Confused Musical Presentation

Are you talking about a 19-piece jazz ensemble or an 80-strong classical orchestra?  Or just complex music played by a small group?  Generally speaking, the larger the forces involved, the more difficulty any stereo system has in creating a verisimilitudinous representation of it.  Just try Mahler's so-called "Symphony of a 1000" (symphony #8)!!

twoleftears, 
Its complex music regardless of size. For example, the selection The Lady In My Life from Christian McBride's Live at the Villiand Vanguard (I saw this exact band live) the music puts you at the venue...until they cut loose and I want to run for cover! (LP, CD, or Tidal Steam) I would chalk this up to the recording, but other similarly constructed tunes sound wonderful until the group cuts loose. Its as if the system gets confused/falls apart. I'm perplexed. 

I'll also look into Room treatment which was actually my next solution to explore. But this too appears as complicated as gear selection. Really don't want to spend over 2-3K on a solution. 

Everyone is going after the system even after being clearly told there are hearing aids and damaged hearing. Situation normal.

As state of the art as your hearing aids may well be one of the hardest things for any system is when the tapestry gets dense to keep all the threads clear and distinct. And look, this is with plenty of AC power, overbuilt power supplies, and plenty of physical space to work with. Even something as big as a phone or iPod, when you want better all your choices are bigger. Also with audiophile gear what’s the worst component? The all-in-one. The home theater receiver.

No home theater receiver ever made ever made anything but crap sound. Even with all that power and space to work with. Of course your hearing aids are the problem. Always have been. Always will be.

There’s a simple test that will rule out the system and confirm its the hearing aids: when in a big room full of conversation (restaurant, stadium, etc) are you able to easily hear and make out lots of different voices and conversations? Or let’s say its raining, or you’re in the shower, or driving the car with the window down. Can you still distinctly hear isolated sounds within all that background noise? That’s the acid test. If you can do that with natural sounds but not with your system then its the system. Otherwise its the hearing aids.

Or you. Can’t rule that out. But if so then sadly that one is beyond even me. For now anyway.

Okay so going to assume its the hearing aids. Because it is. Nothing else (that we can deal with) makes any sense at all.

Any suggestions to remedy this would be greatly appreciated.

Well you’re not gonna like it but it is a solution so here goes.

Hearing aids are comprised of microphone, amplifier, and speaker. We know its possible to cram really good speakers into the ear canal, because lots of people have them. So true audiophile sound with hearing aids is possible, and the problem is not the speakers.

Its the mic, and amp.

So what you do, get yourself a really good set of IECs. Inner Ear Canal phones. Shure SE535, something like that. Then shop around for some iPod sized amp to plug them into. Finally once you have that you will be ready to audition microphones. One or two, your call, depends on how unobtrusive you want to go I guess.

As much as I’d like to take credit for this brilliant solution I have to admit this was done long before me by Fosgate who built one based on headphones. Worked great. Nowadays, quality IEC, iPod size amp, one good stereo mic clipped on the collar, hardly even know its there.

Considering the rest of your system this would be the single biggest upgrade you could make. So there you go.

Oh and, I know the services are messed up and all, but thanks for serving.