Quality system, make poor recordings sound better?

I use bad recordings as a yeardstick to tell me how I am doing. IME, a system can 'editorialize' and can often react poorly to poor recordings, and also recordings with lots of energy.

An example from the old days was Village Music of Bulgaria on Nonesuch LP. In the old days my pickup had real problems with the intense vocal expressions on the LP and it sounded terrible. As things have improved, I have found this LP to be astonishing- dimensional and really well recorded.

From this and other examples I don't buy the idea that bad recordings sound worse as your system improves. A good system will take the bad recording in stride and will present what is good about it as well as what is bad without comments of its own. The smoother your system is (IOW: the less higher-ordered harmonic distortion it has) the easier this will go for you.

+1 Atmasphere. This has certainly been the way things have changed for me as my system has improved. We all have different experiences.

timhru
one of my favorites also. Google or check out vinyl asylum on this album. lots of knocks on it. My earlier systems just rocked and didnt understand what they were saying was off. I think Becker/Fagan said the studio they used had an issue with some of the equipment and the mixing was bad. I understand the remaster is quite good. Its on my Christmas list now.

On a separate note, If i remember, you live in Brownsburg,in also, We need to get together to spin a few.

Well put by atma and what i have experienced. The volume i can listen too if i
choose to is much louder than before . Must be the higher ordered harmonics
atma spoke of . I actually listen to the music at lower volumes than before
because the
bass seems to pressurize the room at lower volumes as the equipment and room
tweaking have improved.

I believe to me that is the holy grail . The high order harmonics he spoke of .
How does one go about eliminating the stress from those frequencies . For me it
was proper amps on my electrostatic speaker , along with using a passive pre . I
had thought it was the recordings i listened to that was the problem . Now all
seem to be in the same league with each other . Newer popular recordings sound
pretty darn good (compressed and all) just need to slightly turn the volume
down V.S. hifi recordings .