Musically, the Dallas Wind Symphony recordings of the Holst suites are
supreme.* Pretty impressive bass drum, too. One of the first records made in
Meyerson Hall. Conductor Howard Dunn was an expert on the particular
instrumentation of these works, not often duplicated in American ensembles,
and his choice of tempi contrasts favorably with Fennell's. I noticed that
Acoustic Sounds has it in stock on CD. It was also released as a LP.

(*This judgment is only slightly biased by the fact that my brother is one
of the trombonists.)

-----Original Message-----
From: Association for Recorded Sound Discussion List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Tom Fine
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2014 6:37 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Computer desktop power speakers recommendation

That's the one I heard, "Winds of War and Peace." Very good playing, but I
thought the recording was made as a stereo demo rather than a musical
recording that one would listen to and love over time. 
It's an audiophile "show off my woofers" favorite, so I think my point is
made.

-- Tom Fine

----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Fox" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, February 23, 2014 12:55 AM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Computer desktop power speakers recommendation


>I think that the other legendary bass drum LPs that were alluded to below
> were probably the Wilson Audio recordings of the National Symphonic Winds
> conducted by Lowell Graham, "Winds of War and Peace" and "Center Stage."
> They are easily the equal of the Telarcs in sheer impact. But mastered by
> Doug Sax, not Stan Ricker.
>
> Michael Fox
>
> On Sat, Feb 22, 2014 at 9:35 PM, DAVID BURNHAM <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:
>
>> I have always held the Tela
>> To Tom, (and anyone else who's interested)
>>
>> I have always held the Telarc Holst Suites in High regard - it's a
>> spectacular recording, not only the bass drum but the entire group sounds
>> beautifully transparent and realistic.  As you say, the bass drum has
>> dynamic impact without taking over the sound completely.  It sounds so
>> realistic that my dog responded in a manner which is usually reserved for
>> thunder storms - I've never seen him do that before with a record.  I
>> couldn't find the Army band record you mentioned; I did pull out the U.S.
>> Marine band recording released in 1963 which describes itself as the
first
>> recording made by this band and while it is well recorded for its day, it
>> doesn't have a very realistic sounding bass response at all.  There is
all
>> sorts of hype on the cover about Dynagroove and I think they were
focussing
>> on brilliance rather than solid bass.  It also has an annoying mono
reverb
>> after the last note of each selection.
>> db
>>
>>
>>
>> On Thursday, February 20, 2014 7:06:04 AM, Tom Fine <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> I agree that describing sounds is an inexact thing. Say what you will
>> about audiophile writers like
>> >J. Gordon Holt, Harry Pearson and some of the current bunch at
>> Stereophile mag, they have come up
>> >with a language (mainly invented by Holt and enhanced/evolved by
Pearson)
>> that describes sounds
>> >heard and the behavior of audio equipment in transmitting sound.
>> >
>> >Regarding bass, "boomy" is a very common term, and what it seems to mean
>> is "too much upper bass
>> >(around the 150-200hz region) for the liking of the person calling it
>> boomy." Bose seems to get this
>> >reaction from a lot of people, both those not used to much bass with
>> their music (due to
>> >tiny-speaker computer listening, or just consuming music via a laptop or
>> tablet, or being accustomed
>> >to TV speakers) and those who want deep bass but hear too much higher
>> bass with the Bose speakers.
>> >
>> >David, what do you think of the bass drum on the Fennell Telarc
recording
>> of the Holst Suites?
>> >That's usually a strong "acid test". Also, do you have that album made
in
>> Washington DC in the 80s
>> >by, I think, the US Air Force Band? It's famous among audiophiles, in
>> fact I just had it played for
>> >me by one of the better-known LP advocates on a system that costs more
>> than my house and cars
>> >combined. I thought, lots of bass drum but I'm not sure the music calls
>> for that much bass drum. So
>> >is it musical or is it a woofer reality test by design? If I recall
>> correctly, the record was cut by
>> >Stan Ricker, who knows his bass.
