Bad recordings and high end audio


Hello. Have decided that the kids are out of the house and I can dedicate some space and money to my long ignored hobby. What is different now is there are so few audio stores. I firmly believe in listening to products so thus I start this great new chapter of my life. The first 2 stores I went to the people were very patient with me and I listened to a ton of combinations. They asked me did I want to hear anything else and I said  yes, ummm,.. how about Led Zeppelin? I received the same response from both stores which was “all Led Zeppelin recordings are horrible” except for this one version of Led Zeppelin 2…blah blah. So I said what happens if I am at home and i have a desire to play Led Zeppelin or another perceived poor recording? They did not have an answer for me nor did they play Led Zeppelin lol . I ended up ordering a pair of Magnepan 3.7i’s from a different store. 13 weeks until I get them, ouch. I am going to guess that people do listen to poor recordings on great systems because you just want to hear a particular album, right? Or am I missing something? Just looking for a bit of insight. Yes, I know they want it to sound the best so I will buy it but is that the only motivation. Or maybe they hate Led Zeppelin, lol.
daydream816
well IF you have a Cello Palette, at a I hate it firesale price,  i know of a line of buyers….
*L* The only palette I have is in a graphics program....

"They call it Mello Cello (...quite rightsly...)..." ;)

I'm more involved in 'proper placement' than ultimate sonic perfection...which is subject to a whole lotta' personal perfs....

I'm trying to put the vocalist into your lap...
...now, whether the said vocalist is or isn't of the same 'variety' as you is...
...isn't of any concern of mine. *L*
There are needledrops of the 1st vinyl pressings of the first 5 Led Zeppelin albums available on the internet as downloadable files if you poke around, or as actual redbook cds from several purveyors of "import" products from Japan. Both sound light years better than any of the official cds, remastered or not. There is an openness, crunch and presence from them that simply doesn't exist on subsequent releases.

Same holds true for Adele's last album and Metallica's Death Magnetic - there are well balanced versions that you can find online that beat the "official" versions hands down.
Led zeppelin is my favorite rock band of all times. I was in high school when the bulk of their albums came out. Me and 4 other friends did what we thought was the first ever air guitar gig in front of a large crowd. We had professional band speakers that filled a high school gym and in front of 3 different high schools we performedan air guitar of Led Zeppelins "How Many More Times". Drums, vocals, guitars, the works. We practiced for weeks before putting on the show at our high school assembly. By the end of the song, the crowd was clapping along with the song. It was crazy...... So I know where you are coming from.

Fast forward to 2019. Sold by K-horn knock offs and decided to get serious. All new equipment. Pre amp, power amp, dirac correction, streamer all wired into a lovely set of Legacy Audio Focus XD's. Those alone are around 16k. I have a fabulous system and with that comes critical listening and a system that has no mercy for lousy recordings. Unfortunately, Led Zeppelin falls into that category. I never listen to any of it on this system. Sounds awful and I wound never embarrass myself by waltzing into a high end shop and ask to listen to Led Zeppelin..... and yes, it is heartbreaking as the performances are forever stuck in lousy recording pergatory. What a loss. To bad Jimmy page didn't have enough sense to have demanded a recording engineer that knew what the hell he was doing. So, you are not missing something. When you get your new speakers, put on "Dancing Days" then after that, put on "Creep" by Radio Head or Def Leppard "Back in Black" and you will immediately understand why the greatest rock band of all times f'ing blew it!
@Mikekollar- Among all the copies of LZ 1 I have, including the 45 rpm Classic, the second Japanese press is my go to, is not terribly expensive (haven't checked lately) and if you can find a Japanese dealer that has a DHL Express account, a copy could be in your hands in a week. Just my take after having listened to quite a few copies of the first album.