Help, my system only sounds good with Pink Floyd & Dire Straits

[admin_exported]

Hello all

The problem I have is my system sounds brilliant with Pink Floyd (24 bit remastered) & Dire Straits (Sony Bit Mapped remasters ie HDCD) CDs. Everything else I play sounds unrealistic, boring and uninvoving, also the original Floyd and dire straits recording don't sound so good. But I really like my setup now after 10 years of trying different components/cables/tweaks.

So my question really is, can anyone recommend well recorded music which would sound good to a person who likes Light/Medium Rock music?

My system:

Talk Electronics Thunder 3 CD player with a 0.5 Whirlwind
PSU for the analogue stage

Exposure 17 & Super 18 pre/power amps

Mordaunt Short MS40 Classic

Russ Andrews PBJ interconnects, classic
mains cables & mains block

CableTalk Concert 2.1 biwire spk cables (which sound similar to RA 8VS, but more masculine).

Regards

 

[Frank Harvey]

How good a CD sounds will depend on how well it's been recorded/mastered. Enjoy music for what it is - The Circus by Lenny Kravitz is distorted to hell because he wanted it to be, and used old mics and old analogue mixing desks and valve equipment - if it sounded perfect and pristine it'd sound wrong and lose all it's character.

Tweaking your system to sound good with music that doesn't sound good is only going to affect how the good stuff sounds, and not always for the best.

 

[Anonymous]

Sounds like that Lenny Krafitz CD would sound good in my second system along with my other CDs (eg U2, coldplay,...), but thats not what I'm looking for with main system where I'm limited to just two bands at the moment!

My main system sounds magical with the right CD and no grungy music/CD can give me the same level of musical excitment

My second system comprises (from the 1990s):

Cambridge Audio CD6 (which really rocks with amazing bass power and authority unlike modern players of today, although whf? never liked it refering it to being over enthusiastic???)

Audiolab 8000C/P (do a solid job)

Mordaunt Short MS20i (fun to listen to)

 

[Thaiman]

Speakers are the weak link imo. Electronics should rock nicely.

 

[a91gti]

Yep, speakers it is buddy.

 

[matthewpiano]

Try the MS20i on your main system. You might be surprised.

 

[Anonymous]

I did, I love the basic sound of the MS20i, but they sound small and underweight in my medium/large lounge.

Thats why I searched out the MS40 Classic - these are great speakers that no one really has heard of.

The MS20i was a £200 speaker

The MS20 Classic was the upgraded version (including Epos tweeter) costing £400

The MS40 Classic is the floor standing version (including Epos tweeter) with 2 mid/bass drivers and was a £800 speaker

My MS40 Classics are the best imaging speakers I've ever heard, even compared to £2,500 speakers - they are so musical and have amazing clarity, but are very revealing which highlights the need for well recorded music. (so to some extent they are the problem) But my main problem is that I like Rock music where good quality recordings are rare - I was hoping for some music recommendations, not hifi recommendations

Trivial knowledge for the geeks:

MS40 Classic was designed by Robin Marshall who designed the Epos ES11 and ES14.

The later Epos ES22 were based on these MS40 Classics

 

[wireman]

Azim1979: My system:
Talk Electronics Thunder 3 CD player with a 0.5 Whirlwind PSU for the analogue stage
Exposure 17 & Super 18 pre/power amps
Mordaunt Short MS40 Classic
Russ Andrews PBJ interconnects, classic mains cables & mains block
CableTalk Concert 2.1 biwire spk cables (which sound similar to RA 8VS, but more masculine).

I'm aware of, but not intimately familiar with the sound of your Talk CD player. But other than that, I know the rest of your system components moderately well - there's no reason why your system shouldn't boogie with the best of them playing all kinds of music - not just your select 'reference' recordings (which I also happen to have to hand here).

The exposure 17/18 always worked beautifully with epos speakers, of which, as you say, the MS's are a derivative. Cable Talk speaker cable is a natural choice too - exposure's own branded speaker cable was made by them, so no problems there either. So, assuming your source component - the Talk CD player - is up-to-snuff, the reason your system probably fails to make music with an average run-of-the-mill recording has to have something to do with your choice of Russ Andrews peripheries.

I have here (amongst other things) an exposure 21 pre and 4 x 18 monos - exactly the same as your 17 & 18, perhaps arguably a step or two up. I also have here a big box containing several Russ Andrews Reference mains cables, a Signature mains cable, a Mains Block, a Silencer, a Mini Purifier, a Super Purifier. All that Russ Andrews stuff is in that box (rather than in that particular exposure system) because it kills what exposure does best, and that's make music. If you doubt my word on that, I also have here 4 x exposure 16 amplifiers - about £4000 a pair. Yup. Russ's cables kill them dead too.

Don't misunderstand me - Russ's cables work a treat on my Mark Levinson CD390's, my Magnum Dynalab Tuner, my Stax headphones, and my SME turntable... but exposure? No. Kills it dead.

Shove your CD player and your exposure kit on a good old-fashioned metal and glass rack, change your interconnect for something made by cable-talk (The Missing Link are clearing the last of Cable Talk's bankrupt stock - ebay), and if it doesn't sing then, try borrow another CD player (preferably an original exposure one). That'll make a sows-ear of a recording dance across the floor... just as it should.