[LAU] Questions from an audiophile to some engineers

There is something that has been bothering me for a long time that i have never recieved a satisfactory answer to. I keep asking audiophile people like myself, and it only just occurred to me that i have this whole list of audio engineers here to pester..er..ask. Why is it that most of my CD's suck as far as recording quality? Now, don't bite me, i'm not talking about you folks. I know all of your recordings are awesome! *nods wisely* As i mentioned in another thread, i am in the process of purchasing an audio system: Gallo Accoustic Reference 3.1 speakers, Bel Canto ref 1000 mono bloc amps, and my computer+RME HDSP aes-32+ RME adi-8qs for the front end. This system is *very* revealing of recording quality and you can hear minute changes at the boards. They have really shown me which of my discs are recorded well and which are recorded badly Here's the kind of thing i'm complaining about: If i listen to a well regarded recording like Mile's Davis' "A Kind of Blue" the sound stage is spread out, the drums and piano have weight, and the cymbols have shimmer. Then when i put on one of my heavy metal or popular cds the sound stage colapses to a very smal area right between the speakers (live recording or not), the kick drums and piano sound almost wet and the cymbols are cut short. I have almost 700 cds now (ripped lossessly to my hard drive with flac). It occurred to me that once this system is in my house i'm gonna start playing the discs that are well recorded instead of all of it. That means that about two thirds of my music is gonna be not played so much. Sad. So, my question to you is what causes these bad recordings most of the time? Is it musicians who can't afford good producers and equipment? Are kick drums, ambiance and cymbols hard to capture? Is it compression to make things sound "louder"? Are they saving money by mixing for low-end systems figuring no one will care? As far as the compression goes, would i do better to buy vinyl and master it to my hard drive or is the compression done before the mastering to vinyl takes place? Any comments, ideas? Thanks, Bearcat M. Sandor Audiophile not Engineer