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  • DECCA (UK) Vinyl

    I am interested in collecting more desirable DECCA Classical records, especially the versions pressed in the UK. Larry has been so kind to share his deep knowledge of RCA and DECCA in the RCA Shaded Dog US vs UK thread that it is worthwhile to start a DECCA thread. I am especially interested in the best titles to get along with how to tell if the LP is a UK version if you can't see the label (Made in England), ect....SXL series. Below I have cut and pasted background information that Larry and Myles have shared in the RCA thread about DECCA.

    It's complicated. Basically, Decca took over distribution of RCA in the UK from EMI, and started to press RCA records and even engineer many RCA releases (including some of the finest recordings). RCA would have the rights to those albums for 10 years and then they would revert back to Decca, which released many of them on their midpriced and bargain labels (including some on their London Stereo Treasury label distributed in the US.) One must remember that RCA's golden era was fairly short because of their disastrous decision to change to Dynagroove in 1963 (Although a few artists held out for the normal technique) The earliest catalogue number for a Dynagroove record was LSC-2614 the Reiner Beethoven Pastorale Symphony. (Chesky later rereleased the album in a non dynagroove issue Chesky RC-109). Decca pressed RCA's had a distinctive orange coloured label and the earliest ones had a groove in the label, like early Decca recordings. You can see the characteristic Decca markings in the deadwax of these records.

    I have several British RCA's and the same issue in US pressings. Generally I find the US pressings better, BUT the Brits tend to take better care of their records than the Yanks, especially when you are talking about records that were released from the late '50's to the early '60's. One major problem was that the US used automatic record changers much more commonly than the UK. So you can imagine having records drop down onto one another. The multirecord sets were generally numbered in automatic sequence (for a 3 record set it would be 1-6, 2-5, 3-4) in the US releases, but in a manual sequence in the UK (1-2, 3-4, 5-6).

    As far as the Decca engineered RCA's from that golden era ("Witches Brew", "Gounod Faust Ballet, "Venice", etc), Decca released all of those beginning in the early '70's on their cheap labels and using the transistor based cutting lathes which are different from the tube based lathes of a decade earlier. You are can find some of these in the $1 bargain bin in the US when they were issued on the London Stereo Treasury label - pressed in the UK at Decca's New Malden pressing plant.

    One of HP's TAS Super Disc's is a Decca reissue of one of their RCA engineered albums, Decca SPA-122 Sibelius Symphony 5 by Gibson which first appeared as RCA LSC-2405. The original RCA is much more expensive than the Decca issue. It was also reissued in the late '90s by Classics Records.

    After 1963, Decca continued to press and do some engineering for RCA. However, eventually RCA started pressing their own records in the UK (red labels, but no doggies - since EMI owns the doggie trademark in the UK and Europe - "His Master's Voice"). I have a good number of British pressings of the dynagroove era RCA's and they are almost universally better than their US counterparts. Decca was forced to cut the RCA's to the dynagroove spec (Decca engineer Tony Hawkins complained about having to do that), but to my ears, their dynagroove is much milder than the atrocities of most RCA US dynagrooves.

    Larry
    I believe there is a balancing act here.

    Of course, no one can directly compare the fresh master tapes of 1960 with the same tapes in 2016. The closest we have are master tapes done by Jonathan Horwich, Ed Pong, Bob Attiyeh, Open Reel in Italy, and some of the Tape Project tapes (including TP-30 of the Cypress String Quartet recorded this past year and currently being edited for release soon). There is a freshness to these tapes which is remarkable. But I can say that my reaction listening to most of my safety masters made in the late '80's from masters which were 10 to 30 years old at that time is very much the same as listening to these fresh tape copies. Of course the selection is very limited. I have more tapes and records than most people - but my record collection of 15,000 records dwarfs my 15ips 2 track tape collection of less than 500 reels.

    I have spent (invested?) a very large amount of money on early original pressings of RCA, Mercury, Decca and EMI classical vinyl, and a lesser, though considerable amount on tapes, both recent issues like Tape Project, and safety masters, as well as much less money on vinyl reissues from old tapes - Chad, Speakers Corner, Classics Records, etc. It is very, very difficult to find pristine records from the "golden age", even when spending hundreds of dollars for a single record.

    Most of the problem is the playback equipment from that time. Very early stereo records started being issued in 1958 and the golden era for RCA was over a scant 5-6 years later when Dynagroove was introduced. Mercury was done by 1967 and Decca and EMI continued with analogue until about 1980. Original records from the Decca SXL2000 series and early SXL6000 series as well as the EMI ASD three digit and SAX series are from the late '50's to the mid '60's. So we are talking about the earliest commercial stereo phono equipment playing the earliest stereo records. Needles - not styli, were often not even diamond. Turntables and tonearms were much more primitive. A common trick, when a record wouldn't track or had a scratch, was to tape a penny or nickel onto the head of the tonearm to increase the tracking force. People also had, by our standards, very primitive ways of cleaning vinyl and keeping dust off records+ - a swipe of an antistatic cloth, and there were the infamous automatic record changers I mentioned earlier. Remember, on an automatic changer, the record dropping onto a stack of already playing records would gain speed buy the friction with the played records. The records have a raised edge to minimize the groove damage from these collisions. Finally for Mercury, in particular, there are two major issues - the quality of vinyl of the original pressings was often not that good - quite noisy, and the practice of cutting the records very close to the label (almost no dead wax in many of their records) makes inner groove distortion very common.

