Hot Stamper Pressings of Decca Recordings Available Now
The sound we were hearing on this pressing of the Beethoven Septet (CS 6132) during a recent shootout was both rich and sweet, with easily recognized, unerringly correct timbres for all seven of the instruments heard in the work.
The legendary 1959 Decca tree microphone setup had worked its magic once again.
And, as good as it was, we were surprised to discover that side two was actually even better!
The sound was more spacious and more transparent. We asked ourselves, how is this even possible?
Hard to believe, but side two had the sound that was TRULY hard to fault.
This is precisely what careful shootouts and critical listening are all about.
Shootouts are the only way to answer the most important question in all of audio: “compared to what?”
Without shootouts, how can you begin to know what are the strengths and weaknesses of the copies you own?
The vast majority of our Shootout Winning pressings fall short in one way or another on one side, something we have lately been making more of an effort to highlight on the blog.
Now, if you are a fan in general of modern Heavy Vinyl pressings, what exactly is your frame of reference? How many good early pressings of those same titles could you possibly own, and how were they cleaned?
Without the best pressings around to compare, Heavy Vinyl might sound fine.
It’s only when you have something better to play that its faults come into clearer focus.
And if you have any of these titles and they sound fine to you, this is a situation that requires your immediate attention!
Moon and Gray
The famous Moon and Gray London/Decca guide raves about this title, scoring it for music and sound at a grade if 9 out of 10 for each. I don’t always agree with their estimates — knowing that they could not possibly have the number of copies necessary to definitively judge the vast majority of titles they’ve written about, how would I? — but here I would agree completely.
A nearly flawless recording with a performance to match.
Further Reading