What have you done to your system to make Bad Recordings sound more REAL?

[Johnny Vinyl]

Tom, you make great points. But put that recording, or say the How the West Was Won, or a live Dead show, on an MBL 101, and it's pretty damn good. Then add a bunch of 15" , or larger, subwoofers to that system, and it gets even better...

Bull dung! A bad recording is a bad recording and no speaker can magically reproduce what isn't there to begin with.

 

[Mosin]

Hello, ceasar. I may be the only one who does this here but on bad recordings, I don't even attempt to listen to them on the reference rig. I will play them on a different system like the garage rig, a radio/CD player boombox or in my vehicle. There are some recordings that no matter what you do, they will always sound horrible. I simply choose to listen to them on sub-par systems so they don't sound as bad.

Adele's 21 is a perfect example. Play it on the reference rig and it sounds horrid. Play it in the vehicle while flying down the highway at 55mph with the windows rolled down and all of a sudden, it's tolerable.

Gone are the days of me buying equipment and gear to make a certain album(s) sound good. I just gave up. To me, it was akin to trying to polish a turd so you could pick it up by the clean end. It just won't work.

Tom

Exactly, which is why I wrote what I wrote. You said it a lot better, though.

 

[Bruce B]

Bull dung! A bad recording is a bad recording and no speaker can magically reproduce what isn't there to begin with.

Mastering engineers are constantly trying to polish a turd....

 

[GaryProtein]

Mastering engineers are constantly trying to polish a turd....

There IS a Mythbusters episode where the proved that you CAN polish a turd.

 

[GaryProtein]

Not a thing
Isn't the point to make your system reproduce the recording as it was recorded???

If I like the music, I'm going to try fixing it the best I can.

I'm not going to punish myself and listen to it sounding like crap when I can improve it.

Bull dung! A bad recording is a bad recording and no speaker can magically reproduce what isn't there to begin with.

Definitely the truth!

 

[XV-1]

I avoid the problem and only listen to "Jazz At The Pawnshop" and Cat Stevens

Funny, sadly true to some audiophiles. Who really gives a crap if Jazz at the Pawnshop or Dianna Krall sounds amazing at the expense of most other music - something fundamentally wrong there.

If your system is not allowing you to enjoy most of your music and is a conduit to buying more and more new music, frankly its time to buy a new system or make changes to your system.

Having 4 turntables helps me as each has a slightly different musical delivery , so helps to maximise my enjoyment, however I could easily live with one table if needed. Deqx certainly helps and does more than any cable change can and I would not be without it.

 

[Luiz Felipe]

This is a good Question, I know some audiophiles who make the same choice you wish, making some changes on their systems to change the final result. Usually some audiophiles who like to listen Rock and jazz fusion What have 90% of all recordings with bad quality this option is usual.

Before to show some options, I wish to describe how I see the overall of all systems:

Usually any audio component/manufactory use to be:

Neutral, Colored to high or colored to low frequencies.

Neutral components are not so easy to find, but they exist, and this is my chose for optimal system, because for my taste, if it is a bad recording, will play bad, that is it. It demand a very fast system, without any colored timbre, usually this systems are not cheap because bring full signal, keep instruments decay, attack most close possible to the live instrument require better equipments, expensive materials and very specific manufactory procedure - it is expensive.

What you are looking for is a colored system in low frequencies, some brands and some kind of equipments have this characteristics. Usually tubes on player ( audio aero is a good example), on pré amplifier and Power amplifiers too. Cables as Fusion enchanter, some lines of Purist Audio Design Cables will help you too, colored speakers as Sonus Faber can be an option. I suggest you listen some systems and find the result you are looking for to then begin to try some equipments. But keep in mind how much slower the signal travel, warmer will be the sound, and less details you will listen. It is what you are looking for.

If possible, describe your system and we can help you better with some equipments options.

All the best
Luiz

 

[jadis]

There are a few things I did to try to make bad recordings listenable, like VTA adjustment and tube rolling. But there are a few LPs which cannot be tamed in my present system configuration. That is why it is important for me to know my reference LPs are still sounding right to me. So I can set the bad record aside.

