Hot Stampers and Audio Progress Go Hand in Hand
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased a while ago:
Hey Tom,
These last few days have showed me that your “Hot Stampers” are not only a marvellous medium to enjoy music in a far superior way, but also are very very helpful as reference test records.
A short time ago I received my new speakers, many steps higher in performance than my previous ones. At the same time I made heavy changes to my turntable. I installed a better tonearm and cartridge and also tried a new plinth.
The result, as you can guess, was the need to realign the system from the bottom up. An annoying undertaking if it were not for all the “Hot Stampers” I’ve had the chance to get hold of. Knowing where the journey should go made it much easier to apply all the tricks I usually make use of.
And as you’ve pointed out several times, the upgraded setup made it possible to hear my “Hot Stampers” sound better than ever before.
Klaus M.
Klaus,
Hot Stampers are ideal for getting your system tweaked and tuned to perfection. We’ve been known to use some ourselves for that very purpose.
For the longest time our favorite test discs have been these three:
(I was the only guy on the listening panel using Bob and Ray, by the way. I have played that record easily 500 or more times. Our listening guys are much younger than I am and prefer numbers two and three. Naturally, those work fine too.)
We cannot emphasize enough that, as much as love rock and jazz records for testing, classical and orchestral recordings are much more difficult to reproduce, and represent the ultimate tests for any system. If you don’t know what live orchestral music should sound like, and you don’t have any amazingly good vintage classical records, in many ways you are flying blind. There is a great deal more to be said on this subject, most of which has been said in reviews and commentaries for individual records — see here and here and a whole lot more here — and I hope to write more in time about the value of orchestral music in helping audiophiles improve the quality of their playback.
We are in the process of making some lists (more lists!) for records we’ve found to be good for testing, tweaking and tuning your system, your room and your front end, among other things. You may want to check them out.
- Favorite jazz test discs
- Favorite orchestral test discs
- Favorite rock and pop test discs
- Still more of our favorite test discs
These are the records that challenged me and helped me to achieve more progress in audio. If you want to improve your stereo, these are some of the best records we know of to help get you to the next level.
Our good customer Robert Brook uses his Hot Stamper pressings to work on his system and swears by them,
Thanks for your letter,
TP
Further Reading
- More Hot Stamper testimonial letters
- Record collecting for audiophiles from A to Z
- Some customers find their Hot Stamper pressings are a revelation
