Female voice is a grueling system test.
Ricki's is one of the more difficult ones for an analog rig to negotiate. Don't think it's only your analog setup however. A female voice can send some horrendously challenging transients to torture an entire system.
The better things are dialed in (from stylus to loudspeakers), the better life is with her.
For years I thought the same thing about Ricki and how "hot" she's been recorded, and while it is on the razor's edge of being out of control, it's analogous to the risks she takes as a performer.
For this reason, I've always tolerated these minor transgressions - because I've been a big fan of most everything she's done.
Now that I have dialed everything in nicely, it doesn't bother me in the least.
Another tough one is the last reprise of "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" on the reissue of Joan Baez's "Farewell Angelina". Unfortunately, I don't have the original to compare against.
To make matters even more challenging, these are the last few "grooves" on the record side.
While I'm an advocate of setting things up correctly, it's still a music first sort of thing with me. I find that many audiophiles in our tribe will completely overlook a rowdy audience at a live show, but give them one tick or pop on a record and they go absolutely ballistic. I'm not pointing out anyone in this thread (which was initiated out of a quest for knowledge), but rather pointing out the flaws of many of our brethren. We are a strange lot indeed ;-)
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier
Ricki's is one of the more difficult ones for an analog rig to negotiate. Don't think it's only your analog setup however. A female voice can send some horrendously challenging transients to torture an entire system.
The better things are dialed in (from stylus to loudspeakers), the better life is with her.
For years I thought the same thing about Ricki and how "hot" she's been recorded, and while it is on the razor's edge of being out of control, it's analogous to the risks she takes as a performer.
For this reason, I've always tolerated these minor transgressions - because I've been a big fan of most everything she's done.
Now that I have dialed everything in nicely, it doesn't bother me in the least.
Another tough one is the last reprise of "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall" on the reissue of Joan Baez's "Farewell Angelina". Unfortunately, I don't have the original to compare against.
To make matters even more challenging, these are the last few "grooves" on the record side.
While I'm an advocate of setting things up correctly, it's still a music first sort of thing with me. I find that many audiophiles in our tribe will completely overlook a rowdy audience at a live show, but give them one tick or pop on a record and they go absolutely ballistic. I'm not pointing out anyone in this thread (which was initiated out of a quest for knowledge), but rather pointing out the flaws of many of our brethren. We are a strange lot indeed ;-)
Cheers,
Thom @ Galibier