If You Could Only Keep 3-CD's LP's , Which Ones?

Very Easy:

1. Emerson String Quartet, Schubert's 13th/14th String Quartets (Disc 1 of a 3 disc set)

2. Raphael String Ensemble, Brahm's String Sextets

3. Kim Kaskashian, Brahm's late Viola sonatas

This last one is a keeper and a sleeper. For those who do not know Kim's work, one of the most romantic styled viola players I have ever heard. Superb tone and inflection, strong without being overpowering. Emotive without being weepy.

If catastrophe struck today, I'd take The Band - The Band; Willie Nelson - Redheaded Stranger; and one of my Lester Young albums (let me see which has the most Billie Holiday sessions on it, heh heh). By the way, none of these has great sound quality, so they should sound fine through the cactus needle - conch shell system I'd have to rig up.

Quator Mosaique- Haydn Quartets Op. 76
Miles- Kind if Blue- Dbl LP
Tragically Hip- Live Between Us
I'm in the endstages of divorce so I've had recent practice at this. Hypothetical's more fun :-)

I would keep 1)Holst's the planets, 2)Ben Harper's Fight for your mind, 3)Miles Davis Walkin'. This way I have one cd from each of my three favorite forms of music.

Judging from the desert island selections showing up here it makes me wonder if this an audiophile forum.

Like computers, your system's sound is subject to 'garbage in, garbage out'.

Usually the so called cream source material is at best mid-fi.While true hi-fi is rare indeed.

If the criteria here included not being able to keep your system, but instead being issued a walkman, then OK. The production quality of the source material doesn't matter either.

I would rather see an effort made to gain self knowledge in the psycho-acoustic phenomenon, and all self respecting audiophiles exercise their ears to discern how real, or distorted, the sound of an individual instrument, or voice is reproduced in the source material they buy before judging the system, or its individual components.

If the terrible quality of CD's didn't sell effortlessly, some attention might be paid to the accuracy of their reproduction.

It will take some serious market forces to cause the studios to not 'improve' the music with mixers they spent a couple hundred thousand dollars on. They end up accomplishing a 'sound' that is quite different and apart from the artists intention, or the sound of their instruments and voices live.

Of course then the artist does not matter so much, apart from their appearance for tour, videos, and media appearance.They become a necessary component to the mixing equipment and the direction of the mad scientist engineer.

If we do not do it, who will. And it looks here like we are not that concerned either.