What to do with bad recorded CDs


When I upgraded to Mcintosh and Accuphase - Kef speaker system, I am in heaven for the first time I started this hobby a decade ago.

I found my-self not even breathing, to capture every bit of nuance of the music... It was a great moment for me - and I am a professional musician. Rarely do I encounter such moments in live music !

Good Hifi can equal if not better live performance - for me.

But alas, heaven turned into he-- when I put on badly recorded materials. It revealed bad CDs to the point of me wanting to throw them away.

What do audiophiles do about that ? Go back to a lesser system to play these ? Or should I throw away great portion of my collection ?
gonglee3
Crappy-sounding recordings or crappy-sounding pressings are a fact of life in this hobby. As others have suggested, there are various tweaks that can be applied to a problem CD to make it potentially more enjoyable, and I agree that seeking out better pressings is worth the effort, but I think the ultimate solution is, as Jafant suggested, to kick back and TRY to focus on the joys of the musical content, not the quality (or lack thereof) of the sound. Easier said than done, I know, but IMO a truly great system can capture the inherent good qualities of a poor recording just as much as it can reveal its flaws, allowing one to more easily focus on the musical content. Just one man's opinion!
Easy solution... buy speakers and equipment that are non-fatiguing and that allow you to enjoy every recording in your collection. Sadly, some of the most highly touted brands out there do a poor job at this. Avoid those brands and/or models within those brands, and you'll live a happier, more musically satisfying life. 
There is much good music recorded less than optimally. Sometimes poorly. If you love the music recording quality will not stop you from listening as long as things are going well. If not there are ways to make lesser recordings tolerable perhaps though always remember recordings are what they are each a unique sounding work of art with unique things to offer.   Much great music may never live up to audiophile standards but that will not stop a music lover from listening.  
OP,

I have a revealing, musical, thoroughly enjoyable, CD-based system that plainly doesn't have a problem with lesser CD's any more than with the exceptionally well made ones...by all means try some of the suggested solutions out on your system (personally I'd start by looking at some sort of power conditioning)...if that doesn't work, please send all your unwanted CD's to me!