Any advice on buying quality vinyl

@voiceofvinyl,

I must be one lucky fellow then. You made me go and play a number of my early LSC's and the background is just silent. For the record, I have cleaned all my classical records in three steps: Vinylzyme Gold, Quality Service cleaning fluid (a Dutch product) and purified water for rinsing on a VPI 16.5. A tedious and time consuming process, but I've learned that this first step with the enzyme mixture is crucial in removing organic contamination that builds up over the years on those old records, especially if stored in damp surroundings. Perhaps this first step has been particularly beneficial to those RCA's.

I'm sure you know that during the 70's the pressing, mastering and (perhaps) recording technology improved considerably with labels like Decca and HMV. To some extend this also applies to DGG, especially some of the 70's recordings made in Boston with Ozawa come close to the Decca benchmark. As much as we all love the late 50's early 60's performances by Ansermet, Cluytens, Klemperer et al, but the technology of the day was limited.

In contrast RCA engineering and sonics took a big step back with Dynagroove and Dynaflex. The same trend can be observed with Mercury and Columbia. Might it be true that US record labels reacted differently to mass market forces than did their European counterparts? I dunno, but this Atlantic divide is curious to say the least.

BTW I'm just a collector and with classical records I've reached saturation point many years ago, so there's no agenda here.

Contact Mike Fremmer he knows this stuff every well.

Voiceofvinyl,agree with just about everything you say.The red shaded dog RCA living stereo's are the most frustrating to clean,it would be interesting to compare our cleaning results out on the track.Most of mine play quiet only after extensive 4 to 5 cleanings.They need to be reversed dredged cleaned.Some of mine were fairly quiet and got horrible after cleaning,this crud would clog the stylus with terrible noise.I had to work on one 5 times to get it manually cleaned and replayed but it turned into a different recording,much better depth and soundstage.I love my final product and compared to DGG and any reissues they are unlistenable.I find most of the Dynagrooves certainly not up to the black label earlier ones.Surprisingly one Camden does sound remarkably good out of my bunch.It amazes me just how much better almost any stereo RCA LP sounds with extensive multiple cleanings compared to what I thought they were only after one I did years ago.They went from ho hum to a new plain of performance,incredible for 60 year old vinyl.Great to read your extensive posts.

Cleaning is very, very important. I have had similar experiences with older records and have a dedicated turntable just to dredge out the stuff in the grooves that was loosened, but not removed, with cleaning. Sometimes I have to clean my stylus 2-3 times while playing after cleaning. The work invested makes it worth it for some treasured LP's.

I am by no means an expert on recording and mastering and the changes in the industry from the late 50's through the 1970's. Some of my audiophile friends here in Connecticut seem to be. They say that a lot of the recordings made in the late 50's/early 60's are spectacular precisely because their was less technology involved. The miking was simple (not a "forest of mics"), recordings were two-track and on tube-driven equipment. The dynamics of the original were preserved because there was little, or no, compression used, especially with the DECCA and other UK labels. Steve Hoffman claims there is a “breathe of life” in these simpler, early pressings. My listening to these seems to confirm this. Some early DECCA stereo pressings are startling in their realism.

On the DGG red stereo "Alle H" pressings from the late 50's and early 60's and their sonics, I will just maintain that my experience differs from others. I have found some to be world-class...... and black quiet. Some of the DG pressings are excellent as you noted.

The general opinion I have read is that Dynagroove (tech) destroyed the sonics for those with high-end systems, but improved the sonics for those with low-end or mid-fi systems. I am always running into advice that says if you're playing a Dynagroove record with an elliptical stylus (which came into popular use shortly after the introduction of Dynagroove) that you should switch out the cartridge and use one with a conical stylus with a .7 mil spherical tip to get a better audio experience from them.