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Help: DSOTM Sounds better on CD than LP

I was listening to Dark Side of the Moon the other day on CD thoroughly enjoying myself when I remembered that I had the LP of this album. I dug through my collection with great anticipation of the joy that I would soon know. I put on the LP and something horrible happened. Gasp…..The soundstage collapsed in on itself and the magic or the album was lost. As you all know CD should never sound better than analog so I am now faced with the dilemma of how to bring balance back to the universe.

I would like to upgrade both my cartridge and phono amp. I am willing to spend up to about $3k for the pair but am willing to move up or down a bit from there based on significant improvements in sound or a lack thereof. The cartridge will be new and the phono will be used. I have thoroughly searched the forum and have a few carts in mind but would like to get some informed opinions from you all on what combination would best suit me.

My current setup is as follows,
Speaker: Thiel 3.6
Amp: Parasound HCA-3500
Pre: Classe Cp-50
Digital: Esoteric X-03
Table: Spacedeck
Arm: Space Arm (The carbon fiber one)
Cartridge: Nottingham Tracer 1
Phono: Grado PH-1
System

Let me try to give a little description about what performance aspects I am looking for. I have had both tubes and solid state in my system before and I am open to either. I have found that I prefer my music to be coming from a dark abyss rather than from a live silence. My current setup has great tonality and is very listenable but lacks in absolute resolution, detail and staging. I would like more of each of these. It also works great for singe instruments and solos but when the whole band comes in it seems to get confused about where to place the instruments and how to distinguish between them.

Thanks in advance for helping guys.
cadence151
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,183 posts
 
Axel,

Good frightening will cost more than good relaxing most likely. Synergy from room to source components will take the OP the furthest regardless of end cost.

Bad frightening can be had easily. The ops digital apparently fits this bill.

If it's not relaxing then it will be frightening in a bad way.

Ive heard the Cambridge be quite relaxing and competent. Frightening in a good way requires adding muscle, power, current etc. via amp and speaker combo without losing the relaxation enabled at the source.

Regards,

Mapman
axelwahl
788 posts
 
Mapman
now I have to say: "you are a smart man also..."

I go along with EVERYTHING you just put. But now we are talking multi $$$$bucks. Obviously all a question of budget.
No way to try and get it all sorted by switching only one component --- too bad.

The trick is to identify your weakest link and start from there --- and I don't feel like making that call. (Hardly for myself :-)
A.
cadence151 OP
21 posts
 
As some of you have figured out I have some money burning a hole in my pocket and I am looking for a reason to upgrade my rig. Does anyone have any suggestions on a good cartridge-phono pre combination?
electroid
283 posts
 
Most times a CDP will beat an LP for soundstage/image from left to right anyway. Separation is much better on a CDP than a phono cart. However a phono set up properly should be it in every other way except maybe dynamic range and then theres not a large enough difference to worry about.


ET
arnold_layne
141 posts
 
If you are using standard US pressings of Pink Floyd albums, they will sound dull and lifeless. Get ahold of the Japanese Pro-Use edition of DSOTM and see if still sounds lifeless. The UHQR LP is also excellent, but for most prohibitively expensive.
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