Mixed Results from My Hifi

"Audiogon has allowed me to try out equipment and find what was right for me." AYe-men, Brah!

Sorry for the delay.What I meant was that if you were using a transport/DAC,then you might employ a unit like the Z-Systems RDP-1.It is a digital parametric EQ and digital volume control.It is inserted between the transport and DAC,thus allowing the DAC to drive the amp/amps directly.
There is one available here for $995 (Audio Pimp).

Black CD-Rs (memorex) act as an equilizer. You might try those (Assuming your CD transport / player can play them).

The albums you name sound best in a car but they should still sound very good on your system; they will sound slightly boosted in the mid range and overly compressed.

As with many CD's lately, they have been mastered to sound loud (meaning somewhat more than the usual compression between Studio Mix and Master is added)

Just like loud TV ads...there is a war on to make CD's as loud as possible....there are even forward reading digital devices that have been developed to help engineers compress the sound.

Coldplay was done at Sterling Sound
www.sterling-sound.com

U2 was done at the Bernie Grundman Mastering

Sheryl Crow was done at Gateway Mastering

All were mastered by "pros" on outstanding gear but even pros have to respect producers/artists desire for a loud (=compressed CD). After all they are the clients and pay the bills.

Not many domestic speakers can properly handle the dynamic range of a studio mix, which is another reason used to justify compressing the sound.

Sorry to break the bad news....but you can spend all that money on a great system only to be disappointed by the instructions given to the Mastering Engineer...

Try stuff done by the Mastering Lab. They seem to be better than most.
www.themasteringlab.com

If FM rock stations and what you hear during the daily commute were less responsible for rock CD sales then no doubt we could all enjoy better quality mastered rock CD's, just as we do with some other genres....

a dab of cool whip on the tonearm shell head tends to take the edge off and add sweetness to an otherwise dry recording; listening drunk softens brittle or bright recordings, I find a good single malt scotch minimum 12 years old is best; on dull recordings I like to put my hands behind my prodigious ears and cup them, drawing my outer ears forward - that can help provide more detail and 'presence'; I've been collecting records since about 1964 and there's no doubt some labels sound better than others: old RCA records from the 60's are excellent, 1970's and later recordings from Warner Bros and Columbia are pretty good, ATCO records were usually pretty bad, Capricorn records from the 70's and 80's were OK. No doubt in my mind that the label (mfr) matters.