 

[jadis]

Having 4 turntables helps me as each has a slightly different musical delivery , so helps to maximise my enjoyment, however I could easily live with one table if needed.

That is a good solution though costly in space and bank account.

 

[jadis]

Hello, ceasar. I may be the only one who does this here but on bad recordings, I don't even attempt to listen to them on the reference rig. I will play them on a different system like the garage rig, a radio/CD player boombox or in my vehicle. There are some recordings that no matter what you do, they will always sound horrible. I simply choose to listen to them on sub-par systems so they don't sound as bad.

Adele's 21 is a perfect example. Play it on the reference rig and it sounds horrid. Play it in the vehicle while flying down the highway at 55mph with the windows rolled down and all of a sudden, it's tolerable.



Tom

To a certain extent, I have been doing the same. Except I don't roll down the windows. Loss of detail.

 

[GaryProtein]

There are a few things I did to try to make bad recordings listenable, like VTA adjustment and tube rolling. But there are a few LPs which cannot be tamed in my present system configuration. That is why it is important for me to know my reference LPs are still sounding right to me. So I can set the bad record aside.

Are you really going to make all those equipment changes, especially tube rolling to hear one or two recordings, and then change it all back again? If you are doing tube rolling, isn't that really frequency response alteration, e.i. "tone controls"?

So, if you like the music but the recording isn't so good, (more a problem with popular music and jazz than classical music since popular and jazz is probably available by only one artist and classical gives you choices of artists) you just avoid it all together?

 

[jadis]

Are you really going to make all those equipment changes, especially tube rolling to hear one or two recordings, and then change it all back again? If you are doing tube rolling, isn't that really frequency response alteration, e.i. "tone controls"?

I tube roll not to tune it a handful of the worst recordings, which as I mentioned cannot be tamed, but to a more specific genre or genres that I mostly listen to, like vocals and acoustic instruments.

That may be frequency response alteration, but I had similar experiences with cable matching, like Apogee then would market Symo Cables of Switzerland because it make their ribbons sound more tame or less sizzling. I then followed the line of thought and use Symo for my Maggies.

 

[GaryProtein]

^^^^ That seems to be a good method for setting your system the way you like it best, but what about the recordings whose music you like but the quality of the recording isn't so good? Do you just avoid that music?

 

[jadis]

^^^^ That seems to be a good method for setting your system the way you like it best, but what about the recordings whose music you like but the quality of the recording isn't so good? Do you just avoid that music?

Yes. Avoid it, or sell it. I kinda follow Treitz and listen to those in the car. Actually I only avoid the worst of the lot. Some are bad recordings but tolerable.

 

[Luiz Felipe]

Have a Brazilian Brand called Audiopax, what have an adjustment called Timbre Lock what allow your change the way you listen it and what sound beautifully for those who like colored sound. www.audiopax.com they will be at Munich Hi End Show this year, and have an old review on 6moons.

The timbre lock is a very easy way to you change the way of listen fast and secure.

 

[caesar]

Bull dung! A bad recording is a bad recording and no speaker can magically reproduce what isn't there to begin with.

JV, you got a point. but only if something is completely horrendous. Yet it is amazing how much information can be pulled off by good engineering. Furthermore, it would be a travesty to listen to something as amazing as "How the West Was Won" only in your car.

 

[caesar]

Mastering engineers are constantly trying to polish a turd....

Bruce, have you come up with any rules of thumb of what is hopeless vs. what can be polished? Anything you listen for in particular?

 

[zztop7]

Down Comforter

Throw a down comforter over each speaker - HONEST.
zz.

 

[Robh3606]

I don't do a thing if it's a bad recording so be it. I am not going to mess with my set-up when I know it's good and the media is not up to par

Rob

 

[Bruce B]

Bruce, have you come up with any rules of thumb of what is hopeless vs. what can be polished? Anything you listen for in particular?

Usually running the signal through a transformer or the tape machine and capturing it on the other end.