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Re: [ARSCLIST] My response to--Re: [78-l] Viva vinyl
Hi Phillip:
Well first of all, I'd say the phool is the one who does business twice with outfits like you
describe. Perhaps you should invest your cash in a really good CD player ;) -- actually, I'm
serious.
Also, about your statement regarding Japan. Do some research on the state of the Japanese economy
circa late 50's and early 60's. There was NO hifi industry nor a market for stereo records nor
audiophile pressings. You're 10 years too early. The Japanese miracle happened after the Mercury
Living Presence heyday.
I very much agree about our friend Stan's work. His Miles Davis reissue box from Analogue
Productions is something to behold.
-- Tom Fine
----- Original Message -----
From: "phillip holmes" <insuranceman@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 9:33 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] My response to--Re: [78-l] Viva vinyl
Well, you'd find out when you tried to return your $30 POS reissue that customer service is very
poor. The worst offender is Classic Records. The sound is usually worse than the original
(bright enough to strip paint) and I've seen multiple pressing defects (warps, scratches, bubbles,
etc..). That's not to say that all the audiofool, oops, I mean audiophile pressings are crap.
Anything mastered by Stan Ricker or Steve Hoffman will be as good or usually much better than the
original. Steve has a museum like collection of tape decks and other equipment to get the right
sound on every reissue. If it was recorded on Ampex, it's played back on Ampex. If it was
recorded with tube or transistor, he can duplicate that on playback too. His mastering is like a
period recreation on steroids. After the mastering engineer, it's a crapshoot as to whether or
not you'll get a good pressing. The guys out in Nashville (is that right?) do a great job pressing
good flat centered vinyl. For all the bologna, RTI is iffy sometimes. I did have very good
results from the 220 gram reissues from Mobile Fidelity. I can't remember any that were off
center, warped or bad vinyl. Now, the very best pressings ever done were JVC. Those were the
guys who pressed the first Mobile Fidelity productions, and did many great jazz reissues from the
'80s. Perfect pressings in my opinion. Flat, durable, translucent virgin vinyl. They were 140 or
160 grams, but are the best I've ever seen. Some other Japanese plants were nearly as good.
Trio/Kenwood were killer. Sony was so much better than the Columbia pressings as to be
preposterous. It's a shame that Robert and Wilma Fine didn't have all their stuff issued in Japan
as well (although Piros was probably better than his Japanese counterpart). OH, I shouldn't forget
guys like Nimbus in England.
Phillip
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Fine" <tflists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <ARSCLIST@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, June 09, 2006 6:17 PM
Subject: Re: [ARSCLIST] My response to--Re: [78-l] Viva vinyl
Guys, are you talking about old/out of print off-center records or new purchases? I'd damn well
demand a refund for that $30 "audiophile virgin 200g pressing" if it were off-center! As for old
records, better to not obsess and look for another copy in the stacks. Most reputable plants back
in the day pressed most records OK. Some smaller labels had constant quality issues, but then I'd
call most of those records a lost cause anyway due to one or more of the following: