More of the Music of Blood, Sweat and Tears
Reviews and Commentaries for Blood, Sweat and Tears
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently. (Bold added by me.)
Hey Tom,
I have a Hot Stamper experience I would like to share. In February 2020, pre-covid restrictions, the Audio group I belong to had a meeting at an Audio vendor. I have been to a few, at other showrooms, but all visits were not what you would write home to mom about. I make sure I have two or three Hot Stampers with me to play on what is always very expensive equipment. Most of the time, surprisingly, they sound so-so. Or just BLAH. On equipment that cost so much more than what I have invested my system. Sometimes ten times as much. Even in brick and mortar stores the equipment is not always set up and tweaked very well. On two occasions the first thing I did when returning home was put my Hot Stamper on my system to make sure everything was right.
However the visit in Feb. 2020 was at the VPI listening house, and certainly was not one of those. A mile or two from their factory they have a sprawling ranch house with several listening rooms. All of the turntables are VPI, with a wide variety of electronics. Other equipment manufacturers were on hand to show off their stuff. All the rooms on the first floor sounded wonderful.
Then I wandered downstairs to the basement where a very impressive large horn speakers system was being listened to. The big McIntosh amp, 300 watts. And VPI’s top of the line turn table. $40k. Unknown cartridge. The music was house albums and sounded wonderful. Found a seat and listened for a while.
Then had the salesman put on one of the Hot Stampers I brought with me. BST. Without sounding spooky or spiritual, when the salesman lowered the tonearm on the LP, I swear it felt like time slowed down for a minute or two. I heard several gasps, comments like “oh my”, and I could not believe the sound that came out of those horns, provided by the BST Hot Stamper.
Only one cut was played on on the other albums. The whole side was played on BST. When it was over, the salesman took pictures of the album, both sides. I did not have the heart to tell him. Be well and safe guys.
Kevin
FURTHER READING
Basic Concepts and Realities Explained
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Important Lessons We Learned from Record Experiments
Key Tracks for Critical Listening