A UHQR in 1981 that cost $50 new would cost $142 today according to an online inflation calculator. The One-Step $125 price tag today is a better value than the MFSL UHQR's of the very early 1980s. Today's One-Step releases are also far superior audio to the old UHQRs. I believe MoFi was trying to replicate the old UHQR boxes. They even improved that design when they added the title's cover art as opposed to just a black box sporting the red UHQR emblem. They have tried to set the One-Step apart as elite audio and visual pressing. The old UHQRs pressings were also inferior when compared in audio shoot-outs. There are at least two pressings that bettered the Pink Floyd UHQR. I have owned two Pink Floyd UHQRs over the years and compared them.
Exactly what I just did after reading comments here. I also pulled out box set vinyl and filed those with the others as well. Much easier! Don’t know why I didn't think of this myself.
I think it would have been cool if they had went with the old style uhqr red letter packaging. All those sitting side by side? Very cool imo.
That's all BS as far as I'm concerned. Most people's wages haven't gone up ~300%. The cost of four years of college has gone up ~400%. Buying power has gone down. What used to be a country (the US) dominated by a large, strong middle class, now has a large earning gap in the middle, with several percent at the top, and a much larger percentage near the bottom and lower bottom. Many public school teachers earn less than $35,000/yr. So $50 in 1975 was a smaller percentage of most people's income than $125 is today. We're in a relative luxury hobby. It's good that we both appreciate good music and the benefits of great sound, and can also afford it. I will also add that there has been a trickle down effect with regard to most components. There are far better turntables in the $300 range than there were in 1975. NAD was about the only company that put out a reasonably priced, good sounding integrated amp back then. Now there are many others. But there has been no trickle down with records. Those Telarc classical records pressed on virgin vinyl were $7. So were UK EMI and Decca classical records, pretty much the best in the world. Standard releases were $5-6. The non-UHQR MoFis were $15.
received my copy of Ah Um today - #442, now feeling glad that I didn't pay same amount for OOP ORG reissue two years ago.
Hm. Opened my copy. Slevees for LP1 and LP2 are in different quality. LP2 is standard, and LP1 feels like the main box.
Same situation with my set (#0078). Fortunately, the original style sleeve wasn’t scuffed like older sets.
Hmmm. I didn't think about that, but given that both sleeves had botches, they might have used older stock for both. They're replacing everything but the LPs for me.
Since the arrival of the One Step, it is the only way I listen to this album. I haven't even thought about spinning my OG US copies or the MOFI 33.
At its best, it's a very natural sounding recording, with excellent tonality and presence. Unfortunately not all of the cuts were recorded as well as some. Any 'wow' sonic factor on this album is subtle, as the best cuts are with acoustic instruments such as guitar, voice, and bass.
So what's the next schedule MFSL One-Step release(Title?) or will it be temporarily canceled until the coronavirus has subsided?
Is it confirmed about RTI being shutdown? Did they send out this information or something? Nothing posted on their website and (I think, but could be wrong) on their social media... thanks!
Wouldn't be surprised. I think they are an essential business, but the California legislature might not agree LOL
Yes, Shane from Intervention Records, which does business with RTI confirmed in the IR thread they are temporarily closed for business.
Bad news I wonder how long they'll be closed? A couple of weeks maybe? On the bright side, maybe they'll take this rare opportunity to refurbish some of the machinery or work on stuff that would be very difficult with the pressing going on, so let's hope they get back to it even better than before
RTI are complying with the STAY AT HOME mandates issued by the County of Ventura and the State of California. Manufacturing operations shut down on March 20 and will resume upon cancellation of the orders.
Maybe we should drop them a message encouraging them to stay open, keep vinyl alive, and looking for new releases!
I got married two years ago, and my wife told me “I don’t want to live in a Radio Shack,” which is what my house resembled before we got married. So for the past two years I’ve been listening to CDs only, but, today I got my turntable set up and put on the Bridge Over Troubled Water One Step for the the first time. I probably don’t have a turntable worthy of this record - I’m listening through a Rega RP1 with a Bias 2 cartridge - but, wow, this record sounds like what you’d expect a $100 record to sound like. On the title track, the electric bass, the reverbed drum hits, and the strings have a little extra oomph I’ve never heard before. Not night and day different from the best versions of this album I’ve heard before, but clearly, definitely better.
This morning I spun the MoFi double LP 45 rpm mono pressing of Dylan’s Bringing It All Back Home, and it’s comparable to the One Step pressings in that if features dead silent vinyl and black backgrounds from which the music emerges. I’m a big fan of MoFi.
