Beatles Mono VINYL Box Set - 8th September 2014 Release Date (Part 7)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Joel Cairo, Aug 30, 2014.

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  1. Tombby

    Tombby Forum Resident

    Granted, the mono 45 wasn't clean, but IMO, it had more energy & more lifelike horns than the mono CD.

    Back to dull for a second. All the mono discs left me wanting. In comparing say, the mono White Album CD to the 80's stereo CD, I thought the stereo is more involving. SP & MMT as well. But the further back you go, the worse the stereo mix is (again, just my opinion).

    At the same time, I've also gotten to appreciate how often vinyl reveals the timbre of instruments better than most CDs, so I am confident & very excited about this new release. Scrim?
     
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  2. mpayan

    mpayan A Tad Rolled Off

    I didnt get the idea that MF was trashing the mono cds. I think he was simply saying that the "alive" sound he is hearing on the lp reissues isnt there on the cds as much. That the depth is not there.

    Personally I think the PPM mono cd of 2009 is great. One of the best things about the box. Is it missing that depth, three dimensional quality? Yes. But it is a great great transfer and very clean and clear sounding. The excitement and toe tapping factor is definitely there. They did a great job on it.

    I think one thing to keep in mind is that PPM is probably the weak link as far as the "being blown" away by the mono lp reissue. Its a two track recording. Done fairly quickly. The Beatles were in their infancy as were there recordings at this point.

    If this reissue is as close as MF says it is to the original then I am really looking forward to the Rubber Soul and Revolver era. There is a possibility of lots of "wow and oohs and ahhs" as the recordings themselves improve.
     
  3. AnalogJ

    AnalogJ Hearing In Stereo Since 1959

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Look, the mono CDs tonally sound really good -- balanced, rich, not bright or thin. They're fine, and the packaging job is treMENdous! However, put any one of my mono copies up against the CD and the all-analog version is just WAY more involving. They're more micro- and macro-dynamic, richer, more propulsive, more involving. And all of my mono copies are either original UKs or 1982 Japanese red vinyl monos -- in other words, top notch (and I have heard the UK reissues from the '70s and they are not in the ballpark as the originals or Japanese '82 series monos.). I know there are many here who have the UK reissues which have the Y/B Parlophone. They have a fine midrange, but they don't have the lower end and midrange presence and kick that originals have.

    So, reading into Michael Fremer's review, Abbey Road has seem to gotten the basic gestalt out of PPM, a great feat, and one that makes me really look forward to getting the box. I'll admit that with my other copies (I am only missing an original mono UK Help!), I probably didn't need to buy the box, but I was curious if they may have surpassed my originals in some way, particularly since not all are minty (and I certainly don't have a 1st press PPM).
     
  4. audioguy3107

    audioguy3107 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta, Georgia
    This is my thinking as well....obviously price is a huge consideration when comparing originals to the reissues, but I'm a listener and not a collector, and it's hard for me to think that 2014 technology alone won't make up for issues like pops, clicks, and surface noise that you'd most likely have to deal with on originals, even if you obtained a relatively clean copy. I can't wait for this set!

    - Buck
     
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  5. Bill

    Bill Senior Member

    Location:
    Eastern Shore
    As a service to members of this board, for $350 plus gas, I will drive to your home and remove the scrim from your sound system with my radical gestalt spatial micro-dynamic emotionalizer.*

    * Patent pending.
     
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2014
  6. AnalogJ

    AnalogJ Hearing In Stereo Since 1959

    Location:
    Salem, MA
    Is it possible that your system is voiced in such a way that you don't hear it? Maybe it's not picking it up? Of course, the reverse could be the case, that your digital system is much farther ahead than your analog. I'll just say that in my experience, both in my system and hearing it in others, that CDs do sound flat to me compared to good vinyl or analog reproduction.
     
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  7. reb

    reb Money Beats Soul

    Location:
    Long Island
    I'll take a pair of double D's over AAA.
     
  8. Amnesiac

    Amnesiac Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michigan
    The fact that Fremer has to use terms like "tonal scrim," "upper frequency transparency," and "micro-dynamic gestures" tells me that I'm going to be fine with the Please Please Me reissue. I'm sure he has a ridiculously expensive setup to compare "micro-dynamic gestures," whatever that even means.
     
  9. aoxomoxoa

    aoxomoxoa I'm an ear sitting in the sky

    Location:
    USA
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  10. Driver 8

    Driver 8 Senior Member

    The first two Beatles albums are not exactly the kind of music or recordings where "micro-dynamic gestures" are crucially important anyway. Two guitars, bass, and drums bashing it out live in a room, does it rock, yes or no? It's not like Tony Williams was playing the cymbals on the sessions.
     
