More Letters from Customers and Critics Alike
Hey Tom,
The way I found you, even though our universes shouldn’t overlap much, is an interesting story that no one but you – at at least no one in my orbit – would understand, so you get to hear it.
I’ve been pissed at the sound of recorded music since CDs showed up to the party. The way I look at it, CDs didn’t start to sound decent until the 90s, and I spent the preceding years going from one latest and greatest to the next, to no avail. They all sounded the same to me.
At the time, and I think this is important, I kinda sorta moved to the view that, well, that must be what it really sounds like (thin, small, strident etc.) It was extremely frustrating.
Then DVDs showed up, and I’m a movie guy, and it wasn’t too long before I had to go the home theater route which means paying for at least 5 speakers and their corresponding amp channels, plus subs. So that took up several years, and it was fine since the video fills in the missing parts in your brain it would seem.
Although I had a turntable at the time, I never used it as it was an old Dual (sp?) of my father’s. But I started buying fancy-pants reissues anyway. The Classic LSCs and such. Once in a while, pay attention here, I
I know what both orchestral and pop LSCs sound like. These didn’t, but I figured (this is so embarrassing) that, well, that must be what they really sound like. So I kept buying reissued vinyl, even though I wasn’t listening to them, because I knew one day I would.
Then, finally, I got a new turntable. It was so amazing to listen to my old favorite records again, after decades. Yeah, I’m wired a little differently. My reason for finally getting a turntable was 1) I really missed my old records and 2) I like 50s and 60s jazz, and there were a lot of reissue series in that area.
I still hadn’t learned anything apparently, because there I went, buying a bunch of reissues again. Listened to them once, appreciated them the way you do a piece of art in a museum and allowed myself to get sucked into that miniverse of other people’s opinions.
Even though my own ears said no, some part of my brain, which I suspect is a human failing that will ultimately doom us as a species, was saying yes, yes, yes, they’re supposed to sound that way.
Somewhere in there I decided to buy myself a decent mechanical watch, which introduced me to the concept of internet marketplaces. That led to discogs, which I had always been suspicious of, not understanding the concept.
And that led me to some guy selling tons of 70s reissues and some original jazz records. A pro, and mostly junk but I’m not that informed as a buyer, and the prices were okay, so I bought a bunch. Batted maybe .300. But those were pretty nice, some really nice.
It was an extreme experience to buy a record and then listen to it as if it were decades earlier. In other words, have a pretty good sounding record (original Contemporary/Pablo/Roulette/Savoy.)
Plus, and this is interesting to me, even if they sounded horrible, on some level they still hit my “real” button. Fancy reissues never do.
So tippy-toeing around in the collector’s world exposed me to you, and there you go. Please accept my sincere thanks for what you do. It’s changed my music listening life.
Erich
Erich,
Thanks for writing, Your story is a bit unusual, but it has much in common with some of the other letters we’ve received. Everyone just went with the plan for decades when the CD came along, then Heavy Vinyl and SACD and who knows what else.
None of it really satisfied, but it’s hard to know what the problem is when they keep telling you there is no problem.
I’m glad you stuck with it. We all have to stay on this journey if we want to get anywhere. I am glad to have helped you get back into music in a big way. It’s the most important thing in my world and I would be lost without good music in my life.
Best,
TP
Further Reading
- New to the Blog? Start here
- More Hot Stamper testimonial letters
- Record collecting for audiophiles from A to Z
