SH Spotlight I'm asked stuff: Favorite mastering engineer, best BOSTON CD, best TRAVELING WILBURYS CD, etc..

I'm enjoying it and am of the opinion that's it's the best sounding versions of those amazing songs. Meeting Michelle had to be the cherry on top of that sundae! Do we have an "I'm jealous of you" emoji here?

 

Steve, I'm sure it was. She was a crush of mine from early on.

 

I just scored it recently used via Amazon. Sounds so, so much better than other collections I have, like the Creeque Alley set. Which is wonderful by the way, highly recommended, great song selection, sequencing and interview snippets. Textbook example of how to assemble a collection like that. And they tried to improve things sonically - it's quite good in spots.

But not this good.

 

What do you think is the best sounding version of Bob Dylan's "Blood on the Tracks"?

I just listened to the first CD I purchased, way back when Dylan on CD first came out (Columbia CK 33235 / Disc manufactured in Japan) today and was pleasantly surprised at how nice it sounds.

 

Steve, a few pages back you showed your two LA-2As with a switch between them both to go back forth between dual mono and stereo use. How easy/hard is it to couple and uncouple the two units without having the switch? Is the switch custom, or, is it on the market?

 

My Question

Steve, has anything in life come close to the experience of kissing Olivia Newton John at her peak in 1980?

 

"He kissed her what?"

 

Frank Zappa would’ve called it a Burnt Weeny Sandwich

 

Thank you, sir!

What I was asking with my first question though, is, if you only had the stereo link, but, no switch, is it a big hassle to link and unlink the two? If you wanted to go back and forth between stereo and mono with no KG switch.

 

Stereo Balance Adjust (R3)

For stereo operation, two LA-2A units are interconnected in order to achieve the same amount of gain reduction from each of the two units to maintain stereo imaging. In order to accomplish this, terminals 6 from each unit should be connected together. Additionally, their grounds (terminal 7) should be connected together. The interconnecting wire should be less than 2 feet in length and should be shielded. The shield should be used to connect terminals 7 from each of the units together.

To calibrate the units for stereo operation:

• Connect the units together as described previously.
• Turn the Peak Reduction knob counterclockwise (no compression).
• Set R3 on each unit to a clockwise position.
• Set each meter to read Gain Reduction.
• Adjust the Peak Reduction control on the left channel until approximately 5dB of gain reduction is achieved.
• Adjust R3 on the unit that shows the greatest amount of gain reduction until the gain reduction indications are equal.
• When operating, set the Peak Reduction controls to the same setting on both channels.

• http://lcweb2.loc.gov/master/mbrs/r...Teletronix Model LA-2A Leveling Amplifier.pdf

 

Thank you, Steve!

 

Oops. I mean ajawamnet.

My question though isn’t how to make them stereo, but, much of a hassle is it to link and then unlink them and link them and unlink them? Is it a real pain, or, fairly easy.

Obviously, with Steve’s switch real easy, but, how bad is it without the switch?

 

According to the details above, it's just a matter of connecting a cable to the 6 and 7 (or 6 and G) terminals on both units:



Not particularly hard, but probably a pain if you were frequently switching between mono and stereo operation, especially if your units were in a rack.

 

I guess I’ll haveta!

 

What particularly don't you trust? I've never downloaded hi-rez before, so I'm curious what to watch out for if I do.

 

Ah, yes. I concur. Although I will say the recent Sony downloads of Mike Nesmith's RCA albums are the best they've ever sounded. Those will be my first hi-rez downloads...eventually.

 

Yeah, but...it's often no better when those things are named.

 

A lot of those recent Sony downloads are suspect.

 

I felt confident enough in the recent Tool release to purchase my first hi-rez, but I would have rather bought a proper CD! Heh.

It sounds great though.