… because they often didn’t have access to equipment or knowledge and because artists and producers were often beholden to record companies; their choice of mastering engineers and the dictates of multiple formats.
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Ha ha
Yes!!! 
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With that size of transformer…… it certainly needs lots of space to breathe.
True but it still happens today Mike
I don’t have any 500 series kit, indeed my whole system costs less than one new 500 level component, but it is still ruthlessly revealing of recording quality. Against expectations, this has not reduced my enjoyment of all my less than stellar recordings, at least where the musical performance is of highest quality. Case in point: Kathleen Ferrier singing Mahler’s Kindertotenlieder. The sound is pretty dire and fully exposed on the system, but when Ferrier starts singing it’s shivers down the spine time and the poor SQ is just forgotten.
There are some albums, particularly older jazz and folk recordings where the experience of listening on the main system differs significantly from the much less revealing Atom/Iotas in my office and in some moods I do prefer the latter. But even then, the immediacy of the main system wins out for connection with the musicians, so different rather than worse I would say.
I am happy with my system and am not planning any upgrading at the moment, but if I were, I don’t think poor recording quality would stop me.
Roger
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I have noticed that as my system has improved recordings I once thought of as average are now rather better than that, whereas previous demonstration pieces no longer stand head and shoulders above their peers.
I am quite happy to also listen to 78s and tapes I made in the 80s, their faults don’t get in the way of the music.
The one thing I can’t stand is ’ loudness wars’ remastering 
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Completely agree!
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For me Diana Krall’s The Girl In The Other Room stands head and shoulders above all her other work.
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That, Corry, is a great explanation what I am hearing.
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That its so true. As well as the occasional disappointment, I also get wonderful revelations.
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As said many a time, the better the source you have at digging out all the details etc, then play that though a good amp and speakers and you will hear it all, that’s great if the recordings are great as it just fantastic, but at the same time poor recordings will still sound poor.
It’s the price you pay for them fantastic moments, if you don’t want to experience them, then stay at a lower level that just can’t show them up, or better still have 2 different systems maybe.
But for me I just can’t get away from the fantastic moments and only really play them as I have found most music can be fantastic, but my new turntable and especially cartridge has really highlighted this
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I don’t think you are mad Nigel!
I have found that as my system worked its way up through the ranks, the differential between top quality recordings and poor quality has been exacerbated. Perhaps I am shallow and have not worked hard enough to dig into the music but I don’t have the same extent of feelings about the mini system in my kitchen where anything goes!
The danger being that we can consciously or sub-consciously become selective on which albums get played and which remain gathering dust on the shelves due to perceived quality or lack thereof.
Peter
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If one also likes Lo-fi music genres and garage style music, and sometimes crave a healthy dose of distortion, shouldn’t the more resolving and revealing system make it even in more line with these styles?! 
That is, sounding even better than with the system that is more forgiving. Some of my Lo-fi music really took a great leap in presentation with a upgraded system and new speakers, as it is even more clearly Lo-fi now…
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I’m guilty as charged. 
I’ve posted before (possibly on the previous forum) on Alexis Petridis’s excellent 2015 article for Esquire, talking to audiophiles from the perspective of a ‘normal’ person. You can Google the whole article for yourselves, but I think this extract summarises the above debate nicely:
"Maybe he’s right. Maybe audiophiles have some kind of weird heightened superpower hearing. And maybe it’s sometimes a burden. Trevor tells me he finds it hard to listen to music that’s badly recorded, no matter how great the actual music is. "Amy Winehouse, amazing voice, but Back to Black… that’s a terrible-sounding album."
James tells me he sometimes feels he’s not listening to music, but to his hi-fi system: he’s a fan of Kraftwerk and Joy Division, but finds he’s been buying “plinky-plonky jazz” because it shows off his equipment. “I would never,” he says heavily, “have bought a Diana Krall album unless I was into hi-fi. But play a Diana Krall album on my system…” He blows out his cheeks. "Bloody hell."
People listening to music they don’t like, people who find themselves unable to listen to music they like. As I said, it’s an alternate universe."
Mark
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Yes, it does.
Last year I downgraded from dCS/ATC actives to Atom/ProAc T10s (1/4th $$) to fit a new home. Different; no less enjoyable.
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I always enjoy listening to an original 1975 US pressing of the Tom Waits Nighthawks at the Diner double LP (with the annoying 1-4 & 2-3 sides), so am curious about that remaster.
Nigel,
car and advertising companies spend fortunes promoting the sale of cars that run at 190 kph, do from 0 to 100 kph in one second, with steering and braking features resembling those of racing cars; yet, most of the time we use those cars on poorly paved roads, at max 50 kmh, with no need to perform the acrobatic, high-tech tasks our cars are supposed to perform.
When I was young, razors had one blade and today they need five to do the same job; yoghurt shelves in supermarkets contained two types, now we have one hundred. On the other hand, when I was young we bought records by Karajan, The Beatles, Ella Fitzgerald; now we are offered The Three Tenors at best. So why this rant? We’re just hamsters spinning round and round to produce fuel for something and someone else’s needs.
The mere fact that some companies still retain a shadow of care for consumers’ interests too must be seen as a miracle. If we really only cared about music, a decent Internet Radio on the kitchen counter and the thousands of stations available would more than meet our lifetime needs. We fuel the HiFi system in full awareness, we love to toy with gear and sometimes a spark of reason makes us doubt of the whole machine. Don’t do anything, the spark will exhaust itself and you’ll believe in the Audio Matrix again.
Best
Max
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And no, I didn’t get up on the wrong foot this morning, sadly this is my normal mood.
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