Thiel death do we part . . .

I often use poor recordings to let me know if I am on the wrong track. Sure- excellent recordings should sound amazing. Its the poor ones that tell me whether the system is editorializing or not.

I regard a lot of the editorial as possibly being artifact in the playback chain that is exacerbated by artifact in the recording. If I can get the system to be OK with bad recordings it will sound even better with the good recordings.

The trick is to get the equipment to unperturbed by the signal. To this end I work with tubes as I have not had good success with transistors.

FWIW I'm not a fan of the Rega arms I have seen. The ones I have seen did not have provisions for allowing the cartridge to be setup correctly. If the cartridge can't be set up right, don't expect the LPs to play without issues! VTA is one issue, the other is proper overhang. If you can get these two variables right, you are a long way towards getting the cartridge to track. Another really important variable in the setup is the effective mass of the arm/cartridge combination. If not right (must interact with the cartridge compliance such that the resulting resonant frequency falls between 7 and 12 Hz...) the cartridge can easily mistrack. If you hear any mistracking the setup has a serious problem!

Some speakers have significant lobes in the tweeter response. This means how toed-in (or lack of toe-in) can really change the experience.

There are tons of variables! Don't give- make it fun rather than work :)

"If I can get the system to be OK with bad recordings it will sound even better with the good recordings."

I found this to be an interesting finding. I kind of always assumed that if you make something sound OK with bad recordings it would gloss over some of the things that make good recordings truly special. Maybe that's not the case. Very good food for thought, and I'd be very interested for why this may be so.

Like I put in my post- many bad recordings have artifacts in them (distortion, excess high frequencies) that seem to exacerbate the problems in poor playback equipment.

As many people that work in the recording industry know, if you have really good microphones you can get away with murder downstream and it will often still sound good- if you start with lousy mics the best recording gear in the world will do you no good.

This is also true in playback, for example you don't need a really expensive cartridge to make an analog system sound really excellent. What you *need* is a tone arm/cartridge combination that allows the cartridge to not mistrack even on the most intense and complex material. If the cartridge has any tracking problems, not much you can do about it downstream. So a system where the cartridge has tracking problems will editorialize, especially on poor recordings.

This is also true if the speaker and amplifier combination adds up to something bright due to equipment mismatch.

Good gear brings out the best in everything, even lesser recordings. No doubt about that!

These days, I find most every recording to sound different and something good to like in 98% of the CDs or records I listen to, and I'm loving almost every minute of it. Way more so than in any years past. I feel like the time and money I have invested in good sound in recent years has payed off in spades and am very thankful for that!

Those are reasonable expectations I think.

Expecting all recordings to sound equally good or the same is unrealistic and the sure path to audiophile hell.

The few % I listen to that have little to no technical sonic merit will at least be high in terms of artistic merit to help compensate.

I have thousands of vinyl, tape and CD recordings collected over the years. I can only think of two or three that pain me enough to even make me think about not listening.

So the responses here have far exceeded my expectations and I want to thank everyone for the insights. My own journey is now going to split into a couple paths.

First, based on the responses, I think there's an opportunity to mitigate the impact of what I think are poor recordings (& my crappy room) while still being able to enjoy the clarity and wonder I get from it on great recordings. The first step there - again from your advice - is exploring some sort of easy on / easy off equalizing (& room compensation) and do that in the digital realm.

Secondly, it's obvious that everyone thinks my analog setup is prehistoric - a lot like their owner. So I plan, after step one, to work through that chain starting with the cartridge,tone arm & their precise setup. Makes sense, I have over 4,000 records to enjoy. I did, as was suggested, relocate the speakers and it does sound richer and more "complete"...thanks for the observations...will continue tuning that - cheap and fun.

On a final (?) note, Onhwy61 asked me what recordings didn't work for me. Made me stop and think. So last night I did a little experiment (CDs only cause they were quick and convenient), rather than digging out just ones that sounded bad (definition being thin or lifeless or less than "there", whatever), I tried to pair them with similar recordings that did work for me. Sorry about how old these are . . . but then so am I.

It was a great exercise and among the things I learned was something several of you suggested, as my system gets dialed in (speaker placement in this case), some of the "bad" recordings got better but some also got worse. Sorry that I don't have the vocabularly to describe the sound any better. In any case, for those of you into self abuse, a few are below...oh yes, for argument's sake, the best recording I own is at the end . . . in my opinion, 'course.

Cheers, Dancub

Solo Guitar
Bad - Sharon Isbin's "Nightshade Rounds" (thin/flat)
Good - Leo Kottke's "Mudlark" (full/rich)

Yes, I know, he's a big 12 string guy, so I compared his 6 string work. On the other hand, she's a terrific player and is using an '88 Humphrey Millennium - pretty good tool.

(Old) Rock
Bad - The Rolling Stones "Hot Rocks"
Bad - Los Lobos "How Will The Wolf Survive?"
Good - Los Lobos "Colossal Head"

OK, there's no excuse for a "Digitally Remastered From Original Master Recordings" thingee by the richest group of old rockers on the planet to sound like it was recorded in a toilet with a Walkman. Interesting - Los Lobos, who one would think has pretty much total control over their stuff, would allow some of their best music to be published poorly.

Classical
Bad - Nigel Kennedy "Vivaldi, the 4 Seasons" (EMI)
Good - Alondra De La Parra - "My Mexican Soul"

So I love Vivaldi but this one sounds like someone forgot to flush. Nigel ought to call Alondra and find out who recorded her production...it's terrific.

So the best recording I own?

Siris Svale Band's "Blackbird". CD or vinyl - both terrific. Great music and wonderful recording. I first heard it in Joseph Audio's demo room at a Stereophile show. He won the "Best Demo" sound or something like that that year and I suspect "Blackbird" was his secret weapon.

So why don't one of you guys start a "best record" thread? Or is there one? If there is, shoot me a link. Thanks.