Hot Stamper Pressings of the Music of Berlioz Available Now
UPDATE 2026
Years ago we played a reissue of the title you see pictured which prompted us to make some observations and ask some questions about the approach the mastering engineer might have taken.
And this one comes complete with the bonus 7″ entitled “Berlioz Takes a Trip,” in which Bernstein explores the work “with musical illustrations by the New York Philharmonic.”
Clocking in at around 45 minutes, Symphonie Fantastique is a difficult work to fit onto a single LP, which means that the mastering engineer has three options when cutting the record:
- Compress the dynamics,
- Lower the level, or
- Filter the deep bass.
On this side two it seems that none of those approaches were taken by the engineer who cut this record in the early 80s — there’s plenty of bass, as well as powerful dynamics, and the levels seem fine.
How he do it? Who knows? Like so much in the world of records, it’s a mystery.
What’s Your Theory Then?
Side one, however, is bass shy. Did the engineer filter out the lower frequencies, or is it just a case of pressing variation being the culprit. Who can say?
If we had many more copies with these same stampers for side one, all with less bass, we might be able to draw a conclusion about that, one that might be highly probable but of course not dispositive, black swans being a regular part of our experience.
The very next copy we might find with those stampers could have plenty of bass.
Then we would be forced to say that our highly probable theory had been falsified conclusively.
So much for theories.
Which is one of the main reasons we avoid them. We play the records to find out how they sound. We don’t feel the need to theorize about them much.
We are more inclined to the No Theory approach to finding good records, which you can read about here.
We think the audiophile community would be better served by engaging in more critical listening and less theorizing, speculating and opining.
Skeptical thinking has been key to our success from the very start. To understand records, you need to think about them critically, assuming you plan on getting very far in this difficult hobby we have chosen for ourselves.
Side Two
Side two manages to convey more of the richness we were looking for in the strings and horns. The sound is clear and open and much less nasally than side one. It’s got the bass this work needs to really move you as a listener.
At least A++ Super Hot Stamper sound. Hard to know if it could get any better considering that it’s a Columbia recording. Most Columbia pressings in our experience do not even come close to this kind of natural, RCA-like sound. Let’s face it: the average Columbia classical LP is hardly listenable.
Side One
A+ to A++ Hot Stamper sound, with a wide stage that’s clear and open. The problem is the bass; there’s just not enough of it. If you can add a click or two of bottom end you will get a lot more out of this side one than we did. It’s not too bright, certainly not for a Columbia, but it is lean.
A great Symphonie Fantastique played to perfection, on pretty quiet vinyl no less.
With Mr. Bernstein himself telling you all about it.
This is an older classical/orchestral review.
Most of the older reviews you see are for records that did not go through the shootout process, the revolutionary approach to finding better sounding pressings we developed in the early 2000s and have since turned into a full-time practice for our staff of ten.
We found the records you see in these older listings by cleaning and playing a pressing or two of the album, which we then described and priced based on how good the sound and surfaces were. (For Hot Stamper listings, the sonic grades and vinyl playgrades are listed separately.)
We were often wrong back in those days, something we freely admit.
There is no reason to hide the fact that we know a great deal more now than we used to. Audio equipment and record cleaning technologies have come a long way since those darker days, a subject we discuss here.
100% of the records we offer on our site have been cleaned, then auditioned head to head against a number of other pressings under rigorously controlled conditions. We award the copies in the shootout sonic grades for each of their sides, and then condition check the best sounding ones for surface noise before listing them on the site.
As you may imagine, this approach requires a great deal of time, effort and skill, which requires a highly trained staff. No individual or business without the aid of such a committed group could possibly dig as deep into the sound of records as we have, and it is unlikely that anyone besides us could ever do the work we do, not at scale anyway.
The term “Hot Stampers” gets thrown around a lot these days, but to us it means only one thing: a record that has been through the shootout process and found to be of audiophile quality.
The result of our labor is the hundreds of titles seen here, every one of which is unique and guaranteed to be the best sounding copy of the album you have ever heard, or you get your money back.