How Many Of Us Are Compensating

Quite the opposite, I find that most audiophiles have systems tailored to play the four or five perfect albums ever recorded.

There is nothing wrong with EQ or tone controls if you need them.

A lot of great music is found on recordings with less than stellar recording qualities. If a person is of the music-first type, they don't even bother with the equipment that much.

The one thing I would love is a vacuum SOTA table with a light arm and high compliance cartridge to play all the records with edge warp, slight or radical, that I have.

I find that many records have sibilance issues and I have put up absorptive panels on the ceiling at the points of first reflection.

Thanks for the insightful responses. What got me thinking about the question was several recent posts regarding sonic deficiencies in what I consider fairly high-end systems. One audiophile complained that he wasn't getting a good violin sound. Another wanted to be front row at a jazz club. Both are wonderful goals, but if the recording was recorded in that manner I don't see how any amount of audiophile twiddling can change that. You can only compensate for so much.

IMHO the better the hi-fi gear the better ALL recordings will sound and that includes the supposedly 'duff' recordings. To say ones' system only makes a few cd's 100% listenable is plain daft. And to start moving speakers around is even dafter!What next? Move house?!My only compromise is how many cd's my better half allows me to buy!

I dunno, a good system will convey the shortcomings of a bad recording period. You cant seem to have it both ways.

A quote from a well respected Hi-fi reviewer in the UK, doesn't really matter what speaker he is talking about as long as its worth Its salt, although he is talking about his very own Impulse H1's horn speakers that he still has and has had for many years. I have heard them with my own ears and I must say I am in total agreement with him. I used to be of the school that thought that It was the poorly engineered cd's that made my system sound very average. I have since seen the light (heard the music) and am now on the opposite side of the fence (coz it is greener although I think I am in a serious minority) In that Its the serious fault of the hi-fi gear If the cd's sound bad.

"Above all, their qualities directly serve music itself, making listening more immediate and involving experience. This applies even with recordings of mediocre technical quality. Listening to H1's properly partnered will cause you to evaluate many of the recordings you once thought of as sounding duff.At the same time they will make your best discs sound even better.I always believe a good system should work this way; revealing fine nuances in the best recordings while still making those of less well engineered sound convincing and musically involving"

I have a cd with Albert Ammons dueting with Pete Johnson, I was totally gobsmacked how easily it was to follow the four hands of the pianists and how musical it sounded pops an all. Now I know the cd must've been copied from a disc (tape?) from around the 1930's?