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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
arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 
@cd318.  
   That’s what’s nice about metal, hangin w the band before or after the show, handshakes, signing stuff, pictures.

   Still have many photos of me with Raven, onslaught, trouble, and 100 other bands I’ve met over the past 30+ years. Met napalm death a few times, good kids!

  
grossman616
130 posts
 
I have to agree, I am also a Magnepan owner and Zep recordings are pretty poor.  I have ( Don't tell anyone) a small Schitt Audio EQ for recordings that are FUBAR . The unit is a little "transistor-y" sounding BUT it makes poor recordings listenable. You can get them used for 100 bucks or so....
Enjoy
relayer101's avatar
relayer101
619 posts
 
I’m glad this thread moved to the SQ on good versus bad pressing and CD’s and got off the skills of Jimmy Page as a producer. Jimmy Page produced Led Zeppelin exactly how he and the band wanted Led Zeppelin to sound. If they wanted bottom end boomy bass driven music it would have been there. I prefer to hear the bass notes being played by John Paul Jones.
I am lucky to have very early and very good SQ pressing of the first five albums.
And yes there are songs on any album that I would choose to audition a system and there are songs that I definitely would not choose.
Dyer Maker from Houses of the Holy - definitely not!
No Quarter from Houses of the Holy - absolutely yes!
Whole Lotta Love and The Lemon Song from II - absolutely yes! Although there is not much on Led Zeppelin II that I would not choose!

Post removed 
frogman
7,524 posts
 
**** Good recordings will sound better and poor recordings will sound a lot better than they would on a bad system. ****

noromance is exactly right. The comment is particularly true if one considers that the sound of what is a “poor” recording to a listener with audiophile sensibilities or aspirations may be exactly what the artist intended. This goes to one MC’s comments. The artist and/or producer may have a certain sonic aesthetic in mind that he/she feels does service to the music and this aesthetic may be a far cry from the pristine type of sound that we crave as audiophiles. This is particularly true of R&R recordings. Sometimes imperfection and grunge in the sound is exactly what the doctor ordered…music wise. On a related note:

”What do you use to demo equipment, or when attending an audio show?” is a common question. I always make a point to use or bring along recordings of kick as& music that does NOT have “exceptional” audiophile sound. If the gear let’s me hear more of the musical interplay in those recordings without what can become the “distraction” of all the typical audiophillic checking points, then I know I’m on the right track. To the OP:

You write “I have a turntable”. Keep in mind that one of the truest of all audiophile truisms is “garbage in, garbage out”. Any musical information or aesthetic choice that is lost at the source cannot be recovered no matter how good the upstream components. One does not necessarily have to spend the most on the turntable, but only if the turntable/arm/cartridge setup is of, at least, “good” quality can one benefit from exceptional speakers and electronics. If that is not the case, then the exceptional electronics and speakers will only better reveal the problems with the turntable. 

Good luck.
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