What in the world is going on.....

I own Stereophile Class-A equipments. The Stereophile recommended disks sound great, but most of my other favorite music sound OK, or sound horrible with my B&W 800D... A friend of mine told me it's nothing unusual.

I don't mean to be insulting in asking have you checked your cartridge alignment? I think even cuts on the same album by Simon sound different.

I would have to agree with the post that recommends checking the cartridge alignment. If you've spent time with a turntable that has all the adjustments you'll discover that they are critical. There is definitely something amiss here.

Perhaps you would like to share the exact models of the items you are using for vinyl playback and who/how the cartridge was aligned.

Until you get this right you really can't expect your vinyl to perform at a high level. You can try yourself, but I can tell you, as a 61 year old music lover who has been in the audio business for over 40 years, it took me a decade to be able to setup a turntable properly and understand what I was actually doing.

I've setup thousands of turntables and I have yet to hear an MP3 through any system that rivals the performance of a mediocre turntable that is setup properly.

I'm not a vinyl fanatic, but I will continue to use LPs as my reference until something comes along that is in the same realm of performance and more convenient to boot.

I'm happy to say that I've built a music computer that is getting very close with good source material. Last but not least, Paul Simon recordings although musically excellent in almost all cases, are all over the map. This is something that is easily perceived when all is good.

I haven't heard this recording but it's all who masters the music because the record companies don't care. I have bought imports for around 40 years and get extra tracks not included on US vinyl. Better quality vinyl from the research I've done over the years of buying music. I have bought many new styluses in my day and they two make a big differences along with a good output on a your Pre-Amp for analog .

I also believe with a Digital transmission interface and a DAC with High Current Vintage Amp and great speakers will blow away MP3's any day. Digital is getting closer to vinyl because they first started making CD's from the vinyl mixes. They were absolutely horrible!!  80's Cd were sad!

The Japanese and Mobile Fidelity Companies both have made both vinyl and Cd's sound like they should. The are some other companies like Sony and Cherry Red Records that are stepping up and making some really nice recordings as well.

 I just wish Sony would make up there minds on a format as usual ! SACD ,DVD, Blue Spec CD's come on how many times can you sell us the same music? We are just hoping to get the great recording we deserved in the first place! First the record companies screwed the music artists then why not the consumers to ?? I wont even get started on this subject but another greedy bunch of big corporations at work.
Need we say more?

Thecablepro.....thanks for your interest and suggestions..

I am using a VPI Superscoutmaster with rim drive, Classic platter, with BearPaws (large brass cones) which replaced the original feet. The arm is the VPI 3D plastic arm into which I have an Ortofon Winfield installed and loaded at 1000 ohms from the Ayre preamp.  I set up the arm using a MINT protracter, and adjusted the azimuth with a Fozgometer...I have an electronic scale to weigh the vtf, and have adjusted it heavier/lighter to get the best performance from the cartridge.  The arm is adjusted slightly high at the rear.  The arm is wired with the new Discovery wire and is terminated using a balanced (xlr) connection to the preamp (actually, the entire system is fully balanced).  Thanks again for the interest.