If transients aren’t right, nothing is.
Think about a snare hit. A string pluck. A trumpet attack. These are transient events—rapid, complex bursts of energy that tell your brain something real just happened. If the system can’t handle them with speed and control, everything suffers. You lose impact, articulation, realism.
I remember swapping out a pair of speaker cables: Nothing else changed. But suddenly, the leading edge of notes snapped into place. Drum hits had authority. Piano keys had punch. It wasn’t louder, but it was undeniably more alive.
Transients demand coherence. If the drivers in your speaker have too much mass, if your room is reflecting energy unevenly, you’ll get smearing. The attack softens, and with it, the illusion.*
Great systems preserve the attack without exaggerating it. They’re fast, but not brittle. Precise, but not sterile.
And when you get that balance right, the music has pulse. You can feel it breathe.
*That's why we use planars in the Aspen. series: lower mass than the air they are moving.
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