[Dick Pierce[_2_]]

Audio_Empire wrote:
Due to a peculiar competition between record companies of late, which
has been named "the loudness wars" by the industry press, most modern
CD releases (and even re-releases) are so drastically compressed in
volume that they have less dynamic range than a cheap LP of the
1970's.

Well it depends upon what "most" means. In terms of sheer numbers,
"most" means primarily pop-oriented releases and, yes, "most" of
them and thus "most" CDs are compressed.

But I find that "most" classical CD releases do not suffer this
unfortunate fate.

I was able to finally grab (becasue, after waiting about 15 years,
I finally looked) the complete set Beethoven Symphonies conducted
by Ansermet with the L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande on Decca.
VERY satisfactory set, and compared the 7th to my almost pristine
LP copy from the early 70s, and my opinion is that every last bit
of dynamic range on the LP is available on the CD, 'cept for the
lack of surface noise.

This is true of the the vast mojority of my classical CDs.

Perhaps classic music represents such a small part of the total
market that they're not worth spending any time or effort
"improving" them, save the same is true of more recent
recordings.

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+--------------------------------+
+ Dick Pierce |
+ Professional Audio Development |
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