The problem with the music

Nrchy,

Although the components in your systems are all excellent, they are a very poor match.

The combination of equipment you own will on a few occasions be spectacular but most of the time on most average recordings be grating and harsh. LP's are probably good but that's the easy part. CD quality is outstanding here of late, I have just bought 50 cd's from megadeth to Keb Mo to Gergiev SACD and they were all excellent. Your system is the problem not the recordings.

Please don't think this is a personal attack or a cheap shot because if you came to see me and you described your system, I would tell some stuff has gotta change.

If you want specifics i'll give them to you, let me state you don't need better equipment you need different equipment.

Well Slappy,

My advice had nothing to do with being liked, and like I said it was not meant as a cheap shot. If you knew anything about equipment you'd have some insight about what Nrchy systems problem is. Look at the pictures if they are up to date, I'm 99% certain what needs to be done.

BTW I never said his system was crap. but it may be the source of his recent experiences more than any recording he's bought.

I love the way you backed off from the topic..."not all agencies" well duh and what kind of miracle worker can make Ashley Simpson sound good? There was vast generalizations that the recording industry mainly turns out garbage... your assertion infact... Catering to MP3 users.

Typical audiophile response to my assertions, I just said I bought 50 recordings of an incredibly diverse genre's and labels and only one is "bad" the rest are good to outstanding. So my experience is in direct conflict with the rest of the posters in this thread except of course my long lost twin brother Pabelson. Sup bro!

"So you are saying that all the recordings are superb and nobody should doubt thier quality, it is just Nrchy's crappy mismatched system?"

I'm saying if you can't thoroughly enjoy 85%-90% of the recordings you buy then your system may be messed up. People get paid to make recordings and like anyone they like to keep their jobs. They don't keep their jobs by turning out trash and not caring about quality even if there is pressure otherwise.

I will tell you that I have very recent experience with transforming a pair of Kharma midi Exquisites from selective quality playback to one that makes nearly every recording sound good. Recordings that were "bad" suddenly are intriquite and exquisite. Hmmm and to think it had nothing to do with changing power cords!

But what I did was a "know it all thing", you wouldn't understand.

Later.

Metralla,

Picture at an Exhibition and Scheherazade, are the two discs.

Scheherazade isn't great but dire?...that's being overly critical. On the 5 systems I have heard it on this is not the case.

The Moussorgsky is very good. Neither are unlistenable or trash.

I certainly didn't get the feeling that no one cared about the recordings and that they were limited to appeal to low resolution systems. Ones better than the other.

Focusing on Scheherazade;

The Scheherazade is definitely one of those borderline recordings that take very little to make sound "dire" but when systems are operating properly it is satisfactory. I have heard a dramatic difference in the way systems handle this recording and sometimes dire would be a good word.

Systems that make Scheherazade sound "dire" just needed to be fixed. So now you have a better reference where I'm at.

Nrchy,

Just typical audiophile crybaby BS in response to a criticism of your system. I thought being a biker you might have a little thicker skin. I think I tried to make it very clear that I wasn't attacking you or taking a cheap shot.

Yet instead of asking me why I would say what I said, you assume I've got something to sell or my opinion is related to a decision you didn't make that I would have, "buy my system its better." Well that wasn't my answer, infact I was going to engage in a process to help you figure something out that I already know.

There are many ways to solve your problem (better equipment clearly isn't one of them) but you have to make a decision about 2 things, Can you give up the best of what you have now to elevate the quality of a majority of recordings? and Can you define what is missing from so many recordings that it prompted you to make this post in the first place?

Lets fix this problem, I 'll see if i can't get someone who has given me a chance to do what seems to be the impossible around here...make most CD's sound very good on their system.

Now which has a better long term outcome?, having most of your CD's sound good? or continue bitching about the quality of CD's something you have no control over.

What's funny is most people just want to tell me i'm full of it and Mike Large's doom and gloom is acceptable "grumble, grumble". instead of having a curiosity about how I've been able to do it in my system and many others.

Have you seen my system? DIY speakers, Yamaha M35 amp, Cambridge DVD Player....hardly the kind of equipment you have and yet i'm very happy with cd quality.

PS: I'm listening to a compilation disc I got from Paste magazine with many low budget recordings on them and the sound is good and listenable. System (GO8, SCA2, SCM20A-2)

Well Nrchy,

Real world studios uses ATC loudspeakers and the money they have spent on production facilities sounds like he was just shining you on a bit. No harm in that.

Look All I see is people backing away and softening their loud and clear statements about how pathetic recordings are. But maybe thats the most i'll get out of this thread is people backing off a little on the head end of this hobby.

So ok, I figure a clock radio is all you need to get emotional impact and a wisely chosen $800 system should be enough to appreciate bad to ok to mediocre to good to great recordings. As your system improves the more discerning one can be. But "Mediocre" should never turn bad with a better system.

I went out of my way to make clear I did not think you had bad equipment or a bad system but felt that there might be an oppurtunity to make more recordings a positive experience for you within what you were saying and the nature of your equipment as photographed.

The bad match was the Klyne to Krell to Kharma's a system which nolonger exists from what I understand now. But there is a problem with that setup which can make it jekyll and hyde. But that point is mute.

