Get rid of the receiver and get a decent intergrated Amp.
A receiver is NEVER good enought for 2 channel listening IME.
A receiver is NEVER good enought for 2 channel listening IME.
poor source material
Ucsb21, you stated in part "I also noticed that a lot of albums (that I used to think sounded ok) sounds terrible on my new system" and "I've tinkered with the tone controls and it is a quick fix but, a few albums are still unbearable." You will get more helpful responses if you are more descriptive and precise (rather than 'terrible' and 'unbearable') as to what it is that you are finding problematic about the source material, and, perhaps provide an example or two of the problematic source material. |
The better your equipment, the more you are going to notice differences between recordings, both good and bad. There's nothing we can do about improving the recording, it *is* the source. I'm finding myself increasingly more concerned about buying better recordings than better gear. If you're system is biased with coloration, it will tend to make everything sound more uniform. Some find this more pleasant to listen to because it helps hide the imperfections of recordings. It's a double edged sword, a choice between either pretty and artificial, or real and wrinkles. |
If you are referring to hyper compressed modern CD's then you are not alone with this problem. A lot of music is mastered today for car systems and boom boxes. This can help but it won't cure a hypercompressed CD - it may only take the edge off it slightly. If you only like Metallica, Green Day, Arctic Monkeys, Fratellis and such fare then unfortunately you are in trouble - you may want to search for Vinyl - usually these are not mastered so badly but you are looking at significant effort and cost to try to get better source recordings. |