The right sound is the sound you like

In recent times we've seen a great boom (if you'll pardon the pun) in speakers built to give big, powerful bass, and at the same time certain manufacturers seem to have gone for electronics with a brash, fast, hard-hitting sound. They're not doing it through some misguided philosophy, but going that way because the equipment sells.

It was a fact brought home to us during a recent show, when we walked around the car hi-fi section. To say that the sound was strange is putting it mildly: the kind of monster bass most home cinema fans can only dream about, coupled with screaming treble and in-the-face vocals. Not our cup of tea at all and yet this is what the smart in-car fan is aiming for.

And judging from many of the queries we get, it's what plenty of readers are after, too: we've lost count of the number of times we've been asked for a advice on building a system with really serious room-shaking bass, and companies like Cerwin Vega! made a very nice business out of supplying just that.

To our ears it's not pure hi-fi (and remember we take a fairly liberal view of these things) and the colorations involved in this kind of sound would have the old fogeys of the hi-fi industry heading for their graves just so they could start spinning in them.

But let's get real about this. Play a violin recording through one of these maximum impact systems and you'll never be fooled into thinking the soloist is hiding behind one of the speakers, but when it comes to blasting out rock or dance tracks there's not much that can touch the combination of big amplifier power and speakers that maximise the attack of the music.

It's all a matter of tools for the job: just as a classical guitar is lovely in a hushed concert hall but won't do much when it comes to filling a stadium, so the kind of system that sounds rich, mellow and yet well-detailed with symphonic works won't be the one you need to shake the house with the latest Big Thing.

And it's for that reason that there are few absolutes in hi-fi today. Yes, it would be wonderful if the same system could handle every extreme of musical style, but those extremes are so extreme these days that this just isn't possible. Choosing the right system for you is a matter of getting the sound you like with the music you like. And we can't put it any more simply than that.

你喜欢的声音就是好的声音

近来，我们会发现在音响的制造商热衷于生产个头大、低音又有力的扬声器 ，这个景象十分繁荣(如果您能够宽恕我使用双关语) ，同时又有一定数量的厂商为了能够使器材的声音激烈、快速、力度强烈已经向电子学的方向寻求更多地解决方案。如果它们的目的仅仅是卖出他们的设备，那么他们通过错误的哲学来引导消费者可以说并没有错。

最近的一场展示会更加证实我上面说的确实没错。当我们参观汽车音响部分时， 说实话声音是前所未有过的柔和婉转: 家庭电影院发烧友梦寐以求的有力的低音配合高亢的高音和那扑面的歌声。 尽管这些根本不是我们这些人喜爱的，但这是厂家用以吸引车内音乐迷的聪明做法。

从我们得到的很多询问来看，也是许多读者同样的问题:数不胜数的读者向我们请教“如何能够配置一套有着足以使我房间发抖的低音的设备”  或者是“一家如同Cerwin Vega（1954年成立的生产家用音响、汽车音响的美国厂商）那样的产品供不应求的器材公司”。

对我们的耳朵来说这不是纯粹的HI-FI(而且您地知道我们是以自由的方式来看待这个问题) ，那些能处理好棘手的音色问题的hifi 工业保守者们也许将把他们的技术带进坟墓了。

这会儿让我们来聊聊好的声音。用冲击力强的系统播放小提琴的唱片，你永远不会感觉到演奏者就站在某一只音箱后头，在播放摇滚乐和舞曲的时候大功率功放和扬声器的组合也不会使您感到能够使声音的冲击力得到多么的优化。Hifi 这项工作的实质确实是器材：正如一支古典的小提琴在肃静的音乐会大厅中是可爱的但是想让它的声音充满整个体育馆的时候就会力不从心了。您需要的是让您听起来细节丰富且音色圆润的系统，而不是颤动摇动房子的大东西。

所以说，直到今天绝对的高保真系统仍然是很少见的。当然，如果相同的系统可以处理各种不同的音乐风格，那将是会完美的, 但是那些专业到如此极端程度的器材直到今天来说还是不可能的。 总之，您选择正确的系统就是为了让您喜欢的音乐发出您喜欢的声音。