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Speakers and system for compressed recordings?

I started this crazy hobby hoping to improve the sound of my stereo. After ten years of throwing money into the wind I finally come to a realization. Okay I am a little slow, but damn it if only good recordings sound listenable on my system. Is there a way to make compressed vintage rock recordings sound good? Do you need a separate system or can you do a combo compromise?
bigwavedave
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,373 posts
 
Iso,

Funny you say that because as I recall that is exactly correct!

Before I owned a real stereo, I would operate on the transistor radio and run the internal wire to the speaker to an external bigger speaker, whatever I could find. That was one of my first big steps up in sound! True story!

Seriously though, its only in the last few years I've actually discovered how good some of those old recordings heard mainly on am radio as a kid can really sound. Surprising good and very enjoyable!
stereo5's avatar
stereo5
6,439 posts
 
Classic rock sounds great on my high end system. I was in your situation for years until I found the right combination of amp and speakers. Almost any kind of music now souinds good on my system. The Blu-Ray version of DSOTM is absolutely mind blowing on my set up.
prcinka
366 posts
 
I said it somewhere else on the forums, but that is why I have Reel To Reel, LP, CD, Sacd....each era has its own sound and media to be played on.....so you need more systems.....no ONE system can do it.
kbarkamian
647 posts
 
A revealing system can easily highlight a poor recording's flaws. However... it'll also highlight it's strengths. You may have to look/listen a little harder for them, but I've found even some of the worst recordings have a good trait or two.

There are very, very few recordings I can't listen to through my system. I don't buy music to listen to my system. I bought my system to listen to my music. There's a difference, believe it or not. If you can't listen to a great album because the recording's horrible, you may want to reevaluate your priorities.

Again, there are a few albums I just can't listen to on my system. They're very few and far between. I listen to more rock/classic rock/metal than anything else.
bjbcab
131 posts
 
"Crines of the Century" compressed? My Speakers Corner LP sounds amazing. I do understand your pain with compression but I find that some recent rock music is compressed and a fair amount of late 70's to 80's stuff is really hard to listen to. Some Kansas and Journey fore example is really hard to listen to even though I love the music.
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