equipment sound bad?

I understand where you are coming from and I think its that high end systems bring out all the details. Whether those details are nuances of the music or inperfections in the recording. It emphasises the bad parts as much as the good parts.

The thing is though you cant build a great system that will make bad cd's sound good because then the good cd's will sound bad. How would a cd player distiguish between a detail in the music and an inperfection in the recording.

Manufacturers have to design there system around a goal. To push the limits to perfection it creates this unfortunate trade off but if you think about it there really isnt any other way.

I use to have a huge problem with bass because I was so use to the mass market speakers that add bass. You get use to that sound and miss it when it wasnt there. Then you get use to quality and cant live with either. I ended spending eight thousand dollars in subs just to get the bass that I had come to enjoy.

If your high end speakers added bass then the perfect recording would sound bloated and boomy. Although it would make the recording with inperfect bass sound better.

There are many many cd's that I use to think were recorded well and now I can bearly listen to them. Its very unfortunate. To bad there wasnt a high / low resolution switch.

Dancarne, what exactly do you mean when you say your favorite recording sounded "bad". Did the dealer's system reveal that it was a poorly engineered track? Did it reveal some previously unheard fault in the musicianship? Or did the system fail to provide the emotional impact that the music normal delivers? It's possible that your reaction could be a combination of these factors. From an audiophile perspective a lot of pop/rock music is poorly recorded. It is not engineered to be played back on full range/low distortion systems. The engineer purposely manipulates the sonic qualities of the recording to sound best on lo-fi systems. There's also the possibility that listening in a dealer's showroom is not conducive to the enjoyment of music. Your mind may have been in an analytical mode as opposed to an get down and boogie frame of mind. BTW, what was the track you played?

I agree/disagree with Sean. A good system should sound very good to the primary listener of the system, but it should also sound reasonably good to any educated listener. It's not an entirely subjective experience.

My chief criterion for system building is to bring out the music on ALL recordings. This is not to say that I can't or won't be able to tell a good recroding from a bad one. But if music I love is unlistenable, mostly I blame the system. -Dan

check out the room you were in during the audition. Most
dealers are strapped for space and end up with several
pair of speakers in the same room. These will act as passive radiators and severely impact the sound. that's why
you should audition the equipment at home if you are
serious.

You know, when someone is offering to listen something "better recorded" on the system that I audition I usually get up and walk away. I know that I have to get a right sound with what I listen and with what I believe is best recorded. I do not believe that a good system can only play best on MFSLs or some extraordinary manufactured crap.