Establishing a common analog listening bias

Dear Henry,

I am rather MUCH more into recordings then into tonearms.
The records were and always will be my center of apssion as far as audio goes.
Thats why I am so fanatica about groove-cut-angle compliant VTA.
And yse, - I beleive taht this is one of the many points why a common ground based on a few handful of reciords agreeed upon can serve us all so well.
Indeed Stiltskin - teh Belafonte is superb. I have 2 copys 1s/A1 all four sides. One of my favourits live-albums.

Cheers,
D.

Here is one, which fits all (it is Classic, but even those who have absolutely no affinaty to it, will enjoy it, it is nothing depressive), a reissue from Classic Records, current available
LSC 2327, BIZET / CHABRIER
This is one of those rare records which has everything and - very important - NO limit, it will go up with your system, the better it is, the more Details you will "see".When right, then you have a view into that Performance from above,
it is clear from the tonal spectrum, very deep soundstage (no limit), endless Detail, deep Bass (no, that is not the Subway :-) ), in short: excellent for comparison.
Others are good too from the CR Batch, but with this one here you will get an extraordinary focus in 3 Dimensions, the holographic Dynamic is program, best described with "Living Presence".
HP once created the word "Gestalt" for his description about cartridges, here you will "see" and hear what's all about.
Endless pressure between the 2 speakers (not via volume knob from your preamp, it is the power IN the performance) with all kind of Details you can imagine. No matter how often you will listen to it, you will always discover something new. Side 2 is killer, Bass will move your stomach even at moderate level...
One of my 4 tops.

Hi,
let's maybe get some jazz in the mix also?
All time goodie "Time Out" by Dave Brubeck Quartet.
'6 eye' Columbia CS 8192
Or is this not so easily available any more?

Interesting with this one for me. When the set-up is fine you get a clear pre-echo when in the start-wax -- and the 'walking bass-line' becomes nicely noticeable, i.e. the timing sounds right, otherwise it can get a bit lost.

A.
PS: I tried my Belafonte again, the applause is annoyingly sounding like a 'waterfall', too bad. Yes, there is some 'live' hall information too. But that audience must have been done by the sound-engineer's apprentice .

Hi Axel, do lower the SME V (I know - not that easy...) until your VTA is complaint to the groove-angle - no matter what pressing of the Belafonte set.
Once achieved the soundstage will open up and all a sudden the audience with lots of indiviadual voices in clear separation and many precise echos from the walls and galleries are there.
They are there.
If you do not hear them ....yet .... it is a matter of not matching VTA.
Every sonic statement about a front-end component - cartridge, tonearm or preamp - given WITHOUT precise groove-angle-compliant VTA adjustment is NULL AND VOID.
When Raul mentioned in another thread that he does not care about this, I knew instantly that all his sonic descriptions are a hollow joke and without any content.
If you do not care about compliant VTA - RECORD GROOVE COMPLIANT ! - then all your other efforts to improve your analog system are futile from the start.
Much lesser systems will outperform yours for a fraction of the money.
Fact of life - not my fault.
The sonic result then is always something by chance - not what is precisely engraved.
People may accuse me of being overly insistive on the precision in set-up, but you simply waste your US$, RAND, YEN, EURO and Pesos alike if you do not work precisely and if your VTA is not adjusted to the cutting angle with which the groove of the LP on your platter was cut.
Again - if you do not hear something the other does - it neither means the other is longing for enhancing distortions or has a strange sounding system.
It might very well be that his VTA is just precisely aligned - and yours is not.

Its a tricky game - but this was common knowledge in 1988 among all serious record collectors with audiophile orientation.
Talking about knowledge getting lost....
Cheers,
D.

D.
I hear what you say, and as such there can be no argument.

If however everything (voices, instruments) sounds just right, and the applause does not (it's what I try to relate) then it doesn't sound like a VTA issue to me.

Unless, we are saying that applause is the 'new' guide-line in setting VTA, and not the voice/instrument.
It would mean we have to go from 'voicing' to 'applaucing'?

I do know that lesser resolving systems make applause sound more like water falling. But a good resolution makes it clear it is actually water and not 'white noise' also (if it is water :-) --- which is fine as far as my speakers go.

By the way, the percussion / cymbal work on the "Time Out" is pretty well captured, unfortunately not all of the piano.
Also there is a more recent HDCD of "Time Out" and I could argue that my rather old LP still sounds better, more palpable.
But is this LP still or again available, to your knowledge?
A.