mention in any real HI FI context.
IMHO mono was good enough for Brahms and others in the late 19th century when the first recordings were made. But to me only of historic interest in an age when we can get both well recorded hi res digital stereo for two speaker listening or even mch for more than two speakers systems.
And since this is HeadFi after all ,for optimally realistic listening via headphones I often listen to actual binaural recordings.
They can capture all dimensions, not only left- right back and front, but even the height dimension.
Of much more interest to me AND on a Chord tech thread was to listen to Rob Watts own test recording snippet of real acoustic instruments in a church acoustic made with a Blumlein figure of 8 mic that unlike mono also captured both width and depth and a believable quite realistic soundstage via my speakers.
And did so with quite realistic instrumental timbre and without tape hiss or the limitations of late 50s mono analogue tape.And Blumlein miking , unlike early stereo spaced omnis sometimes did ,does not suffer from any "hole in the middle", on the contrary it can even sound a bit narrow middle centred.
Johnny Cash or the Beatles in mono are certainly NOT reference points I would ever choose. And while I am the topic of old favourites "warhorses" of many "audiophiles": "Miles Davies Kind of Blue" also sounds more than a bit dated by today´s standards to me. The tape overload on the too close recorded trumpet can be almost painful to hear on a really revealing modern good system imho.
Nice recording by late 50s early stereo standards in most respects but also audibly limited by the technology available.
PS Since getting my Qutest/ Mscaler I almost only listen to LPs for nostalgic or pure musical interpretation reasons.
Cheers CC
