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Bad recordings and high end audio

Hello. Have decided that the kids are out of the house and I can dedicate some space and money to my long ignored hobby. What is different now is there are so few audio stores. I firmly believe in listening to products so thus I start this great new chapter of my life. The first 2 stores I went to the people were very patient with me and I listened to a ton of combinations. They asked me did I want to hear anything else and I said  yes, ummm,.. how about Led Zeppelin? I received the same response from both stores which was “all Led Zeppelin recordings are horrible” except for this one version of Led Zeppelin 2…blah blah. So I said what happens if I am at home and i have a desire to play Led Zeppelin or another perceived poor recording? They did not have an answer for me nor did they play Led Zeppelin lol . I ended up ordering a pair of Magnepan 3.7i’s from a different store. 13 weeks until I get them, ouch. I am going to guess that people do listen to poor recordings on great systems because you just want to hear a particular album, right? Or am I missing something? Just looking for a bit of insight. Yes, I know they want it to sound the best so I will buy it but is that the only motivation. Or maybe they hate Led Zeppelin, lol.
daydream816
jafant's avatar
jafant
19,883 posts
 
Another +vote for LZ recordings sounding great. I own the original 80's CDs, plus, several iterations of the re-masters. If CD is your passion, stick with the 80's discs.

Happy Listening!
cycles2
208 posts
 
@daydream816  I have a pair of Maggie 20.7's which have slightly more bottom end compared to the 3.7i's. However I still find a sub is a nice addition, especially if you plan to listen to classic rock. The REL S/812 sub mates well with Maggie's. Most people may tell you that 2 subs would be better, but you can start with 1 and add another if you feel it's needed.
jimf42's avatar
jimf42
62 posts
 
sometimes good equipment brings out the worst in bad recordings...I too have Maggies, but have no problem listening to LZ.  There are other much worse recordings, both on vinyl and CD.  I think  vinyl masks the poor quality of the recording more than CDs.
jnovak's avatar
jnovak
431 posts
 
OP, I like many people here believe in at least two systems. I like folk music. I have many cassette tapes of original recordings that are of poor quality. (Many of these tapes were recorded by old hippies who never even considered the historic value of said music. One set of tapes I retrieved from the top of a commercial stove!) Some of these tapes, which I've transferred to CDR sound better on my home theater set up than my main rig. Oh darn! More toys to buy! Have fun sir. Joe
aubreybobb
87 posts
 
Just saying...

Class D amplification needs lots of help to sound punchy, warm and musical in a mid price system. Done right it can make a great and reasonably priced combination with Maggies. I say they need a lot of help, though NAD seem to have got it right all by themselves recently.

The kind of help I am referring to is reclocking and conditioning with a standalone clock or through good switches.  These are increasingly well priced nowadays.  Optical connector's should use the best quality sfp+'s (laser based, not LED) and glass fibre.  If that is done right you are home free, even with mid level dacs. At very fair value compared to Analog. 

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