I agree. . I'd really like the new Grant Green - Solid, but $60 is too much. I'm happy to stream it. It is completely possible to make quiet vinyl without using exotic materials. In my experience, the issue is always more about the care taken in manufacturing, handling, testing, etc. I've got cheap records that sound great, and expensive records that are noisy. The type of vinyl used likely has nothing to do with it.
Joe, now that everyone has had a chance to listen to these first two, magnificent releases let’s hear some more about how this project got started. Did you go to Don with the idea or was it something he approached you to do? How were the titles selected for the series? Were there any that you wanted to do but thentapes weren’t up to it? Any other behind the scenes info would be awesome!
Joe did already answer and state that Don approached Joe, after a blue note recording session that Joe was a part of. Joe also stated previously that he is the primary curator of the specific titles for the tone poet series.
Id better hurry up before that one sells out again. Didn’t know that Acousticsounds importing them .... i bought some lp’s from Samsrecords in the past but shipping was on a higher side though... ...Not trying to hijacks this thread....
When I got my SRX title I went on faith that the vinyl is quieter but when I played it I wasn't that impressed that is it. Well, now I settled that question for myself just now with a bit of an unscientific test. I am playing classical music today and most of my records are really pretty quiet, so compared with the record I just started playing. I put both that and my SRX title on back to back. The classical title is a record of Haydn String Quartets, Op. 76.3 and 74.3 performed by the Alban Berg Quartet on Telefunken 6.41302AS (1974). I bought this record new in the 70s, maybe early 80s and I'm sure I have played it no less than a dozen times. When I play the lead-in groove on the Telefunken record it is dead silent. I can even hear the crosstalk ever so slightly just before the first track plays. Ditto for pauses (i.e. rests) in the playing and for the grooves between tracks. It's so quiet I can even hear the decay of the bowed strings reverberation in the recording hall during a rest. On the SRX is it noticeably less quiet, but still very good. Jazz mostly doesn't have the pauses of classical but I assume the vinyl formulation isn't any different during a track than it is at the beginning or between tracks. I did the same thing but with the volume turned up louder than I would normally play. The Telefunken is even more noticeably quiet than the SRX. So in at least one case, a 40+ year old German pressing of classical music surpasses MMJ's SRX for low surface noise. As I said it's not a very scientific test. Maybe I"m unlucky and didn't even have a great example of a SRX pressing (but I'm not going to find out by buying another record). For now I can't justify paying an extra $25 for SRX and I'm OK with that. I'm sure they sell them. After all, Mofi and AP sell out there special ultra-expensive titles too.
Man, where have I been? Thanks! Joe, any other thoughts you would like to share on why you chose these titles?
Has anyone else noticed a bit of stereo drop out on NHS on the second track, maybe a quarter of the way through. It happens for a couple seconds but it happens on both copies I have. Wondering if anyone else heard it.
I feel it is worth pointing out that of all the SRX reviews I have read, Song for my Father seems to have the most mentions of being a little noisy. I have not heard the SRX formula either, but hope to soon enough
Received my ETC from amazon with the original outer sleeve and hype sticker intact, except for the tear off strip was half pulled off. I have a theory regarding the missing outer sleeves. Someone at amazon is stealing these original outer sleeves and selling them, what do you think? too many seem to be missing to be a coincidence. Anyway, my LP is perfect in every way.
I am not sure why the listening to the lead-in groove is of importance. The only way to really assess the SRX vinyl would be to listen to the same album cut at the same time using a different material for the vinyl. I realize this is not possible to do.
You mean the tape? I accept that the tape of the Telefunken recording might be much quieter, but that shouldn't affect the noise level of the lead-in groove, or between tracks.
I haven't found it to be noisy at all. There are issues on the master tape which have come through on Lonely Lady but I didn't hear any noticeable noise related to the record itself.
Nevertheless, my impression of SRX so far is that is it not so quiet as to make it worth a $25/LP premium.
I agree that I haven't "heard" anything very different than the 45/33 MM series. I only bought SRX titles that I didn't already have. Honestly, the bar was set awfully high.
This. I tried to do my three-step clean on the Song for My Father SRX and it still a little noisy. The other 11 SRX titles I have are much quieter, relatively speaking. But no need to double dip to SRX if you already have other copies.
