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Help: DSOTM Sounds better on CD than LP

I was listening to Dark Side of the Moon the other day on CD thoroughly enjoying myself when I remembered that I had the LP of this album. I dug through my collection with great anticipation of the joy that I would soon know. I put on the LP and something horrible happened. Gasp…..The soundstage collapsed in on itself and the magic or the album was lost. As you all know CD should never sound better than analog so I am now faced with the dilemma of how to bring balance back to the universe.

I would like to upgrade both my cartridge and phono amp. I am willing to spend up to about $3k for the pair but am willing to move up or down a bit from there based on significant improvements in sound or a lack thereof. The cartridge will be new and the phono will be used. I have thoroughly searched the forum and have a few carts in mind but would like to get some informed opinions from you all on what combination would best suit me.

My current setup is as follows,
Speaker: Thiel 3.6
Amp: Parasound HCA-3500
Pre: Classe Cp-50
Digital: Esoteric X-03
Table: Spacedeck
Arm: Space Arm (The carbon fiber one)
Cartridge: Nottingham Tracer 1
Phono: Grado PH-1
System

Let me try to give a little description about what performance aspects I am looking for. I have had both tubes and solid state in my system before and I am open to either. I have found that I prefer my music to be coming from a dark abyss rather than from a live silence. My current setup has great tonality and is very listenable but lacks in absolute resolution, detail and staging. I would like more of each of these. It also works great for singe instruments and solos but when the whole band comes in it seems to get confused about where to place the instruments and how to distinguish between them.

Thanks in advance for helping guys.
cadence151
almarg's avatar
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almarg
9,670 posts
 
My current setup ... works great for single instruments and solos but when the whole band comes in it seems to get confused about where to place the instruments and how to distinguish between them.

Are you sure that isn't simply due to the source material? That sounds like it could be the result of the heavy processing and randomly phased mixing that seems to characterize many rock recordings, for instance.

Regards,
-- Al
driver's avatar
driver
750 posts
 
I'm going to respond to this simply from a gear perspective, as I used to own the Classe preamp. I've had at least 12 pre's in my system over the last 10 yrs, not counting the units I've auditioned. The Classe lasted less than 1 month.

There's a lot to be said about system synergy & the Classe just didn't work out for me. I'm getting clues from your last paragraph, where you talk about the specific attributes, or rather lack thereof. That's pretty much what I remember about the Classe.
cadence151 OP
21 posts
 
Axelwahl,
You are a smart man.

Almarg,
I have been debating whether this is due to the source like you said or the system and this trend seems to be consistent on the 4 albums I tried this morning, although they were all Pink Floyd. I'll dig out some others and get back with you.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,886 posts
 
Axel,

Good frightening will cost more than good relaxing most likely. Synergy from room to source components will take the OP the furthest regardless of end cost.

Bad frightening can be had easily. The ops digital apparently fits this bill.

If it's not relaxing then it will be frightening in a bad way.

Ive heard the Cambridge be quite relaxing and competent. Frightening in a good way requires adding muscle, power, current etc. via amp and speaker combo without losing the relaxation enabled at the source.

Regards,

Mapman
axelwahl
788 posts
 
Mapman
now I have to say: "you are a smart man also..."

I go along with EVERYTHING you just put. But now we are talking multi $$$$bucks. Obviously all a question of budget.
No way to try and get it all sorted by switching only one component --- too bad.

The trick is to identify your weakest link and start from there --- and I don't feel like making that call. (Hardly for myself :-)
A.
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