Discuss your Audiophile lps

Gordon B · June-25th-2003, 07:15 PM

After a long delay, my Clearaudio Virtuoso Wood cartridge finally came and the analog playback system is all set up.

I bought my first 180 gram virgin vinyl lps from musicdirect.

Adderley- Something Else
Miles- FIlles de Kilimanjaro
Evans- Sunday at the Village Vanguard (I will compare with the SACD)
Trane- Live at Birdland
Roach- Percussion Bitter Suite
Chambers Brothers- The Time Has Come

and on its way
Art Ensemble- Great Black Music/Message to our Folks

I'll have comments after I listen to everything.

What are your favorite audiophile lps? Are any of the 45 rpms worth the price?

shrugs · June-25th-2003, 10:31 PM

I think the Mosaic Q lp's are very nice but most are OOP. Do not look past the early OJC pressings. Many good sounding ones and they usually sell for around $3 - $5 used. Do you have a used shop in the area?

willy · July-3rd-2003, 10:55 PM

All these audiophile LPs sound fantastic (IMO):

Miles: Kind of Blue (200g) Classic Records

Miles' 2nd Quintet box (Mosaic)

Ben Webster: Soulville (180g) Speaker Corners

Rollins: Saxophone Colossus (45 RPM LPs) Analogue Productions

Cannonball Adderley: Somethin' Else (200g mono) Classic Records

Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard (180g) Analogue Productions

Bill Evans: Waltz for Debby (45 RPM LPs) Analogue Poductions

Miles: Relaxin' (45 RPM LPs) Analogue Productions

Coltrane: Blue Train (45 RPM LPs) Classic Records

Tina Brooks: Back to the Tracks (45 RPM LPs) Classic Records

Lou Donaldson: Lou Takes Off (45 RPM LPs) Classic Records

Rollins: Way Out West (180g) Analogue Productions

Joe Henderson: Page One (180g) Blue Note

Clark Terry & Max Roach: Friendship (supposedly 180g, but I say maybe 160 at the most) Eighty-Eights

Lee Morgan: Candy (200g) Classic Records

Eric Dolphy: Out to Lunch (180g) Blue Note

Armstrong & Ellington: Together for the first time (200g) Classic Records

Also the Led Zeppelin 200g LPs from Classic Records sound incredible. I have the box set which has the first four LPs and Stairway to Heaven on a single sided 45 RPM LP. Hearing Stairway like this is amazing, even though everybody has heard the tune 10,000 already. I hear things (mostly with the guitars) that you just can't hear on the CD or original LP.

Gordon, the 45 RPM LPs are definitely worth it if you're willing to part with the cash. I can only comment on the ones that I own, but Waltz for Debby has never sounded better. I have the SACD as well and, while the SACD comes close, the 45s definitely have the edge in sound quality. In all honesty I have never heard this session sound bad. Even the original CD sounds damn good.

Back to the Tracks on 45's simply blow the Blue Note Connoisseur CD away as far as sound goes. It's not even close.

Miles Davis: Relaxin' sounds amazing on 45's.

Saxophone Colossus sounds wonderful. I haven't compared it to the SACD, but it definitely blows the doors off of the original CD.

Even on and old $150 Technics turntable that I have laying around can you hear the improvement in sound quality with these 45's.

If you want truly amazing sound quality give Waltz for Debby or Back to the Tracks a shot.

Gordon B · July-11th-2003, 10:25 PM

Willy, I'm playing the 180g stereo Somethin' Else now. It sounds great. The decay on Miles trumpet on Autumn Leaves is something not hearable on a cd.

A few days ago, in a record shop in Montreal, I saw a Technics SL-D2 table with a Shure cart, the same setup I had back in the early 80's. The VPI TNT Mk IV I recently bought used at Audiogon is much more revealing than any table I've previously owned.

I don't own any audiophile 45's yet nor any 200g lps. Is that as heavy as they get?

willy · July-12th-2003, 11:06 AM

I could be wrong, but I believe 200g is as heavy as they get. Is your Somethin' Else the one recently put out by Classic Records? I was under the impression that it was 200g. THe mono version I have is 200g. They released both the mono and stereo versions at the same time.

