Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Led Zeppelin Available Now
One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:
Hey Tom,
Just had a chance to listen to my new hot stamper. Wow! What a revelation compared to every other copy I have heard.
Quiet vinyl, huge soundstage, great tonal balance, amazing level of detail. Sounds even better when cranked up as you know : ).
Been waiting for this one for a while and it has been so worth it! Thanks again!
Rob
Rob,
So happy to hear that you enjoyed it as much as we did. Like you say, the louder the better, and only a top quality pressing will let you turn up the volume as loud as your system can play.
One reason the turn up your volume test is such a great test is simply that as the problem gets louder, it doesn’t take long until it is painful to ignore. Records that are full of phony detail — especially those of the audiophile variety — cannot be played at realistic levels without their artificiality inducing discomfort, even pain, in the listener.
At moderate levels their wacky EQ may compensate for effects that Fletcher and Munson discovered (the kind of EQ that works much like the loudness control on a vintage receiver). However, once the volume goes up, they are like naked swimmers at the beach who find themselves exposed when the tide goes out.
Thanks for your letter,
TP
P.S.
Like Rob, some of our other customers have written us letters about our Hot Stamper pressings being revelatory, and we know exactly what they mean. We heard them ourselves, in a shootout, head to head with other copies.
That’s the only way to know — for sure — if any copy is the real deal.
In the past, we’ve stumbled upon plenty of copies of famous albums that blew our minds. We call them breakthrough pressings, and they are the kinds of records we live for around here.
The fact that they are often not from the “right” country, or far from original, as was the case with the Zep record we sent Rob, demonstrates that most of what passes for collector knowledge is absurdly incomplete, or downright wrong.
Either way, it is without question unreliable, regardless of what the posters on the various audiophile forums may tell you.
Further Reading
- Jimmy Page makes a mess of his Masterpiece
- Building a store of knowledge, one record at a time
- How can you tell when the conventional wisdom is wrong?
