I think Naim swings to both extremes in SQ, depending upon who's fiddling with it: the sound at the Sydney Audio show was quite appalling, yet a friend of mine locally uses recent Naim for integrated and speakers - at times this has produced magical sound, that gets very, very close to what I'm chasing ...
Sure - I dont think my system has any problems dealing with it - I just find Matt Bianco it so banal! I saw thim at the Blue Note in Tokyo a few years ago - not to bad live I have to admit.
Another good recording for exercising bass is Donald Fagens 'Morph the Cat' - it can really slam into your gut at high volumes.
It seems to only be on that track - and its only in one or two places. It seems to me to be that particular recording. It does not detract from what is a very spacey recording though - the whole album is very good in that regard IMV
No need - I know 3 D when I hear it!
I do swap my amps around regularly and my CD player. I have floor standers and some small book shelf speakers from a local Taiwan company that image beautifully - especially nice for classical, but they could do with a sub.
If you're a lover of acoustic space (as am I) then I've not heard any better than Decca. The 'La Traviata' disc I mentioned earlier is amazing for this, but then so are a whole host of Decca disks in the two 50CD boxed sets I have. The La Trav I have is 1963 vintage, Sir John Pritchard conducting.
Yes, some of those old recordings were beautifully done. I have one sampler CD with a Beethoven piece recorded in IIRC 1962 that is absolutely holographic - despite the tape hiss!
Thanks for the trav tip. Where did you get that btw?
Seem to recall my brother bought it for me as a present many, many years back. Amazon has it in stock - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Verdi-Traviata-Giuseppe/dp/B00000I92Y/
IMO you guys who are unsatisfied with the sound of your home hifi system must have some serious flaw in your audio chain, anywhere. My strong suggestion is to make an exhaustive measurement of unwanted signals and of EMI content in the various parts of your audio chain. Minimize it and your level of satisfaction and resulting sound quality will be definitely much better 
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Of course, some recordings will be 'manifestly superior' to others', but with a recording that has some potential, even if it is an old vinyl record, a really good hi fi playback system MAY bring out much more than you would normally expect.
A modest, compromised system will always sound just like that.
Some playback systems will exaggerate the problems that could be avoided with better approaches.
This is where audio designers still strive for optimum performance.
A modest, compromised system will always sound just like that.
Some playback systems will exaggerate the problems that could be avoided with better approaches.
This is where audio designers still strive for optimum performance.
One should be aiming for more than "tolerable" ... I've never done anything to reduce the treble, IMO this is always the wrong approach, because it will reduce the subjective 'power' of the recording. I will say that the modern day compression and overdone processing is the worst of all "evils", this shines the strongest possible spotlight on any system weakness - what happens when the system is 99% good is that these recordings become intensely aggressive, they stomp all over the listening space like the Hulk. Only getting that last 1% in place allows the tracks to be "enjoyed", ...
However, my motto has been "There's no such thing as a bad recording" for quite some time, and it's served me well - because it always forces me to confront issues in the playback system, it gives me no room to hide or excuses for not doing more. In fact, it's always rewarded me ... in the end ...
...However, my motto has been "There's no such thing as a bad recording" for quite some time, and it's served me well - because it always forces me to confront issues in the playback system, it gives me no room to hide or excuses for not doing more. In fact, it's always rewarded me ... in the end ...
Nothing wrong with attenuating the high frequencies. Room acoustics etc. all play a role, and speaker designers do it all the time. Magnepan, Linkwitz, and others do it to take into account how our head affects the sound from a stereo source, I think. Can't remember the details.
Also a tone control is a nice thing to have access to, so you can make changes depending on the recording. We don't all have to be a complete slave to what the recording engineer or record company put out.
Just a matter of what gets you closer to the musical performance, in my opinion.
However, my motto has been "There's no such thing as a bad recording" for quite some time, and it's served me well - because it always forces me to confront issues in the playback system, it gives me no room to hide or excuses for not doing more. In fact, it's always rewarded me ... in the end ...
But there are bad recordings as you've mentioned. Don't follow your logic here, unless you're saying bad recordings can help in diagnosing system quality? As was mentioned in previous posts.
Remember, it's a motto, and, yes, a tool. Of course some recordings are poor in absolute quality compared to others, but that shouldn't be used as an excuse to accept subjective quality which is unpleasant, which gives you no pleasure or satisfaction to the listening. My aim is make the playback of every recording a worthwhile experience - so, yes, in measurement terms the recording is poor, but when listening to it, this is a wholly satisfying and enjoyable thing to do.
"Poor" recordings are an excellent diagnostic tool, and when they've done their job of isolating a deficiency, which hopefully one can fully rectify, then they become just another recording to enjoy in the normal way - so you move on to the next, even "poorer" recording ...
. The big plus of the technique is that if you now go back to the really "good" recordings, that these are now even bigger, cleaner, and richer than ever ...
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Interesting, isn't it, how treble existence is not really critical for music, but when it does exist in a not so good form, it will ruin the sound.
For me, amplifiers should have very good ultra high frequency performance (you define the ultra high yourself). Same with tweeters, must be smooth to 40kHz
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