My main point was recordings on the whole sound very good on average versus 10 years ago and pro studios have excellent equipment, the best having better than the best audiophile speaker systems.

"I did not see anybody making loud and clear statements about how pathetic recordings are. I do see statements that say that some recordings are pretty crappy, and i dont think anyone will disagree with that. Looks like you are somewhat confused."

I alwaus wondered when thier attitude will end up like this...

"Whats the point in spending craploads to make good recordings when everyone will steal these as mp3's anyway?"

"Their" is a few recordings? or is "their" industry execs?

I agree that some or maybe MOST engineers, producers, and music companies don't care much for recording quality.

Most engineers make a few recordings?
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"and once again.... i repeat.....
What was being questioned was the level of desire of the production companys to create audiophile recordings...."

"have just bought 50 cd's from megadeth to Keb Mo to Gergiev SACD and they were all excellent. Your system is the problem not the recordings." let me add good-excellent, I typed ahead and skipped a word.

I put 2 and 2 together, if Nrchy was having similar experiences to me then his question would have been different. I assumed his system was reinforcing the comments made by Mike Large to a large degree. What do you think now?
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But i do see you tootin yer own horn about how yer right and everyone is backing off, which i dont really see that either champ. To tell the truth, you went off the deep end here thinking that everyone is saying all recordings are crap, i cannot find a single instance where that happens.

MMmmm, we have a semantic issue as you can see now.

for example;

So you are saying that all the recordings are superb and nobody should doubt thier quality, it is just Nrchy's crappy mismatched system?

brilliant deduction. yes my rose colores glasses makes this possible.
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"Looking at this thread it looks more of a discussion about the level of desire in modern recording companys to produce high quality recordings, which i think most people would agree that not all recording agencys put quality of recordings as thier top priority"

My point whether it is an industry priority or not is that recordings have been quite good overall...has your experience differred?
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Metralla,

Stepping up to make my point;

"Are you referring to the two Gergiev SACDs with the Kirov Orchestra on Philips? Sheherazade and the Shostakovich? The former is pretty dire and the latter substandard. Just trying to get a reference point."

The Sheherazade recording is not dire as I would come discover, but if your system isn't right it will be a mess.

But at this point Slappy it was much more important for you to talk about me then the topic. As you may want to check.
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And Since im wrong, and obviously backing off, why dont you go ahead and pull out some quotes off this thread from us shouting out all loud and clear that all recordings are pathetic, just one more little boot in our butts as we go scampering away from your brilliant logic and insight :)

I hope that was satisfactory, in addition when you say Sony doesn't care, that's like half the recording industry just so we understand magnitudes of statements.

"know there are labels that are sympathetic to our obsessions, but does Sony/Columbia, Mercury, or RCA etc. give a rats #$%&@ about what we want?"

No shizzle my nizzle sherlock, but they do care about the quality of their recordings, its the product they make. I can count on RCA Red Seal recordings being very good to outstanding. etc.
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Just so Its complete;

Real World Studios/ Peter Gabriel/ Mike Large, use ATC loudspeakers, every bit as good as any audiophile speaker.
Neither point,has anything to do with me being a dealer.

Lets not forget, JBL, Westlake, Genelec and Meyersound etc, all of which make speaker that any music lover would be proud to own.
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Audiophile anecdote;

In the last month I have visited two audiophiles who for the last 6 months have listened to broken speakers. One refused to recognize this and listens blissfully? today, well I understand he's shopping for new speakers.

The other well we'll see how long it takes to get fixed. But what is interesting is their comments about how one recording is awful and another etc. When if fact the only thing the recordings are guilty of is exposing the "dire" problems in their speakers. Both of these individuals have systems in excess of $60,000. Funny thing but i'm not willing to assume that your system is setup right because one is an audiophile.

Always somwhere else to put the blame it seems, or the magic cable will come to the audiophiles rescue again.
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Moot, not mute....thanks Pbb

No victory to be had when I can't get my point across, which was that as audiophiles we have a responsibility to have our house in order and as you can see in my anecdote above this is something that often is overlooked. The audiophile system is not above reproach and since we have control over it we should make sure its perfect within its perfect environment.

Does anyone disagree?

Nrchy,

What more do you want? This is important, be specific.

Pin it down, what are they doing wrong?

What is missing in todays recordings for you, not global but local, your turn to answer my question.

They are trying to give us surround sound which is a huge deal, they have upped the bits, equipment in the studio is improving at huge rate even though exploited talent seems to be in abit of decline but that will change.

The only recordings that seem hard to take are the primed for top 40 group. This has always been the case.

If there a is a consistent problem one recording to another the only constant is your system. I have been through this process/ phase of bad mouthing recording engineers and proaudio "never enough highs dude" etc. I was wrong and so was my system.

Not every recording will be perfect, no matter who its made for. Its the way life is. The new Dido CD is great filled with layers of sound natural sounding instruments...what more could i ask for other than to have had them master it in my room to my tastes? Evanescense, owweee!, very hot recording.

Sorry I wasn't more succinct but this is where I was trying to go. So let's forget how we got here, and discuss what needs to be changed, what are recordings lacking specifically on a consistent basis in your opinion.