NGC - 1980 Pioneer stereo // Benatar vs Chicago albums

[ohiorider]

I'm sure one of you folks that still spin vinyl will have an answer.

I had my old Pioneer entry level component system refurbished in 2013, and still enjoy playing some old 1980 albums on it.

What puzzles me is ........ why the difference in sound quality between say, Pat Benetar album vs a Chicago album from the same era (approximately.)  The Benetar album (In the Heat of the Night) is crisp, with strong base and treble, while the Chicago album is flat.  Was there a change in stamping /recording technology during that period?  Lots of variables.

I have a later Chicago album that plays and sounds really nice (Chicago 16.)

Bob

[PJPR01]

Presumably you have cleaned the vinyl with the appropriate liquid and roller cleaner? 

Possibly it's been played so many times, the physical grooves are worn out...

Try with another needle and see if it sounds any different, if not...the vinyl is shot...

[oldbike54]

 If is Chicago at Carnegie Hall there isn't anything to be done . The horns sound like kazoos , Kath's guitar seems to be recorded from a different room , Lamm's organ is lost in the noise , and Cetera apparently wasn't even there .

 Dusty

[Idontwantapickle]

Later pressings of older stuff may have been made with worn dies or lesser grade material. Or you just got a bad one, maybe a "cold" press struck that one. Lots of variables in the vinyl record process!
I do love to spin the vinyl. Many really good albums lost the character of their careful recording production when converted to digital. Like The Moody Blues album Days of Future Passed, it really was better on vinyl.
Hunter

[oldbike54]

 Bob , if ya wanna here what an absolute and complete assemblage of monsters those 7 guys were , listen to the live recording made at Tanglewood .

 Dusty

[brider]

Did that Chicago album have a history of reviewers saying the engineering was "off" or the recording "flat"? I think any particular album (or any recording, really) could suffer from the original way it was engineered, but like the others have said, the condition of your particular vinyl may be to blame.

One old original from "back in the day", Black Sabbath's Paranoid, the song Paranoid, has always sounded to me like someone made a mistake and had the controls set wrong when the tapes were made. The guitar solo sounds muddied and awful, definitely NOT showcasing Tony Iomi's talent. I love the band and the song, but cringe every time I hear the solo.

Interesting topic. I have hundreds of old discs I have collected from back when I was a teen, and I always made an attempt to use a Discwasher  most times I spun them, which had to be thousands of times for some of them by now. I can't say that any have degraded sound from playing, other than the delightful pops and tics that are inevitable with that many spins and 5 years of college beer parties.

[Rough Edge racing]

 I haven't played vinyl or even CD's in a long time. I listen to FM and Pandora.....I do remember some albums do seem flat....Probably the band's preferences...Pando ra sounds flat compared to FM...I recently bought a new Yamaha receiver/amp, nothing exotic, about 300 bucks ,100 amps a channel...Playing through 70's Cerwin Vega speakers with the woofers replaced 20 years ago...What a difference compared to the 25 year old Onyko I had, the sound seems to jump out now...