RCA Living Stereo

I own many RCA Living Stereo recordings, and I agree, some sound spectacular. I found a crap load in decent condition at a record store near where I work. I think I bought like 15 of them in one shot there, paying on average $3.99 per Lp. Others I acquired from both Ebay and discogs.

One thing I have learned is that on occasion, the white dog labels sound better than the shaded dog....for instance Sheherazade...

The Phase 4 Lp's sound great as well, I pick them up whenever I come across them in good condition. 

That was the golden age of vinyl. High quality hifi sound was a new thing then that sold and all the record companies marketed their own brand of cutting edge sound.    RCA was a big name back then!

That was a special time. These days most people pay little attention to sound quality. That alone will sell little. People could care less. That’s ok. It is what it is. Those who do care can feast on more great recordings than ever and more produced every day. The times they are always a changing.

There was real completion for higher fidelity in the 50’s. Before stereo I have a lot of Hi-Fidelity albums boasting of greater fidelity leading up to stereo. For me, unfortunately no mater how high fidelity is… if it is not stereo it doesn’t keep my interest. But the 50’s was a great time on advancement in high fidelity.

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I don't know what you're used to listening to, but RCA is by far the absolute worst manufacturer I've ever heard on LP.  The sound quality is very poor, and the engineering is as bad.  Supposedly, the shaded dog LP's are better quality RCA LP's, and the white dog about the worst, as RCA's focus on quality went to zero very quickly, and shaded dog are earlier than white dog.  Supposedly, some very early RCA, which I suppose could be some of the Living Stereo LP's are the best RCA LP's, but I have found that they are very bad for the music that I listen to: classical, acoustic, etc. 

As more of a jazz aficionado and a some time classical music listener, I cannot agree that RCA are the worst among vintage LP brands. Although some recordings are not very good for sure. (I am trying now to think what brand is categorically worse than RCA. I personally always disliked Deutsche Gramophone for their shrillness, and for jazz, nothing sounds worse than Roulette.  I usually did not care for Angel recordings pressed in the USA; UK pressings were much better.) I actually like some of the Dynagroove recordings. Heifitz plays the Sibelius Violin Concerto was excellent, or so I thought. Or was it Heifitz per se who could overcome anything and blow your mind?