Karl Miller writes: >I have no idea what type of sound the average listener likes, and I >have my doubts that record companies know either. One thing seems clear >to me - record companies like to offer a rich sound that can be rather >homogenous with excessive reverberation. As a listener I"m not always all that certain either, but I think (repeat think) that I dislike the homogenous sound that Karl Miller identifies. I think I prefer clarity of detail, which perhaps explains why I generally prefer headphones and (heresy) often prefer broadcasts to CDs. I know that CDs are technically better, whatever that means, but I listen a lot to BBC radio three, especially to live broadcasts of concerts or recordings of liv= e concerts that have, I suspect, been recorded with a very simple microphone arrangement. I guess I want the sound that I would get from the front row of the concert hall; though, that said, I don"t worry about the often repeated fact that headphones don"t create a sound stage in front of you but instead put it in head. I want it in my head! But when the oboe plays a little phrase in the midst of a busy orchestra I want to be able to hear it. I assume the composer wanted me to as well. What puzzles me is that one reads about dummy head recordings made with two microphones only, but I have been able to get hold of one. Greetings to you all in the States. George Marshall ([log in to unmask])