Prog can be damn near anything (depending on who you ask). Alot of it will sound pretty hashy (not a drug reference) on any high resolution system. As stated earlier, this is often because of analog transfer crimes. Most of the RIO (Rock In Opposition) arm of prog (Univers Zero, Henry Cow (start w/ Leg end) Thinking Plague, Nimal, Hamster Theatre, Curlew, Blast, Octavo, Volapuk, Miriodor, Present) sound pretty delicious on any decent rig. Some exceptions to the old "it sounds horrible on cd rule",: Kollektiv/ 1st... Embryo/ Rocksession... Guru Guru/ Kanguru... PFM/ Per un Amico... Terje Rypdal/ Whenever I Seem to be Far Away...New Trolls/ Ut... Goblin/ Roller... Kraan/ Live 74... Wolf/ Saturation Point... Thirsty Moon/ You'll Never Come Back.. (Most all the Can stuff is so great that fidelity almost doesn't matter, haven't heard the new remasters yet, any opinions out there?). Some newer stuff that sounds great: Ganger/ Hammock Style... Tortoise... Anglegard... Uzva... Alamaailman Vasarat... Ui... Crater... Dues ex Machina... Tipographica... Nels Cline... DFA... Cul de Sac (ECIM). You'll want something not painfully bright that can deliver high quality thud and good textural detail, but it's not easy to get really get specific about what gear works best since there's such a huge range of engineering priorities out there under the big prog rock umbrella.
Progressive Rock
Have any of you specifically built your system to listen to progressive rock, i.e. Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, etc.? I'm curious because I have, and was wondering what components you have found that lend themselves well to this particular type of music. The reason I asks is that I attended the Home Entertainment show last month in NYC. And not one of the rooms I visited were playing rock of any kind - and they did not seem receptive to taking request - especially at the volume I would need to hear before plunking down oh say $12,000 for a pair of speakers. Any incite you care to share is appreciated. Thanks, Matt...