>> >
>> >One thing I do hear with modern recordings, especially those using
>> no-transformer recording chains,
>> >is that deep bass is sharper, more precise and more focused if it's
>> recorded well. I assume the
>> >reason is no phase shifts from transformers. Some people really don't
>> like that because it
>> >definitely sounds different. LP fans often lodge a complaint about
>> digital bass that I think points
>> >to a similar situation -- all LP cutters have to sum some portion of
>> strong bass energy to the
>> >center in order to make records trackable. A system with strong bass
>> response and really
>> >quick-reacting speakers in a decent room won't be "bass is
>> non-directional" to careful listeners. So
>> >someone who grew up with an LP and was accustomed to its sound may not
>> have had the double basses as
>> >clearly deliniated to the right, or the electric bass in a Beatles
>> recording actually panned
>> >off-center like it often was in the later years (and in fact if they
grew
>> up on the Capitol USA
>> >records, they didn't hear the bass as it sounded on the approved UK
>> masters). In some rooms, bass
>> >that is centered and slightly high-passed, as is the case with many LPs,
>> may work better because it
>> >creates fewer frequency bumps around the sides of the speakers.
Something
>> precisely placed and of
>> >the frequencies and balances of the master tape may create a boom around
>> or behind a speaker, or
>> >might sit wrong in the room, or in some other way not sound "right", and
>> the LP fan tends to blame
>> >this on "digital" without looking at the differences in the media and
the
>> playback systems.
>> >
>> >-- Tom Fine
>> >
>> >----- Original Message -----
>> >From: "DAVID BURNHAM" <[log in to unmask]>
>> >To: <[log in to unmask]>
>> >Sent: Thursday, February 20, 2014 3:52 AM
>> >Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] Computer desktop power speakers recommendation
>> >
>> >
>> >> There is often a problem communicating with listeners who try to
>> describe what they're hearing in
>> >> non-audio subjective terms - warm, cold, dry, wet, tight, wooly,
>> wooden, etc. and terms which are
>> >> more appropriate like boomy, resonant, sizzly, thin, etc.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> When I use the term "boomy", it usually means a strong bass of a
>> specific frequency - like the
>> >> sound you hear when a car pulls up beside you with strong sub-woofers.
>> Perhaps when the Bose Wave
>> >> was introduced they still had some work to do to perfect the concept.
>> After listening to the demo
>> >> CD which is included with the Bose Wave, and which includes the double
>> bass solo I mentioned
>> >> previously which sounded convincingly like there was a double bass in
>> the room, we listened to the
>> >> entire "Nutcracker Ballet" by Tchaikovsky. If you know the music of
>> Tchaikovsky, you know that he
>> >> makes a lot of use of descending scales; the Pathétique Symphony is
>> full of them and the tune of
>> >> one of the waltzes towards the end of Nutcracker is nothing but a
>> descending scale. I listened
>> >> particularly to these passages to see if the bass range was even and
it
>> was very much so.
>> >>
>> >> A number of years ago, I purchased a CD on the Reference label of
>> military band music and was
>> >> really disturbed by the bass drum. This instrument should have no
>> definite pitch at all but on
>> >> this recording there was a very strong specific pitch and it made it
>> sound like you had your head
>> >> in the bass drum. I wrote a letter to the company pointing this out
and
>> comparing it to some of
>> >> the fine Mercury recordings, (no pun intended), where the bass drum
>> sounds as it should. I got a
>> >> letter back from the company telling me that I could not communicate
>> directly with the recording
>> >> producer/engineer but that she had passed my message on to him, (a
>> Doctor something or another,
>> >> I've forgotten his name), who explained that I obviously am an
>> inexperienced listener with
>> >> inferior equipment. There was no point in pursuing the conversation
any
>> further.
>> >>
>> >> db
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Tuesday, February 18, 2014 10:58:16 PM, Paul Stamler <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Back when the Bose was introduced, my late mother bought one. After
two
>> >>>days she sent it back; she said the bass sounded too boomy.
>> >>>
>> >>>Peace,
>> >>>
>> >>>Paul
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
>
>