Mercury Living Presence

i own at least 20 mlp cds.

i would say, that i could name several labels which offer "better", i.e., more natural sound.

here is a list of some labels to consider.

alpha, naive, mirare, accent, astree,glossa, alia vox, harmonia mundi, and telarc.

the point is, the mercury cds are ok, but not of the caliber of many other labels.

MLP and Telarc is an interesting comparison that I am familiar with.

I do not think I would ever mistake any recording I have heard on either label for the other. Apples/oranges. I associate Telarc with mostly digitally mastered recordings whereas MLP in their day was 100% analog (with later masterings in the 90s to these CDs).

Fascinating how such different beasts can still both sound very good.

Analog warmth, soundstage and dynamics are the hallmarks of the best MLP recordings. I do not necessarily consider these to be more strictly natural sounding in timbre, but most enjoyable and involving regardless.

MLP recordings sound very good on my OHMs in particular due to the simple miking techniques used in most/many. The soundstage is absolute top notch in regards to size and positioning of instruments within and that allows a lot of natural detail and a high degree of musical involvement. In this regard, I would say the closest sounding modern recordings I know of are those on the Mapleshade label, which employs similar production values in regards to how performances are miked. Still I doubt I would confuse a Mapleshade with a MLP recording. Two different beasts from two different eras still.

 

Nice.  Love your setup. You must be proud!   Thanks for resurrecting old thread!  
 

 

Mercury and Everest are similar in the way they both recorded with 35mm tape. Mercury and Everest also share the distinction of audiophile recordings pressed on cheap vinyl. My advice would be to purchase remastered cd’s or remastered and repressed vinyl. Now there may be a difference where it pertains to the original early mono pressings. However, I’ve had trouble finding original mono pressings that  aren’t so chewed up that they’re unplayable.