12" 45 RPM records: What's the story?

the 'dance club' 45's are all over the board in quality.....mostly bad.

I would agree that they are all over the board (so true of all recorded music whatever the media but especially pop....a real mixed bag).

However, I would point out that in comparison to the LP's produced at or around the same time, I often found the 45's sounded better than their LP counterpart...

Are dance club goers sensitivities less discerning of high quality sound reproduction than audiophiles?

I have to think about that one. Admittedly, I have not been to a club recently, but in younger days, when my hearing was at its very best, the top high end club systems in the big city (where you had to line up for hours as well as pay to get in)....well....their sound systems sure impressed me!

In fact this alone probably started me on the quest for a better home sound system as NONE of the big city audiophile stores came close in terms of exhilarating accuracy at high SPL's....I recall Blue Monday (New Order), Two Tribes (Frankie) and many other tracks that just blew me away....especially the accuracy in the hard to produce bass frequencies.

...and I don't mean boominess as top end clubs really had great gear...plus they had the advantage of packed crowds to absorb the longer reverberations. As Sabine put it...one person is roughly acoustically equivalent to 8 cushions in a lecture hall ;-)

Yes, reissues 45s are better than their 33.3 originals. More dynamic and transparent. They take two records to equal one record in 33.3 and thus why they were not issued that way. LPs were issued because they could provide 30 minutes of music per side.

No has to buy them Audioieool! BUT if you care about good sound, I would recommend them. I have perhaps twenty of them and I have yet to hear one that is not far and away better than the original LP.

I'm not talking about dance club issues, but decent Classic Reissues, or MoFi stuff. Buy one and hear the difference. If it's not markedly better, you learned your lesson. The version of "St James Infirmary" from Satchmo Plays King Oliver is just unreal, or maybe I should say too real. Give it a try...

I do not agree that "most (not 100%) are dramatically better than the original pressings in every aspect".

That is pure hyperbole.

Some are better; most are not. Save a second or third issue, my entire collection of 5000+ is comprised of original pressings spanning 1957-present.

I own three dozen of these 45RPM reissues. To a large extent, IMO, they are a waste of money. I believe you are better served seeking out pristine originals. YMMV

Some (45's) are better; most are not....my entire collection of 5000+ is comprised of original pressings spanning 1957-present

Well that doesn't match my experience but I never got close to 5000 LP's

I also used to buy import Japanese pressings of good LP's that I liked...expensive to own the same LP twice but I honestly felt there was an improvement in the better pressing quality.

I must admit that this is a long time ago and I can't be absolutely sure if my findings were not related to wear and tear on the originals too as I never compared brand new with brand new...although some North American pressings were obviously bad (light weight and they had warps in them)

...my TT rig was like $300 dollars (as a student)....nothing like the beauties most of you Analog guys own on these forums... that might be a factor too...just my two cents