SEVERAL folks here have got it right, esp.geoffkait. I listened to Pioneer receivers playing Stevie Wonder vinyl back in college and it sounded great. Few people back then had better systems then that- tube lovers I would imagine with speakers no one had ever heard of. Now we have many more sources with different engineering involved before you even consider playback, And things are moving so fast that some have very advanced technology in use while i still hang on to my cassette deck to listen to an occasional tape. Was sound in the 60's inferior when i rocked out to the 1st Led Zeppelin album? I had a BSR turntable for Pete's sake, but it still made me VERY happy.
My system now makes Mozart sound just right, so I don't even care if LZ-1 sounds OK or not. SO what camp do you put me in? Everything has changed and been transformed from one "idea" of a sound system to another (actually many "others"). "Accuracy" is the 1st principle of sound reproduction, but that goes for the entire chain from the note in the studio to the note as it strikes your ear at home. So "compromise" would then be the 2nd principle- adapting as best we can to "what is" rather than to what is theoretically possible.
My system now makes Mozart sound just right, so I don't even care if LZ-1 sounds OK or not. SO what camp do you put me in? Everything has changed and been transformed from one "idea" of a sound system to another (actually many "others"). "Accuracy" is the 1st principle of sound reproduction, but that goes for the entire chain from the note in the studio to the note as it strikes your ear at home. So "compromise" would then be the 2nd principle- adapting as best we can to "what is" rather than to what is theoretically possible.