Aucbarpa.747
net.records
utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!duke!chico!harpo!mhtsa!ihnss!ucbvax!ARPAVAX:arnold
Wed Jan 27 13:05:32 1982
Re: Just what this newsgroup needs!
about various audiophile pressings.  I present here, for discussion
and enlightenment, my views on a few:
	Mobile Fidelity ($13.00-$18.00 depending on where you buy)
		Excellent quality.  "Dark Side of the Moon" was the
		first audiophile pressing I heard that was worth the
		money.  Other wonderful ones: "Crime of the Century"
		(Supertramp), "Trick of the Tail" (Genesis), "American
		Beauty" (Greatful Dead).  They have a wide selection,
		but seem to concentrate more on albumns/artists which
		(to me) seem to require no more than a clean pressing,
		not the extensive processing they do.  I wish they'd
		keep picking up acoustically complex albums instead.
	CBS Master Sound ($12.00-$14.00)
		Better than normal, but not THAT much better.  The copy
		of "Wish You Were Here" I picked up sounded very clean,
		but the response to sound peaks were not much improved
		over the standard issue.  Not worth the exta money
	Imports (extremely variable)
		The only ones I've tried so far that were a distinct
		increase in quality are Japanese, but I have by no means
		sampled them all
	Masterphile (?) (normal price plus approx. $1.00)
		I'm not sure this is what they're really called.  They,
		too, have a copy of several Who albums and others.  These
		seem to be just clean pressings, but are quite worth the
		extra buck.

My one major complaint with both MobFi and CBS Master is that when I
shell that much out, I figure I can get the original packaging.  For
example, there's a nice poster that came with "Dark Side of the Moon",
and "Wish You Were Here" had a wonderful innersleeve with some of the
best Hipgnosis albumn art I've seen.  Although I must confess I really
didn't expect CBS to package WYWH in black shrink wrap, I would also
have appreciated one of the stickers that came with the original.  And
I'll bet you three to one that MobFi's edition of the Beatle's White
Albumn doesn't have the pictures.  This may sound like a minor bitch,
but (a) that stuff is nice, and (b) I'm forking over $14.00 a copy
(around Berkeley) anyway; I'd be willing to pay $14.25 or $14.50 for
the original stuff.

This bitch aside, I highly recommend Mobile Fidelity.  If they have
an albumn you like, and you have (or intend to purchase someday) good
stereo equipment, they are well worth it.  And if you don't believe
me, buy one (if you like Pink Floyd, buy DSotM) and play it once, loud
(if you can).  I don't think you'll regret it, and you'll probably even
give up a few things to buy more.
		Ken

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