I was having this disscustion with a mate of mine last night. What is Warmth and Muddy in relation to sound??? If somthing sounds warm then to me you must have the heater going in the car. Car audio seems to be the only 'musical' level which uses these terms. Could someone pls explain to me and to most poeple on this site the general definition of the two.
Thankyou Mick

it all depends on who ua re
i describe my speakers as sounding like warm hunny

its all aoubt the feeling u get in relation to an audio system. a Warm sound is very full, has nice lows smooth mids and not overly crisp/fatiging highs. It is the kinda sound most of us aim for.

Muddy is a term described when bass is very drony and uncontrolled.

You SQ people are wierd
Kehehehehe!!

So Numb you suggest that warm has strong mid and bass in the music with highs that are not dominating? That's what I thought Warm was to mean, but terms like reverberation, echo, sharp, delayed are not used instead of a general term of warm, muddy, warm and smooth seem to be catch phrases with car audio. I'm not asking that these terms be changed but a general statement of these terms musically would be great to see, as far as seeing what someone is running and how poeple can improve their own systems.
Mick

i prefur my speakers "Raw"
i call this heaps a mid bass for my metal musis, and and it need to be crsip, so i all kinda like harsh tweeters.

so by this rationale,if women did the reviews, systems would be described as wet, hot or gooey.

The problem is the subjective nature of those terms - everyone has a different idea of what they mean..

99% of the time they are used to describe frequency response anominalies or distortion..

"Warm" usually means more low-end than high-end tone..

[ May 03, 2003, 18:28: Message edited by: Bassaholic ]

warm IMO is the opposite to:
dry, bright, sterile, hollow

comprimising a tiny bit of accuracy and transparency, which tends to add a bit more life and character to the music.
strong in mid-midbass region.

muddy is when the sounds are "confused" or interfering with each other, or when the sound isn't crisp, or smooth, lacking in clarity. usually in mid range - subbass regions.

a warm sound can be a good thing, it sorta has to do with tuning to your personal taste,
whereas a muddy sound is a bad thing IMO. usually signifies a poor installation or overdriven speakers. could also be speakers pushed outside their optimum operating range, or a messy sound stage.

[ May 05, 2003, 11:28: Message edited by: Mr_Bob ]

I upgraded from a SS rubicon12 to an PG xmax12 sub a while ago and the best way to descibe the change was from muddy to controlled.

The SS gave plenty of bass, but in comparison it just seemes to blurt bass out where as the PG was much more controlled and you could more accurately hear the difference between close bass notes.

For me muddy = poor control, all the bass seems the same and has poor attack/impact.

Warm = a bit more bottom than top in the balance and a less "obvious" attack in the top end.

Personally I like my music to have a bit of "bite" in the top end, lively but not shrill....I'm a "dry" guy

Dry = clean and "fat-free". aka "lean"

SQ is a good place for the slightly weird, kinda what suits me

car audio is not the only place these terms are used, home audiophiles use such terminology profusely - far more than we car audio enthusiasts who are mostly obsessed with power and big bass

it is hard to define such terms as 'warm' 'muddy' 'coloured' 'bright' 'lean' etc. consider it like wine tasting - hell, tasting ANY food you like. once you've had the experience over and over again, you just know how to describe what it is your feeling. same with audio, spend some time being able to describe and articulate yours systems sound, and then understanding the langauge will get alot easier