I have found that as I improve my system, more and more albums sound good. You would think that if it is an engineering problem, that a more revealing system would reveal those defects more. While my system now reveals choices engineers made more readily, the music itself sounds better, more alive, more detailed and more open and expansive. So I think your issue is more in your system than in any engineering problem, especially if only 30 out of 1000 albums sound good. Do you really think that 97% of albums were engineered poorly or incorrectly?
Vinyl. Is it me? the producer? cartridge? Record?
It's no surprise that some recordings sound significantly different than others. Different studios, engineers, musicians, arrangers and instrumentation.
I probably have over 1000 albums ranging from 50's jazz, 60's folk, jazz, rock, psychedelic, classical etc.. and I can probably find certain recordings that sound fantastic on my system from any genre. Others not so good.
I am running a Music Hall 5.2 Goldring 1012GX, Scott 340B Vintage Tube amp, Silver stranded cables, Custom Klipsch that would basically be similar to Forte 2, with a 15" self powered sub.
I enjoy the the treasure hunt vinyl offers. It's great when I find an album that:
1: I like the music
2: The album was properly recorded
3: It's a nice clean copy
Of the 1000 records, I probably have 30 real standout recordings that really shine on all levels. It's great to find them.
While I can still enjoy less than perfect recordings if I like the music, it's still much better to have the whole enchilada experience, especially when sharing my system with guests, friends, family etc.
While I have read some who feel the Goldring is a bit shrill or harsh at times, I tend to put the blame more on the session engineer for adding high EQ to the recording or not recording the lower frequencies properly.
If all my records sounded harsh I would blame the cartridge, or some other aspect, tubes, tonearm etc.. but this is not the case. Some recordings simply sound correct, and I would not want them any other way.
At times I feel some of the lesser quality recordings would sound better on a different kind of set up. Probably a system with a much more colored low end, with the higher frequencies rolled off quite a bit. But on the downside, the really good recordings I have would suffer tremendously.
Do some of you feel the need for two systems where you might say "these recordings sound best over here, and these ones are best played on this other set up?"
One thing for sure is that anytime I have both a vinyl and CD version to compare... vinyl wins hands down every time..unless it's one of these new vinyls that was cut from a digital source. (they can't fool me)
Thoughts anyone?
I probably have over 1000 albums ranging from 50's jazz, 60's folk, jazz, rock, psychedelic, classical etc.. and I can probably find certain recordings that sound fantastic on my system from any genre. Others not so good.
I am running a Music Hall 5.2 Goldring 1012GX, Scott 340B Vintage Tube amp, Silver stranded cables, Custom Klipsch that would basically be similar to Forte 2, with a 15" self powered sub.
I enjoy the the treasure hunt vinyl offers. It's great when I find an album that:
1: I like the music
2: The album was properly recorded
3: It's a nice clean copy
Of the 1000 records, I probably have 30 real standout recordings that really shine on all levels. It's great to find them.
While I can still enjoy less than perfect recordings if I like the music, it's still much better to have the whole enchilada experience, especially when sharing my system with guests, friends, family etc.
While I have read some who feel the Goldring is a bit shrill or harsh at times, I tend to put the blame more on the session engineer for adding high EQ to the recording or not recording the lower frequencies properly.
If all my records sounded harsh I would blame the cartridge, or some other aspect, tubes, tonearm etc.. but this is not the case. Some recordings simply sound correct, and I would not want them any other way.
At times I feel some of the lesser quality recordings would sound better on a different kind of set up. Probably a system with a much more colored low end, with the higher frequencies rolled off quite a bit. But on the downside, the really good recordings I have would suffer tremendously.
Do some of you feel the need for two systems where you might say "these recordings sound best over here, and these ones are best played on this other set up?"
One thing for sure is that anytime I have both a vinyl and CD version to compare... vinyl wins hands down every time..unless it's one of these new vinyls that was cut from a digital source. (they can't fool me)
Thoughts anyone?