RCA Living Stereo

@audioguy85

Here is a link to a more informed thread about all the various RCA pressings, and nuances:

RCA-Victor Shaded Dog / White Dog LP pressing question... | Steve Hoffman Music Forums

Over the years I have listened to a thousand plus LSC records, and compared back to back often more than dozen different copies of the same album in one sitting. On systems that got huge grins and thumbs up from seasoned audiophiles.

Here's my brief opinion about LSC in a few bullet points:

*The sound quality ranges from ABYSMAL to STELLAR, even for the same album. So, if you heard a copy, it could have been anywhere on the spectrum. Don't judge all based on a single experience.

*You MUST look at the deadwax, and learn how to read it. It will tell you with almost certainty whether it will sound superb or junk. There's also individual variations per albums, but the deadwax will tell you with 90+% accuracy what you can expect.

*Records pressed in the Indianapolis plant are the best. Very rare to find big disappointments from them.

*Records pressed in the Hollywood plant: I sadly learned that when I see the H stamped in the deadwax, better to let that go without a listen. Even if it's a first pressing in mint condition, a mid pressing Indiana will sound noticeably much better. I keep them only when there's no Indy pressing.... although in such cases, when only H mastered and pressed a more limited album, they did a much better job compared to just keeping up the numbers on a best-seller when Indy was maxed out.

*Early versus late pressing makes all the difference with LSC. First lacquers tend to be jaw-droppers, 2nd through 4th pretty good, 5th-9th oookay, 10th plus mediocre at best...sadly, I have seen lacquers in the high 30- 40 count, even 60! Anything above 20th lacquer or so is pure junk, not even the shade of an early lacquer. When I listened to such lacquers back to back, I often have to double check whether the album covers got mixed up, as a 2nd lacquer VS a 30th lacquer will sound as a completely different recording, different performers playing different music. Very early VS very late: there is a TREMENDOUS information loss with RCA, MUCH WORSE than Philips, Decca, EMI... etc. With other labels early pressings are still quite a bit a step up, but I have never seen then use such worn out lacquers and stampers as RCA does.

*The earlier LSCs (Shaded dog et al) used high quality vinyl. Later on, as vinyl got more expensive RCA started cutting the budget and used less, and much lower quality vinyl to press. Hence, the Dynagroove frisbies are quite noisy (loud noisefloor) in comparison to the Shaded dogs. 

*The early LSCs relied heavily on the ingenuity of the cutting engineer to transfer amazing dynamics to the record. (You might have heard of the name of George Piros, a legend in the industry.) Later on theycomputerized the process, so the cutting lathe was automatically controlled by a computer instead of the cutting engineer. (Mind you, there were only a few cutting engineers for the entire recording industry who could cut with exceptional dynamics.) The computerized process was a hit-or-miss, largely miss. Was called Dynagroove. Dynagroove used automatically controlled cutter optimization to squeeze more music onto a single side, but was not as good at cutting exceptional dynamics. Combined with the poor vinyl quality used, this often led to serious audible deficiencies. Comparing the Dynagroove re-releases of the earlier Shaded Dogs, I always found that the Dynas were a very very far cry. Yet, if you have a very late lacquer Shaded dog, it might sound worse than a first lacquer Dyna. Compare two first lacquers of Shaded Dog / Dyna, and in every case you will donate the Dyna to a less involved music lover. 

*Just because it's Dynagroove, it might not sound bad. Heard a few excellent Dynas. The pre-requisites: pressed in Indiana and early lacquers.

*Q: Are LSCs colored, or what? => A: Phono EQ is vital. If your phono stage plays EMI or early Columbia with perfect tone and timre and spatial and dynamics contrasts, then it is guaranteed that the LSCs will sound colored and mushed, often even distorted. This is true for every label, every record: to tell whether it's of high or low recording quality, you MUST play it back with the proper EQ curve. In case you are wondering about proper EQ for LSC, RCA made public their recommended phono circuitry to play back their albums with. (Google up RCA phono, easy find). Build it with high(est) quality parts, with an excellent power supply, and perhaps you will be very much surprised if you think of LSC as lowly.

Have fun! ;

@edcyn Yes, I too am a fan of Musica Antiqua Köln but sadly they are no longer. I lived in Nippes Köln (the outer ring) as a graduate student. I love that city and still listen via stream WDR 3 consistently. I wanted to also add that Archive Productions released a number of 7 inch 45's and they sound amazing. I'm aware that much of the AP catalogue has been transferred to CD but I am a skeptic just because the vinyl is so rich and clear.

Does anyone have experience with the Soviet Russian label Melodia? I have a nice sounding LP of the Ukrainian State Philharmonic. Was just wanting to hear your thoughts.

@realworldaudio I've played some really good sounding Dynagroove pressings. I believe Lewm stated the same. I never got excitement from playing RCA Victor Shaded Dog pressings. Maybe it's because of all the filtering that was originally used but the Analogue Production reissues crush the originals. At least on my stereo.

@realworldaudio

Wow… that is some in depth knowledge on a pretty esoteric subject. Also, really interesting. Thank you for your post. It is typical for any label to have variable sound quality. Although some are better than others. I do remember one or two having high levels of surface noise. I’ll have to look at them more carefully.

Also, you reminded me of different equalization curves… which my phono stage has as an option. I’ll have to be careful to use them.

Thank you for the info.

@realworldaudio nice post!  Will keep all that in mind.