Compare it to your Sunday at the Village Vanguard. I bet it feels thicker and heavier.

Gordon B · July-12th-2003, 09:55 PM

There's a Japanese improv record just released that is 220g. I just read this today. It was posted to the electroacoustic music yahoo group by Troy Curry from Idea Records.

Tetuzi Akiyama
Don't Forget to Boogie!
12" LP
IDEA 2008

My "Somethin' Else" is supposed to be the stereo version from Classic records, hence 200g. I can't find anything in the label to indicate that but it does feel heavy and my e-receipt from Music Direct does say they shipped that one out to me. Willy, do you see the Classic Records recording # anywhere on the lp?

willy · July-13th-2003, 10:26 AM

No I don't. I looked on a few other Classic Records releases as well and I see nothing on the records, or the jackets either, that indicate these were done by Classic Records.

shrugs · July-13th-2003, 05:55 PM

do y'all change the VTF for thicker pressings? Some music it seems to make a difference but with a lot of others it doesn't.
Another thing, the dial on my EKOS II is at 1.7 but with a scale I am at 1.9. Just a word to the wise, a VTF gauge is worth it's weight in gold!!

Chazro · July-14th-2003, 10:31 AM

Wazzup Shrugs!

I went to a seminar presented by the President of Classic records and he sez that for optimal listening the VTA should definetely be adjusted for his 200 gram releases. What's VTF? I picked up Roy Orbison's - 'Only The Lonely'-mono version, 'Witches Brew' (Classical, not Miles

, and a Phil Woods/Gene Quill album. The sound from these records is lush and gorgeous. Maybe it's me, but if record albums are sexy (they are IMO) than these babies are the Pamela Anderson's of vinyl!!

shrugs · July-14th-2003, 01:52 PM

VTF is vertical tracking force measured in grams. Most carts are between 1.5 and 2.2.

shrugs · July-14th-2003, 01:55 PM

and if you dig Phil Woods, look for the PW 4tet live on Clean Cuts and the follow up More Live on Adelphi. The Tabackin/Woods lp is good too. I forget which label though. I believe the cover has reeds all over it.

wolff · July-21st-2003, 10:54 PM

Do not forget the Classic re-issues of Rollins' RCA output.
These are my favorite...RCA did super recordings back then and the re-issues sound great , too. They deserve the title "audiophile".

Gordon B · July-22nd-2003, 12:28 PM

I'm going to pre-order the Miles at the Blackhawk Mosaic set on 180g. It comes with $5 off coupons on True Blue's catalog. Are there any 180 vinyl lps worth picking up from them?

shrugs · July-22nd-2003, 03:37 PM

This Art Pepper:
http://truebluemusic.com/catalog/cat...PKTitleID=3224

I think there are a few more from the same reissue co.
I haven't heard them but they are worth looking into.

Or you could go crazy and get Monk's Riverside Tenor Sessions.

willy · July-22nd-2003, 10:05 PM

Some of the heavy vinyl that True Blue has, and that sound great:

Armstrong & Ellington: Together for the First Time
Count Basie: Atomic Basie
Dave Brubeck: Time Out
Sonny Clark: Cool Struttin'
Johnny Coles: The Warm Sound
Miles: Kind of Blue

willy · August-31st-2003, 11:37 PM

Bill Evans: Sunday at the Village Vanguard
Coleman Hawkins: Nighthawk

Just got both of these classics on 45 RPM LPs this week. This series by Analogue Productions is unbelievable. The sound quality is amazing.

Gary Sisco · September-9th-2003, 09:21 AM

I have the Complete Plugged Nickel session on 180 vinyl, nearly virgin. I played them once to make a high-quality tape recording before I have a chance to get them onto a CD-R by actual sets (which are divided across lps on the box). Maybe someday some young cat will pay for my groceries for a month when he wants to hear the real thing.