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I would love to have some of the mega dollar Audiophile setups available but not at the cost of making mid level recordings sound like crap - nor do I have the $'s to spend. I want to be able to enjoy old Beatles, Zombies, Derek and the Domnoes, along with Pat Metheny, Classical, etc.
If you don't like the question - no need to participate
I find that interesting. I find with my Apogee Stage speakers, the differences between good and bad recordings is very stark, but, to me, the bad recordings do not sound worse than they did on lesser speakers. I think they mostly just make the better recordings sound better. I think the contrast might make one feel that the speakers make the low quality recordings sound worse, but, at least to my ears with my system, it really is getting rid of some of the distortion that is added to a recording when one uses lesser speakers. This matters less with poor recordings, but I don't think they sound worse. Of course, my system is quite different from yours, and even if they were the same, different people may feel differently about such matters.
Anyway, I even enjoy listening to Caruso on my system, though the limitations of those old recordings (some over 100 years old now) is very noticeable. (One good thing about the sound on those old recordings is that the dynamic range, though limited, is not artificially compressed, so they are not bad in every way. Back then, they just had the musicians perform not too loud and not too soft for the limitations of the recording equipment, rather than later on compressing it to fit.)
As for the poll, this may seem like a strange answer for someone with Apogee Stage speakers (if you are not familiar with them, an online search will yield several professional reviews in which they are described in glowing terms, which are fully justified), but I am more of a music lover. I used to be more of an audiophile, which has helped me to select good equipment. But I can explain the change better by explaining the way I choose music. I like classical music, and so with many great pieces, there are plenty of different recordings from which to choose (e.g., think of all of the different recordings there are of Beethoven's 9th symphony, and you will get the idea). Years ago, I favored better quality recordings in my purchases. Now, I favor better performances. Even if the quality of the sound isn't that great.
Although I will occasionally still pick up a piece of equipment, I am not looking for an improvement in my main system. Nor to the audio in my home theater. To be fair, I already have a pretty high level of performance, and it would be expensive (or really lucky with a
great deal on used gear) to get anything better.
I also still have too much gear that I have collected, though now that I have a reasonable size house in which I plan on staying for the rest of my life, I don't really need to get rid of any of it if I don't want to do so. But I have a couple of system's worth of gear that I don't need (well, okay, maybe more like 4 or 5 or 6 or 7 systems worth of gear that I don't need).
But, I think I could go back to using my Heybrook HB2 speakers for my only system and be okay with them (I have the original HB2 speakers, not the completely different model that Heybrook came out with years later; I hate it when manufacturers reuse model numbers, as it leads to confusion). But those are not exactly garbage, so I do have limits to what sort of system I would tolerate.
Anyway, I like the poll, and I like how it forces one to choose one way or the other. Otherwise, you would probably end up with most people saying "both." If virtually everyone gave the same answer, what good would the poll be?
(more like a solid gold barrel)