  11. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    RELAX everyone. I was listening to a few of my original tube mono pressings today and enjoying them but I bet that these new ones will sound fantastic. I have paid for one original in NM condition original what this entire 14 LP box cost. I cannot believe that there is one Beatle fan out there that would not have to have this set.
     
  12. The Spaceman

    The Spaceman Forum Resident

    And this is why prices are what they are for the originals. :yikes:
     
  13. vwroccet

    vwroccet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    To each his own, friend Spaceman, but I just don't get this stance at all, I'm afraid.

    I'm certain that if you buy genuinely (and I DO mean genuinely) NM first pressing monos from someone like this gentleman (http://fabfourcollectibles.com/), then you'd be getting what you'd consider the best possible versions, no?

    But doing so will cost something like $10k.

    When you buy this Mono set for around $375, you're getting 99% of what would otherwise cost you Ten-Large, or 25 times (!) the cost of the Mono Box. Yet you say you "can never enjoy a record knowing that it is inferior sounding to a previous issue (emphasis added by Yr Obdnt Srvnt)"

    This puzzles me, not just on a cost-benefit basis, but on a keeping-up-with-the Joneses-futility basis.

    Someone else, somewhere else (perhaps the gent http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/10/m...ing-up-all-the-worlds-vinyl-records.html?_r=0 ) will always have a better version. Good for him, I reckon.

    Does it necessarily follow that your enjoyment of your $375 box is totally spoiled?
     
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  14. If I had the coin, I'd be getting the mint first pressings. But I don't. Still I think these masterings are going to be the most resolving yet. How I wish they would do this for the stereo masters. I fully understand the posters who want stereo because they don't like the mono mixes.
     
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  15. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    Yes, and a NM first or second pressing is worth it. But I think that the albums that are coming our way are going to be right up there in sound quality with the originals. I've been a Beatles fan for 50 years and this release is huge IMO.
     
    Bill likes this.
  16. Agree and his logic would mean that if you'd bought any of their LPs 2 or 3 or 4 years after their original release, you'd not have an original but a repress. And the fact is sometimes later pressings equal or in some cases are better than earlier ones

    Like 70s Us Wally pressings are better than most 60s Capitol pressings
     
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  17. graystoke

    graystoke Forum Resident

    [​IMG]
     
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  18. vwroccet

    vwroccet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    After a certain point, the 1st pressing one-up-manship just becomes a self-defeating p!$$!ng contest.

    Speaking for myself, knowing somebody else has a microsonically better sounding copy of a record, or even a much better sound system to play it on, diminishes my enjoyment of my own by a factor of exactly zero.
     
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  19. mne563

    mne563 Senior Member

    Location:
    DFW, Texas
    For me, I'm happy that they are going back to AAA for these. I enjoy reading Fremer (and I think he will be proved correct), but I will decide on my own if these things sound good. If based on what MF says, you think the originals will sound way better, then spend the coin and buy the originals. That's not going to be easy or cheap though.

    I'm hoping they will be a reasonable facsimile to the originals. Life is too short to get bent out of shape over something like this. For the first time in a long time, The Beatles are putting out something that is (seemingly) an attempt to please the diehard collectors.
     
  20. ssmith3046

    ssmith3046 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Arizona desert
    I agree, and I am an owner of first and second pressings. I bet you that when I compare my first pressing of Revolver with this this new reissue, except for the remix 11 of TNK, I won't be able to tell the difference. I really think that they are going to sound that good.
     
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  21. ClassicRockTragic

    ClassicRockTragic Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    Can I ask a dumb question.

    I have the Beatles CD box set that is good.

    What is it about the Mono release that gets everyone so excited? If I want mono I can hit the mono switch on the amp. Not trying to be smart...... Just curious.
     
  22. vwroccet

    vwroccet Forum Resident

    Location:
    Nashville, TN
    By all means, please let us know how these sound compared with your 1st or 2nd pressings! :tiphat:

    Not having early pressings of my own, I think it'd be fascinating to see how many owners of both conduct careful A/B comps; and I'd like to know what, if any, kind of patterns develop in those comparisons of early pressings vs the 2014 Monos.

    My curiosity is purely intellectual, though; I'll be enjoying :pineapple: these on their own terms.
     
    Last edited: Aug 31, 2014
  23. Easy-E

    Easy-E Forum Resident

    :shh: (it was Bernard Purdie)
     
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  24. Easy-E

    Easy-E Forum Resident

    They are mixed in mono - different animal to the stereos'.

    Pushing the mono switch on a stereo mix is not the same them being in mono in the first place
     
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  25. Easy-E

    Easy-E Forum Resident

    Which is why I think Im going to pass on these now - if they are not 'Holy Cow!' territory then I cant see the point now in getting another set (already have EX 's of the originals)
     
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