That Mid-range Magic

Get these critical frequencies right and everything else falls into place. Here are the names to know to realistically recreate “the soul of music”.

- Robert Ross

WHILE IT’S IMPOSSIBLE to stuff Carnegie Hall into a living room, a good stereo system is like opening a window to a convincing sonic landscape that stirs the listener’s soul. But creating an accurate simulacrum of live music in one’s home is an elusive task, with as many opinions as to what constitutes great sound as there are audio components designed to achieve it. And though expansive space and budget can further that aim, neither is a guarantee of success without first knowing what success actually sounds like.

Some audiophiles insist that without a 10-octave frequency response, from the 16Hz of a 10m organ pipe to ultrasonic frequencies audible only to bats, any reproduction is left wanting in terms of accuracy. Perhaps – but then why, if the full-scale force and dynamic range of Mahler’s