Whats on your turntable tonight?


For me its the first or very early LP's of:
Allman Brothers - "Allman Joys" "Idyllwild South"
Santana - "Santana" 200 g reissue
Emerson Lake and Palmer - "Emerson Lake and Palmer"
and,
Beethoven - "Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major" Rudolph Serkin/Ozawa/BSO
slipknot1
Hi Foster! We've been thinking about amp stands for some time, but have never moved forward until now. We're testing out some of Lloyd Walker's amp stands: 3" maple butcher block and Valid points. For a picture, see the 2005 Brutus Awards article at Positive Feedback Online (scroll down about 10 screens, with comments and more pics about 18 screens down).

We haven't compared these to any other alternatives, but the improvement has been so instantly apparent and so material, that I don't expect to pursue other options. Ann and I used the last 6 minutes or so of the 45 rpm Classic reissue of the Mercury/Firebird as our principal listening test. About 10 seconds after I dropped the needle, we looked at each other and said "Oh, yes." The rest of our listening has simply confirmed that first 10 second gestalt take. We're hooked. Lloyd has worked his magic again.
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Foster, I forgot to confirm that this is for the Atma-Sphere MA-2 amps, as you surmised. We also have an older home with thick oak flooring. Our speakers (Eidolons) are also spiked using Walker Audio Valid Points on resonance control discs, to very considerable improvement over the stock spikes. At this point, the 3" butcher block is sitting on some special variation of sorbothane that Lloyd has found to work in some applications better than he ever expected. We plan to next experiment with replacing the sorbothane with Valid Points on resonance control to see what change occurs.
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Tonight:

The Who, Who's Next (Classic Records reissue in great sound.)

The Doors, Morrison Hotel (German 180 gram reissue, mastered by Willem Makkee)

Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Gershwin Songbook, Volume 4 (Speakers Corner reissue)

Bach, Cantatas (BWV 1-4), Harnoncourt/ConMWien, Telefunken SKW 1/1-2
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Has anyone listened to the Queen: "Night at the Opera" reissue from EMI? Half-speed mastered, 180 gram. Does anyone know who mastered this or where it was pressed? The master tape is only mediocre, so I'm not prepared to pay the premium price for the oop DCC reissue of this, but I'd love to have a better sounding copy than my old domestic US pressing.
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Rush

I have not heard it or know who mastered it but someone on Steve Holffman's site stated they could not get through more than two songs. It is supposedly extremely bright sounding. More than likely it's been remastered in a digital workstaion, transferred to a DAT and cut from that. I would save up for the DCC and if that's not possible look for a UK original which is much cheaper. I also believe that it was issued a few years back when EMI was celebrating their 100th anniversary. They released various titles with some being from analog tapes and others from digital masters. According to some info I just found The EMI Millenium series LP CENT 1 TO 20 are digital and LP CENT 21 and on are analog. Queens's ANATO would be from a digital master since it's catalog number is LP CENT 12. Here is a partial discography for this title excluding the latest 30th edition.

LP EMI EMTC 103 UK
LP EMI DC-10 (France white vinyl)
LP EMI 5C 06297176 (Netherlands white vinyl)
LP EMI EMTC 102 (Israel, Hebrew text)
LP ELE 7E-1053 (US, Australia)
LP EMI P 10075 (Japan)
LP MFSL MFSL 1-067 (US, half speed remaster)
LP EMI LPCENT 12 (EMI 100th anniversary 1997, remastered)

Tom