Rock and Roll Snobbery

I don't really know what you guys are talking about, my system handles rock just fine using ML Aerius i. Just not loud thats all.

I've given away discs in the past that just sounded horrible on my system, unlistenable (Who's Next on CD, unreal how bad it sounded). My system is revealing, Martin Logan Quest Z speakers that rock just fine; for the most part rock is easy to listen to although I do tend to listen to rock louder than I would classical or blues. I do find myself listening more frequently to music that's better recorded (e.g. Steve Winwood, Frank Zappa etc) but I chalk that up to good taste and common sense more than anything. To summarize, I sure wouldn't want to find myself with a rig that really only played one gendre of music well, that would get boring fast.

No-money: Same with my system as stated above. Last night we had company and listened to the Eagles "Hell" CD at a louder level than I have ever played the system before (a little Boxing Day celebration). After the first couple of songs I had to pull the speakers out another few feet from the wall because of all the bass. Just moved them back this morning for our normal listening levels.

In my opinion, a great system should -- I hope -- handle any type of music well. Such a system may require a great deal of clams. And, it is not so easy to find or build a decent system that can handle every type of music very well although it depends on your preference. The reality for most of people is that you are going to make a trade off. I want my Hard Rock and Metal to grab me by the foot and go slam bang on my head while Classical to be composed, intricate yet sometimes overwhelming with less forwardness, etc. I have not heard a system at reasonable price -- say, about 5K ~7K -- doing both as well as I expect it should. So, I made a trade-off in favor of classical. My system does reasonable well with Hard Rock; nevertheless, it is never able to attack with such ferocity and wallop as, say, a Krell with Paradigms could. If you include front end in the equation, accentuating certain aspects more prominently becomes quite substantial, which determines the trade-off. I am in a situation that I have to stay in CA for about six to 7 months. So, instead of subjecting my system to shipping back and forth, I chose to build an entry level HT system, which I do not have at home, with an Onkyo receiver and B&W's. It does not do well with classical by any means. Yet, relatively speaking, it does better with Rock. But, someone, a couple of days ago, said the opposite. Go figure...

I agree with other poster's thoughts that rock sounds better on a less revealing system. My reference system is great with quite a bit of music that I like, and I have found some older rock CD's that formerly were unlistenable that now sound great on it. I have a vintage a/d/s sytem in my home office with a good reel deck, and a collection of over 400 prerecorded reels. After my Honey crashes for the night it's my time to rock my world! I couldn't survive on one system! Paul