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Using Bad Recording to Evaluate a System

Once I went to a dealer to audition a speaker, brought a few CD's. One of them was a CD of a group I like but has rather low quality recording.
Well, I put that CD in and cued up a track, and when the music ended the dealer asked why I was using such a horrible sounding recording to audition. (I think he looked kinda slightly pissed. Maybe because the music sounded shrill and irritating the whole time???)
Yeah, why?
Here's what I think: an audio system should make listening the music a pleasant experience. The better your system can reproduce, the more enjoyment you get regardless of recording quality. Saying that 'my system is so good I can only play my audiophile discs' is basically saying something is wrong with my system. Yes, nowadays I tend to play my 'audiophile' CDs much more than regular ones, but that's because of the music AND the excellent recording quality, but when I play my regular or lower recording quality CD's, I find that, although the shortcomings are more obvious, my system can reproduce the music as an enjoyable presentation, and I enjoy it more than when I used to in prev. lower-res/quality/musicality systems.
yr44

Showing 2 responses by elizabeth

elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
On of my favorite "take to audition" artists is P.J.Harvey.
Talk about strange sounds emanating from auditioned stuff.
I explain how her voice, scratchy and screechy as it is, with bad miking and all is a genuine test of a system's capabilities!! This is from her first three albums. (Her later albums are too processed to use)
If she sounds all smoothed out.. you know the system is trash!
elizabeth
6,726 posts
 
I think Centurymantra pointed in the right direction, but for myself I have to say part of the enjoyment of a "badly recorded" disc is just that. Experiencing the trashy recording quality of P.J.Harvey's Eight-Track Demo as if one was actually listening to her cheap recorded copy of some songs she demo'd is way more exciting than having it all prettied up.
So perhaps SOME crummy recordings DO SOUND BEST all crummy.
The Rolling Stones come to mind too.
Of course listening to Maria Callas on a concert taped on a 3" reel toy recorder is not quite as fun... (8^Q...
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