I am a firm believer that you can get too hi-fi. Listening on B&W cans as we speak and they are undeniably hi-fi but not what you call meaty for drum & bass.
There is no such thing as the sound of an electric guitar; the pick-ups amp and choice of speaker and cab are what makes it rock.
Ortofon recently made this mistake with a full new range of carts and needles with higher range, volume and spec all round. Nobody likes them with their existing records because they don't sound "fat". Maybe new records will be produced that presume new needles but I ain't sure that any of this is progress over hitting your favourite tree trunk with your favourite stick.
I have different speakers for different music, until B&W give these cabs out free to the yoot in Brixton there aint gonna be any good music to play one them. They will always be adequate speakers for the fabulously rich.
Excellent points... almost no hi-fi no matter how high end actually captures what instruments in the room sound like since instruments just don't act the same way.
The recordings themselves don't capture a lot of that information or have it mastered out, so the loudspeakers can never put it back in.
The soundboard of a piano or the top of an acoustic instrument for example just don't work like a loud speaker. Drums pack a ridiculous punch in the room that speakers rarely capture. Guitar amps do all kinds of strange things in the room due to purposely designed in imperfections that are often missing in the recordings.
