Reissue 180 grms vs original issue

I'm sorry, but I have to disagree with many of the above posters. Speaker's Corner has done occasional good work, but almost none of those records compare with original Mercury FRs or Decca wide-band deep groove pressings. Timbre, warmth, richness, musicality are generally lacking, in favor of CD-like detail and (to me) artificially wide soundstage and an empty, hollow midband. That's at its best - who knows what SC were thinking (or Wilma Cozart Fine for that matter) when they reissued the Mercuy/Dorati Respighi 'Birds' - the original is one of the great recordings of the golden age of stereo - the SC sounds like it was recorded under water, or rather under a fountain of syrup.

Doug may be right that the original Decca engineers would have been happy to use 'advanced cutting technology,' but I'm happy they used original Neumann cutting heads and tubed mastering labs. I wouldn't trade a single of my original SXLs for all the reissues currently on the Acoustic Sounds website. And contrary to popular belief, plenty of them are inexpensive.

Patrickamory, it's clear you haven't heard the Espana reissue, however true (or not) your general comments are. And that was the original poster's question.

I suspect that some of these conflicting observations are due to system differences, not to mention taste. Some of the Classic Records reissues I have seem very bright, and my system is anything but, although very revealing. These same LPs played on a less than stellar system that errrors on the bright and thin side can sound unlistenable to me. I have always been interested in the variation in standards when visiting different rooms at CES, other dealers show rooms and the homes of customers and friends.

It's true, I haven't heard the Espana reissue.

Well, in any case, either original or 180gr or 200gr reissue, they are much better than cd or sacd. Enjoy!