santaabrax

Robert Brook Does His Own Shootout for Abraxas

More of the Music of Santana

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Santana

Robert Brook has a blog which he calls

A GUIDE FOR THE DEDICATED ANALOG AUDIOPHILE

Below is a link to a comparison Robert Brook carried out between some pressings of Abraxas – his own and a Hot Stamper pressing he managed to borrow from a friend.

We’ve written quite a bit about the Abraxas, played them by the score as a matter of fact, and you can find plenty of our Reviews and Commentaries for the album on this very blog.

ABRAXAS and Why We Cannot HACK The Hot Stamper

About a week from now I will address some issues I have with Robert Brook’s commentary, so stay tuned.

Here it is.

 

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Letter of the Week – “Why waste valuable time listening to a great record with a poor pressing…?”

More of the Music of Santana

Reviews and Commentaries for the Music of Santana

One of our good customers had this to say about some Hot Stampers he purchased recently:

  Hey Tom, 

I get it. most people probably want to feel good that whatever they are listening to is the best there is since that is what their ears are telling them (or to justify what they paid). The heavy vinyl craze is a perfect example. I recently heard a copy of the MoFi One Step Pearl. I could not get through side one–Janis’s vocals were ear piercing. And the on line crowd for some reason love it? And $3K for a One Step Abraxas? Crazy.

I am just happy you guys are still in business making it so much easier for folks like me to know what they are getting. Why waste valuable time listening to a great record with a poor pressing on an expensive system. I also appreciate that when I have a great recording (eg, Close to Edge) and if there is a playback issue, it provides a litmus test to troubleshoot my setup.

Keep up the great work!

It’s 100% collector mentality frenzy. Man, I could beat their pressing with one hand tied behind my back, and I sure don’t charge 3k!

We will keep up the good work, you can count on that.

TP

Abraxas – A True Demo Disc in the World of Rock Recordings

More of the Music of Santana

This is a true Demo Disc in the world of rock records. It’s also one of those recordings that demands to be played LOUD. If you’ve got the the big room, big speakers, and plenty of power to drive them, you can have a LIVE ROCK AND ROLL CONCERT in your very own house.

Size

One of the qualities that we don’t talk about on the site nearly enough is the SIZE of the record’s presentation. Some copies of the album just sound small — they don’t extend all the way to the outside edges of the speakers, and they don’t seem to take up all the space from the floor to the ceiling. In addition, the sound can often be recessed, with a lack of presence and immediacy in the center.

Other copies — my notes for these copies often read “BIG and BOLD” — create a huge soundfield, with the music positively jumping out of the speakers. They’re not brighter, they’re not more aggressive, they’re not hyped-up in any way, they’re just bigger and clearer.

And most of the time those very special pressings just plain rock harder. When you hear a copy that does all that, it’s an entirely different listening experience.

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