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Speakers for bad rock recordings

I'm kind of stuck, my music collection is about 90% average and bad recordings, some very bad. I listen to a lot of rock, metal and punk. I live in an apartment too, which means I want them to be able to sound good at moderately low listening volume. I also like 'live' sounding speakers like my Klipsch's, but they do create a alot of fatigue.

I really like the way my Grado SR80's make even my worst metal recording sound good, so I was thinking maybe there's a speaker that's similar? Right now my amp is a Onkyo A-9555, which is neutral sounding and has about 85 real wpc.

I can only afford to spend about $600, maybe a little more if I have to.
mstapletn
mstapletn OP
6 posts
 
I saw and ad for a pair of Phase Technology PC80's someone is selling locally for $100. Blindjim recommended those. I might also try to find some old Advents, I know they come up for sale often here.

I'd rather be patient and buy locally to save on shipping, but buying that way I won't be able to get brands like Spendor and OHM Walsh, unless I wait a really long time.
tpreaves's avatar
tpreaves
2,687 posts
 
Speakers are not gonna solve your problem.A bad recording is a bad recording,that's just the way it is.Just my opinion.
saki70
907 posts
 
I think that it depends on what is making it a "bad recording" .

If it is recorded hot , tizzy on the top end with a lot of sssssssss's and zzzzzz's , then my suggestions above will help .

If the recording is compressed , soundslike it is coming from the other room with no highs or lows , then nothing will help .

And simply going to a remastered version of a bad recording is not always the answer either . I have found some to be just as bad as the original .

Good luck.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,457 posts
 
Agree with Saki that in most all cases a tizzy top end can be tamed with an appropriate system setup.

A good setup may help to make recordings that are dynamic range or frequency response challenged still sound very listenable and enjoyable, but within those limitations.

I've found out recently that even old 78s played back on common inexpensive 70's era 78 RPM compatible ceramic cartridge tables can be very listenable. The microdynamics in fact can be quite exceptional and compensate for the fact that there is not a lot of overall dynamic or frequency range compared to more modern recordings.
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