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Vinyl. Is it me? the producer? cartridge? Record?

It's no surprise that some recordings sound significantly different than others. Different studios, engineers, musicians, arrangers and instrumentation.

I probably have over 1000 albums ranging from 50's jazz, 60's folk, jazz, rock, psychedelic, classical etc.. and I can probably find certain recordings that sound fantastic on my system from any genre. Others not so good.

I am running a Music Hall 5.2 Goldring 1012GX, Scott 340B Vintage Tube amp, Silver stranded cables, Custom Klipsch that would basically be similar to Forte 2, with a 15" self powered sub.

I enjoy the the treasure hunt vinyl offers. It's great when I find an album that:

1: I like the music
2: The album was properly recorded
3: It's a nice clean copy

Of the 1000 records, I probably have 30 real standout recordings that really shine on all levels. It's great to find them.

While I can still enjoy less than perfect recordings if I like the music, it's still much better to have the whole enchilada experience, especially when sharing my system with guests, friends, family etc.

While I have read some who feel the Goldring is a bit shrill or harsh at times, I tend to put the blame more on the session engineer for adding high EQ to the recording or not recording the lower frequencies properly.

If all my records sounded harsh I would blame the cartridge, or some other aspect, tubes, tonearm etc.. but this is not the case. Some recordings simply sound correct, and I would not want them any other way.

At times I feel some of the lesser quality recordings would sound better on a different kind of set up. Probably a system with a much more colored low end, with the higher frequencies rolled off quite a bit. But on the downside, the really good recordings I have would suffer tremendously.

Do some of you feel the need for two systems where you might say "these recordings sound best over here, and these ones are best played on this other set up?"

One thing for sure is that anytime I have both a vinyl and CD version to compare... vinyl wins hands down every time..unless it's one of these new vinyls that was cut from a digital source. (they can't fool me)

Thoughts anyone?
astralography
astralography OP
51 posts
 
Good points...

I would love to just have a stack or different cartridges to swap out within seconds and listen to a variety of recordings doing so. A Goldring, a Grado, a Shure, and so on.. would be great to be able to do that with speakers as well.

As far as speakers, I simply have yet to hear a pair that reproduces horn instruments as well as speakers with horn drivers. Right now I am listening to Gerry Mulligan "Age of Steam" on the low fi rig. It's ok... but a universe apart from what it sounds like upstairs.

I'm running a Fisher 100 tube amp with the built in pre amp and a pair of Klipsch KG 5.2 which I like a lot. I also prefer the passive 12 woofer sound as I believe I am getting more honest detail compared to a power driven woofer. The deck is nothing fancy, just a Technics SL 210
with a Stanton. It's just a fill in record player while my Music Hall is in the shop. Good records sound average, bad records sound average. Really doesn't tell me much of anything.
geoch's avatar
geoch
354 posts
 
Try to audition the new 3T series interconnects from VDH (model depending of your buget). Then match them with the "Inspiration" speaker cable (because the 3T "Cloud" is really expensive). The flow, integration and conformity they can bring to any system are phenomenal. (I really mean ANY! system, of whatever it's origin!). I have the "Cliff" from phonostage to preamp, the "Mountain" from pre to power amp and yesterday I've change the (fusion series) "Integration" for the (3T series) "Cloud". The new coaxials in the 3T series are cheap and effective. Please give them a try!
I suppose you've allready done with the tube rolling.
jeffreylee
15 posts
 
George Martin also produced "Wired," but there may have been a different engineer involved, or you have a bad pressing. My "Wired" sounds sweet and ripe. I have to agree that something in your system is off. 30 out of 1,000 seems way low.
astralography OP
51 posts
 
They did have different engineers (Wired)

Wired sounds a bit more trebley. Not quite a rich as wired.
I have a couple copies of both.
macd
103 posts
 
I dont know if this has already been brought up, but have you checked your tubes/capacitors in your scott. Both bad caps or failing tubes can cause a shift in tonal balance. I had an old Conrad Johnson pv5 that started to sound bright and shrill. Only some recordings sounded good through it (the laid back ones.) One day a tube finally failed in it and when I replaced it I could not believe the difference. All my records came to life!
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