Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site

OK, you would seem to be saying in a more technical presentation basically what I thought (in very, very simplistic terms) the explanation would be.  So to get this straight in my head;

For instance if we seek to record a single note of a plucked guitar string say ‘A’ above  ‘middle C’.  This has a fundamental (don’t know if that’s the right term) frequency of 440Hz and will have harmonics at every octave ………27.5, 55, 110, 220, 440, 880, 1760, 3520….. 9 octaves below takes to just under 1Hz and 6 octaves above to 26kHz.  At the same time the guitar itself will resonate and reproduce both this fundamental and ‘overtones’ also at 440x2, x4, x6……and at intervals below.  It is this non-fundamental element and their relative ‘strengths’ in the overall sound, that provide the timbre and pitch signatures that identify the individual elements of the note.  No two guitars would have the same signature, therefore sound different, as would ‘A’ played on different instruments, thus the ability to hear different parts of an orchestra, even when playing the same note.  If we throw Chords into the mix, we end up with the above but add frequency ratios (and their interactions) into the mix; Major chords with a ratio of 4:5:6, Minors 10:12:15 and Diminished with 160:192:231.

OK so I accept the need to be able to go both above and below 20 to 20kHz to ensure these vital elements are present, to give better representation of the truth, but does this mean that my treble intolerance to most modern hi-fi equipment is indicative that I don’t like the truth as presented or is the sonic signature portrayed inaccurate and this is the reason for my discomfort.  If the latter then I just need to get better equipment, if the former........

PW

Rerurn to Romy the Cat's Site