$400-600 per LP? The Electric Recording Co. releases, already out and upcoming...*

I have thousands of LP, and when "only" listening to music, it's always vinyl. But if sound quality was my only issue, it would not be vinyl. I've sometimes put on the hi-fi squarepants Youtube channel and similar ones just to listen to music in the background. They sound great and are a fun way to "experience" all sorts of cartridges and turntables. But if I wanted better sound, it would be digital.

 

Press your mono switch on any Van Gelder stereo recording after October 30, 1958 and you have the mono mix. No need to buy monos.

The Disk Union stuff was mastered nicely by Gray, but what you guys are hearing eludes me. MMJ and AP is the sound of AAA. The Disk Union stuff is typical of Japanese reissues (exceptions exist like Craftman Records) where you have snazzy packaging but basically get a CD (0k maybe SACD) on vinyl.

 

Sure. However, considering that there are reports at discogs about pressing defects, I prefer not to take the risk, all the more since the company does not endorse that they perform 100% QC, considering that they are quite detailed about all their other qualities. I am not saying they are bad people. I just state that for me in order to spend 400 GBP for record, I need some warranties on top of the ones normally ruling such products.

 

Thats some racist crap. Any evidence to support this?

 

But they don't. Not the same levels. Sure, there is a point of diminishing returns. Who says that you get 10x the sound quality in a $100,000 turntable than a $10,000 turntable. But people who can appreciate it and can afford it want that extra bit of realism and impact in their music reproduction, and are willing to pay for it.

People who have heard both an AP and ERC of the same record unanimously preferred the ERC. Was the ERC 10x better? No. But want that better sound?

 

Not the point. It's those with the 15k Yaris who say, "Hey, who needs a 150k Maserati? I get from point A to point B the same way!" when they don't, and don't know that they don't, but say it anyway, only showing their willful ignorance.

 

I don’t know whether these records represent value for the money because I’ve never heard one. The most I’ve ever spent on a record is $250 for a mint original Stones UK Decca album. Probably not the best audiophile quality demo disc, but something I wanted to own bad enough to spend that much money. If you have spent 300 pounds on a vintage UK jazz pressing, I totally respect that. If I had the ability to do that, I would. Most people I know would find spending that much money on a used record, or on any record, as nutso as buying a new Electric Recording Company record. Again, I fail to understand why this company is being singled out as beyond the pale by a group of music enthusiasts who routinely pursue perfection that most people would find insane. I’ve heard jazz records played through a vintage McIntosh tube amp driving vintage Quad speakers. I’ll almost certainly never own a vintage McIntosh tube amp or vintage Quad speakers, but I don’t begrudge people who spend what, to others, is an insane amount of money to own and maintain a stereo system like that.

 

Crap, I just bought an original TVS TLTVS on Poppy, I want the best in the apocolypse.

 

Can someone provide a link to whatever evidence is provided that ERC is releasing "Forever Changes"? I have to say that I will be very likely tempted to spring for this one.

I'd like to hear that Mozart box, too.

 

Yes. For YOU. But you're filtering those shirts (and standards) through your eyes, not through those of the intended market. There's gotta be something in life you'd spend more for to get better quality that for someone else would be a waste of money in their eyes. Right?

 

If you read what I wrote I said I prefer original UK first press Esquires and Martzy's or Du Pre's come to that, I do like the AP Prestige reissues, they are very nice for £30, but I would always choose an original over an AP and if I'm ever in a position to directly compare will likely choose an original over an ERC. You also seem to ignore my point about the price premium, it is absolutely not justified by the costs, it's a pure profit grab enabled by keeping the pressing run low enough that there are enough "suckers" to buy them all at the price.

 

I appreciate your opinion. I have a preamp that has a mono switch. Hitting the mono switch on a stereo version does not produce the same sound as playing a mono record on my mono set up (no way to do an equal comparison though since the set ups are different). I am not saying that the stereo version reissues from MMJ, TP, etc. are not great. They are (and I have a lot of duplicates because of this). I am just saying that I prefer the mono versions and the DiskUnion ones do sound very good.

But, that's not the purpose of this thread (and I apologize for going off track), so let's get back to discussing ERC records.

 

And they don't have the quality control, either.

Until you see and hear one of ERC's records personally, you shouldn't make a personal evaluation as to how good they are.

 

I think the price relative to the reported quality concerns pretty much indicate this is a hustle.

 

The Stones may not be an audiophile demo disc, but it does sound brilliant and is such an enjoyable listen, at least my copy is, I paid relatively little for mine, but I don't think $250 is in any way crazy for a mint nearly sixty year old record of such importance. The reason this company is being singled out is because what they are doing is not fundamentally different from many other labels, just a few touches around the edges and for that they are adding on what many of us perceive to be a huge premium, for many of us their releases are overpriced, that's what we are calling out.

 

Funny I thought ERC was being called out on a lack of QC at least on the Sonny Rollins title.

 

When I sold audio in a high end store, I said 25% of my customers had a perfect ear. 75% of my customers had a perfect ego. I'm pretty sure I know which subset bought this box for $5K.

 

When your batches are 300 and the price is an order of a magnitude higher than the next guy, you can throw SPC out and listen to every album.

 

If the Disc Unions had been done by a US label there would be a thread hundreds of pages long praising them, a lot of people on here totally missed out on that series.

 

Ticks and pops on a record aren't going to be reduced with better equipment if they're on the record. What happens is they get put on a different plane on the soundstage, making them easier to tune out.

But that's a minor aspect of what makes better quality playback better. You get better rhythmic performance. Quicker starts and stops. Transients are more impactful. There's greater delineation in the soundstage. Harmonic presentation is more complex. Dynamics are more unfettered. Notes at the frequency extremes are more refined, more natural, better pitch specific. Image size is more proportional. Far more subtleties are revealed. The music is more nuanced. There's more varied life in the music. The venue in which the music is recorded is better revealed.

Imagine a pressing of a record which really takes advantage of the enormous capabilities of a system. Or one that doesn't.

Take that 15k Yarisb out on the Autobahn and try going 125 miles per hour. And then do the same with the Maserati.

 

I wasn't aware of the issues. Still, again, the ERC LPs are as close to a perfectionist attempt as there is in this business, as far as I know.

 

I reject false dilemmas especially for the sake of logic in an argument but, hey, you do you, Boo Bo!

 

The Stones record I was talking about is the UK mono Out of Our Heads. Not an audiophile recording by any stretch, but I love the Stones and I’m glad to own it. For the collector/artefact/time capsule aspect of it as much as any other reason.

I don’t know enough about how these companies do what they do to give an authoritative opinion on that. You are obviously much more informed on that subject. Having said that, after watching the Electric Recording Company’s own self-serving videos on their web site, I find their crusade to use vintage tube cutting lathes and letterpress printed jackets pretty fascinating. Maybe they’re not doing anything better than other boutique companies in this field are doing, I’m not really qualified to judge that. But good for them and good for all of the other vinyl reissue labels that care enough to shoot for the stars.

 

There was lots of talk about them here. To whatever extent it wasn’t “hundreds of pages” was probably because a lot of those long jazz vinyl threads are filled with folks who are mostly interested in AAA vinyl.

They DU BNs were never that good a value. When they came out the price was $50, correct? So you had AAD by Kevin Gray for $50 when MMJ had AAA by Kevin Gray at the same time for $40 if memory serves. No comparison.

Anyway, the DUs were fine. Might as well just do a hi-res download in terms of the sonics, but they were beautifully packaged. I still have a bunch of them.

 

Some of the jazz ERCs are only 150 copies.