Audiophile music

I, personally, would not play this type of music at all but that is irrelevant to you and you should play what you like when evaluating equipment. The musical preference of the salesman is also irrelevant.

"Would you play this type of music let's say on $6-figure setup with tubes, Verdier or similar TT, MBL or similar components, Pipe Dreams or similar level speakers?"

It doesn't really matter what I would play the music on, its your music and your system, you need to play it on what you like. That said, I think if you listened to the Model 5's again with some different CD's, you may change your mind. I don't think it was the style of music that put you off, so much as the quality of the recordings themselves. Vandersteen makes very revealing speakers. If you give them a good recording they tend to sound great, regardless of the type of music. But give them a bad recording and that's exactly what you'll hear.

I use Vandersteen myself, and the solution for me is to just use other equipment for bad recordings. No point in trying to fight it with one highly revealing system. Also, some of the music you list, has some very well recorded albums. But like you say, there's quite a bit of material that is not well produced. Whether to go high end, or not, is a choice that only you can make. Given your music, it may make sense to not go high end.

The fellow who owns Vapor Audio loudspeakers voices his speakers using that kind of music because the dynamics of the music really push the speakers capabilities. I suppose it's the 'if this sounds good anything will sound good.' Plus, I think he really likes to rock out, and there's nothing wrong with that.

The Knack-Get the Knack(first pressing)is a very good recording especially in the bass region. There is more then enough well recorded music(all genres)to last several lifetimes(lol). Don't obsess over a few poorly recorded favorites of yours, we all have some recordings we wish were properly recorded.

If a system doesn't play most of that kind of music well (a few recordings are beyond salvation) then it's a poorly balanced system that's not worth a high asking price. I would not still be in this hobby if I had to restrict myself to the likes of Krall & Barber for the sake of lean/bright/incoherent gear.

Vandys just didn't keep up with dynamic pace of noise rock while were best for large orchestras.
I have original UK Get The Knack and they sound terrific.

What Mulveling said 1000%. I have quite a few audiophile friends and recently made the rounds listening to their systems using a variety of recordings and came to the conclusion that they had built their system to only sound good with audiophile stuff so that's all they could listen to on a regular basis. OTOH, My aim is to have a system that sound good playing both the poorly recorded and the audiophile stuff.

Agree it may not make sense to go high end. I started climbing the ladder a few years ago and the more money I spent the more I was restricting myself to certain types of music simply because I was in awe with how my system sounded. But instead of actually getting lost in a listening session I was spending hours skipping songs to evaluate this and that. I too love punk and lowfi bands like sonic youth, sebedoh, velvet under ground etc and I was just not listening to that music because it sounded like garbage. Now I have sold most of my HiFi gear in leu of musical components and I don't think about it anymore. I love my system more than ever and can now sit for hours upon hours and listen at any volume I choose without any sort of fatigue even when playing shitty live recordings of the replacements or big black. True it may make sense to have two systems but not all of us can afford it. I have accumulated enough gear for at least three or four systems but I usually only listen to my main rig these days. Happy listening.

I tried to like audiophile music,,,,,

You just need the right system. I do agree with the point being made here but you can build a high end system that will sound superb with the white stripes (who I listen to frequently). And I personally find audiophile music boring. Many audiophiles don't care about playing music all that much. They don't own systems so they can play music, the gear is an end in and of itself.

Raytheprinter,
I'm still tryin' but usually swap to kool stuff at or after the first track and totally forget how poorly it is recorded or how bad they place instruments and mikes because the quality of music very often defeats the recording quality. On the other hand it really takes a LOT of patience to listen to Diana Krall, Cassandra Wilson, Norah Jones indeed no matter how great they are recorded and weather it's on CD or vinyl.
Just found cheap UK RHCP "Mother's Milk" near-mint copy so LET'S HAVE FUN!

Simple, with this type of music, a boom-box is more than adequate.

Careful applying generalizations about sound quality to any "genre" of music.

Yes, certain genres will tend to share certain audio parameters, but not always.

Low noise and distortion levels are ALWAYS a boon for any kind of recording.

Also getting the midrange right is ALWAYS a boon in that all recordings play in this area.

These are the common aspects of good sound that help ALL recordings sound better. Then its just a matter of what music specifically tickles one's fancy. I tend to like most everything enough to listen and enjoy at least once.

Other aspects of good sound will be more variable with various recordings. Things like dynamics, imaging, soundstage, frequency response at the extremes, etc.

As a general rule, I tend to listen to lo-fi program material in my car or on Sonos (parties, yard time, etc). That's actually a large majority of my listening time.

When I'm in front of a good system, I tend to choose better sounding program material.

I think I just like to seize the opportunity to hear good recorded sound when I get the chance, which isn't all that often.

I can choose 5 pair of speakers in 5 different rooms/locations using my main system.

From biggest/best to smallest/most limited:

1) OHN F5 Series 3 in largest L shaped room
2) Dynaudio Contour 1.3mkII in my 12X12 office
3) Triangle Titus XS in my wifes 12X12 sunroom
4) Realistic Minimus 7s on the deck.

The F5s are the bomb, but we entertain mostly on the deck, and everyone including myself enjoy the tiny Minimus 7s there as well.

ITs all audiophile, baby, yeah!

Schubert, any ideas about choice of boom-box you may recommend:-)?

"08-07-14: Czarivey
Schubert, any ideas about choice of boom-box you may recommend:-)?"

I don't think Schubert was talking about audio equipment. lol.

One that runs off D cells to keep the distortion rate under 100% .

Dud….you need some horn speakers and a big sub woofer or two…..rock till the neighbors drop……or call the cops…...

I tried horns. Getting tired of them very quick. I like liquid sound of my dynamic Aerials that seem to fit any kind of music and I like my mid-fi amp as well. Equipmentwise unlike audiophiles I reached the final sonic nirvana and did not upgrade my rig for the past 6...7 years.
I only purchased Mytek 192 DAC/Preamp that replaced my mid-fi Classe 30 preamp that started intermittedly humming. I spotted at least few bad looking DC caps, but still opted selling it and move funds toward Mytek purchase.

This is a very vague question. A lot of audiophiles actually are hard core music aficionados. Then again some listen to certain tracks of so-called audiophile music. It really doesn't matter either way. If you struggle to find music to listen to find a new hobby. This is your hobby, not ours.

some good points re. poorly recorded music sounds better on lesser gear as it is less revealing. it is a bit sad to admit but my systewm which i love, of course, does not sound that great with bad source. mid fi jbl's or polks would be better. we all have to deal with the fact that most recordings are not audiophile grade.

I realized that all of the reviews, discussions are about one or few outstanding recordings listened in tons of different systems... It's all about how one or few things sound in tons of different systems. When you upgrade, you have to listen that particular track again when there's so much and much more to listen to... Is it the main idea of being an audiophile?
I'm meloman and would definitely refuse listening to the same thing for a long time need different sound need more music regardless of recording quality.
My system plays EVERYTHING great poor and nice recordings so all I have to think is about NEW music and no new equipment.

Ryan at Vapor had me over to listen to a few pairs of his speakers. If your speakers can handle Infected Mushroom, they can keep up with anything.

The Vapors handled IF with ease. I recommend giving it a shot.

Czarivey: I remember my first listen to Vandersteen 2Cs. They were hooked up to an Audio Research Classic 60.

The front end was a Linn TT.

I brought my own vinyl. I was unimpressed. I chalked this up to the fact that this system couldn't reproduce the sonics I needed for rock based music.