Passion, or ..... Precision?

This is a great post. @markprice I too sometimes find myself analyzing rather than hearing. Hard to get out of that behavior as @pesky_wabbit said…I remember I read something on here posted by @millercarbon. I forget the musician who said it but it goes “Musicians use their systems to listen to our music. Audiophiles use our music to listen to their systems”.

So true in some cases huh? But I will say that even when I drift down that rabbit hole of listening to my system, I am ear to ear smiling at how incredible it sounds🤷🏼‍♂️…

You know what I do find is after a glass of wine or 2 I float right back up that rabbit hole as I’m listening to Rush or early U2, Yes, Iron Maiden (which really allows me to appreciate that unique mesmerizing sound Steve Harris gets out of that bass guitar on my system) and all of a sudden I’m 15 again and transported back in time in the way that only music can provide

some great comments on here, thank you all for your replies. I echo what Kingbr says above, it maybe a rabbit hole but its pretty cavernous inside. My somewhat limited CD collection of Rock music does not allow me to explore the potential of my system. Listening to Electronic, Reggae, Dance/House music or ElectroSwing does and I'm really grateful for Qobuz and the like for these opportunities. I have never been more obsessed with listening to music now, it's like being a kid again as Kingbr says above.

Got to go, system is calling .....

I have no problem listening to Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, or whatever on my main system.  Most of them are pretty well recorded.  The Steven Wilson re-mix of Tull is pretty darn good.

Just listened to some Black Sabbath and found the mixing and recording more than sufficient to enjoy both the music and the system.

I've only found one recording (Glass Harp) that sounded so bad I had to turn it off.

Maybe my stuff isn't "good enough" by audiophile standards for it to bother me.

FWIW, I have eclectic taste in music.  I listen to a lot more than 60's/70's hard rock.

Hey @markprice

Nice speakers, I have the same😁. You said you are using Qobuz. Listen to the first couple of tracks of, Diana Krall, The Girl In The Other Room at about 75-85 dbs. It’s a simple three piece band with a female singer. Poke around for Chesky Records. They are usually well recorded.
Speaking of the Ref 5’s, what port tubes are you using? How far from the front and side walls are they? How far are you from them? I can’t use points on mine because they muck up the wood floor below, so I got a couple of pieces of granite from a kitchen store.They made a difference .  I also bucked up for some Gaia 1’s and they made a surprising big difference!

All the best.

This just reinforces to me that The Absolute Sound was right in that the true measure of a good system is to replicate the sound of unamplified music, but that puts it somewhat at odds with almost all current music production.  Something put together in a studio on a 128 channel mixer or mic'ed off a live Marshall stack may be interesting but it's an artificial reality. We listened to 70s rock for its visceral nature and not for its sound quality. Ozzie didn't care either when he put out the record.I have never once pulled out an Old Stones or Zep LP to test how a new component sounds but I have plenty of 70s jazz or vocals on LP or CD that work fine, because that is what i value more. If i want to rock i just crank it up and dance the room, not sit in the sweet spot. If you mostly listen to loud pop or rock or heavy metal your system is going to be tuned different than mine. No judgements as to who's system is "best". Fretting about imaging or sound quality on an old recording WILL remove you from listening to the music.