I don't think I could hear one just playing a few notes... do you think that you could pick an equally tempered 5th out from a pythagorean one on an instrument? I doubt it. Of course, when tuning, it still makes a difference; that's why we do it.nuffink wrote: let alone were able to identify one on an instrument.
Tuning to a stretched octave may be common, but as with any acoustic tuning, it creates problems. Tuning to a stretched octaves means that very high notes will sound out of tune with other properly ET instruments... according to wikipedia, from bottom to top it can come to +/- 35 cents, which certainly IS audible.
I am a bit surprised to read that tuning to a stretched octave is actually considered a correct approach to tuning (I really would have believed that the pianos I hear and work with didn't use it
), though I can see how it could be necessary. Notice, however, that the article points out that GOOD pianos (concert grands) use strings that reduce the inharmonicity as much as possible, because while stretched tuning may be necessary, it is certainly not ideal.Interesting side note, as respirator said, we DO hear the problems of ET. A favorite example of mine is also sprach Zarathustra (the theme from 2001: A space odyssey)... at the very end, you can hear the violin playing a "proper" major chord (with an acoustically tuned Major 3rd and perfect 5th) as it would naturally resonate; as the chord ends, an organ sustains the chord, and since the organ is ET you can hear the chord go flat.
