You are there-they are here

Yeah, a lot of the mixing makes me scratch my head, what were they thinking. Some of the drummers would need eight arms 30' long. They are playing rhythms and runs that would be impossible for even the most gifted. Many times I can hear the edits as well. Are my ears better than the producer? Do they not have any pride in their work?

The drumming issue is a good point.Why are some drums heard the width of the stage? Is this due to multiple microphones on the drum kit? Then there are recordings with the drums heard realistically in a defined space.Is this due to using a single mic?
Regards,

I think I prefer the you are there presentation;my speakers presently are soundlab m2's and have the best soundstage presentation I have ever had in my home;second was the Dunlavy SCIII's that I had before the M2's.

In my experience (mostly as a musician) recording drums has always been interesting. It often takes forever to get them set up, but soundstage placment is merely a matter of stereo panning. By carefully panning each drum mic you can put 'em anywhere, but for some reason engineers seem to have to do the "across the entire stage" view sometimes...my fave jazz stuff is often OK...Mehldau comes to mind as all his studio albums seem to have a similar tone and soundstage...drums are in the right spot. You can place some stereo reverb carefully to widen and warm the things without getting weird.