Bad recordings and high end audio

Led zeppelin is my favorite rock band of all times. I was in high school when the bulk of their albums came out. Me and 4 other friends did what we thought was the first ever air guitar gig in front of a large crowd. We had professional band speakers that filled a high school gym and in front of 3 different high schools we performedan air guitar of Led Zeppelins "How Many More Times". Drums, vocals, guitars, the works. We practiced for weeks before putting on the show at our high school assembly. By the end of the song, the crowd was clapping along with the song. It was crazy...... So I know where you are coming from.

Fast forward to 2019. Sold by K-horn knock offs and decided to get serious. All new equipment. Pre amp, power amp, dirac correction, streamer all wired into a lovely set of Legacy Audio Focus XD's. Those alone are around 16k. I have a fabulous system and with that comes critical listening and a system that has no mercy for lousy recordings. Unfortunately, Led Zeppelin falls into that category. I never listen to any of it on this system. Sounds awful and I wound never embarrass myself by waltzing into a high end shop and ask to listen to Led Zeppelin..... and yes, it is heartbreaking as the performances are forever stuck in lousy recording pergatory. What a loss. To bad Jimmy page didn't have enough sense to have demanded a recording engineer that knew what the hell he was doing. So, you are not missing something. When you get your new speakers, put on "Dancing Days" then after that, put on "Creep" by Radio Head or Def Leppard "Back in Black" and you will immediately understand why the greatest rock band of all times f'ing blew it!

And that last comment by dodgealum1 is exactly right. In my earlier comment about comparing Radio head and def leppard recordings to led zep, I should have mentioned this: compare those recordings to "when the levee breaks". You know that the opening drum beat on this song should have kicked base ass. but it doesn’t. You know the deep base is there but no matter what you do, there is no way to pull it out as its just not on the recording. Even worse, when the harmonica and guitars kick in, the drum beat falls off even more. terrible, awfull, criminal recording engineering. Again, the greatest rock band of all time absolutely blew it on their recordings forever. what a colossal loss.

Well for what its worth, I love my Legacy focus xd speakers. 4 way design with 2 12 inch woofers in each to 16h, 2 midrange and 2 ribbon tweeters. the reviews were all correct in the end. great speakers. they better be at 16k

That is exactly right; case in point for me. Never really listened or cared much for Steely Dan. For decades,was just sort of ehh, catchy tune, whats next. But now..... holy crap, these recordings are unbelievable. love Steely Dan. Yes a great stystem will change your listening tastes. I have amongst others, a play list of female vocals and another of acoustic guitar stuff. Amazing. Would have never listened to any of it until upgraing 4 years ago