    My observation is that classical recordings, particularly grand opera, are easier to find in decent condition than pop/rock/jazz recordings of that era. I surmise that classical music lovers took better care of their records and did not play them to death. They may have had better (more expensive) playback equipment. Of course one doesn't know the provenance of a used record, unless one partakes in estate sales. The best success I have had with buying old classical vinyl is through trusted dealers who play grade their vinyl (at least sampling). Starting almost 20 years ago, we began visiting the UK annually and I would load up on classical vinyl (mostly Deccas and EMIs) from local vinyl shops, where I could at least visually inspect the records. I also developed relationships with several dealers throughout the UK who had good stocks of classical vinyl. Unfortunately, except for one shop in London - which is a shell of its old self, there is nothing left. I do still have a very few dealers in the UK who have emerged over the past decade and whom I still buy from one occasion.

    Chad, Speaker's Corner, etc., although using master tapes which are 50 years old to make their records, are producing the best versions of these classic records that most people are going to hear. I generally agree with Christian's observations that when the old record is in fine condition, it does have qualities that the reissues don't. Chad with his RCA reissues and Speaker's Corners with their Mercury reissues are about the best I have heard for reissues. The Speaker's Corners Decca reissues from a decade or more ago aren't up to that level.

    Larry
    Just make sure that the later 6000 series Decca recordings were pressed in England, not Holland. The latter, done for Decca by Phillips, are decidedly inferior. (IIRC you have Decca mastered and pressed in England; Decca mastered in England and pressed in Holland; Decca mastered and pressed in Holland.) Just as you can hear when Decca started using solid-state electronics as Larry previously pointed out.

    Don't forget the 20th century composer series on Nonesuch. Some great music there produced by Joanna Nickrenz and engineered by Mark Aubort.

    Myles B. Astor, PhD, Administrator
    But both the Maazel Pines of Rome (SXL6822) and the Britten Prince of Pagodas (GOS was part of the midpriced SDD series) were on HP's TAS Super Disc List. BTW, the Britten Prince of Pagodas came in early and later British pressings, before the Holland pressing. The earlier is better (with a groove label), but the latter is easier to find and is still quite excellent. It also was issued as a bargain London Stereo Treasury which is also quite fine.

    I could go on at length about the Decca transition to Dutch pressings when Polygram bought Decca Records around the beginning of 1980. Suffice it to say, the Decca engineers were not pleased (John Dunkerley told me when I interviewed him for my Decca book that they were shocked at the initial test pressings they got back from Baarn - "where did the bass go"). Philips did improve things, but they were never of the quality of the New Malden pressings.

    Maybe a different thread about the Decca vinyl and the transition from New Malden to Baarn (UK to Holland)?

    Christian
    System Gear

  • #2
    As discussed in my RCA thread, this record is my first late 1970's UK made DECCA record. It is fantastic and the reason I want more DECCA's like this...

    Please share your favorite DECCA's with the SXL# and any other identifiers needed to make sure it's UK made and not Holland.
    Christian
    System Gear

    Comment


    • Marcus
      Marcus commented
      Editing a comment
      I don't have the original but the Speakers Corner reissue is very good IMO.

  • #3
    I Love DECCAS (SXL2000 and SXL6000 series) and if you're not already hip to them, EMIs are super too.

    Arthur gets no respect from some circles but there's no denying his recommended record list is very very good IMO. tons of recommended DECCAS (and EMIs, Hyperion, L' Osieau-Lyre, Argo, Accent, Harmonia Mundi, etc).

    Turntables, analog, records, supreme recordings, used records, Decca SXL, London Records, Bluebacks, Harmonia Mundi, Hyperion, EMI, Mercury Living Presence, RCA, Shaded Dogs, Proprius, Mobile Fidelity, Chesky, Analogue Productions, Pierre Verany, Sheffield Lab, Timegate, Accent, Argo, Ancient Music, Nonesuch, Deutsche Grammaphon, Klavier, Alto, Speakers Corner, King Super Analogue, Lyrita, Golden Imports, Philips, Reference Recordings, Arthur Salvatore, L'OSIEAU-LYRE, BIS, classical records, jazz records, Decca wideband, Classic Records, Phase Four, TAS super disc list,

    Comment


    • MylesBAstor
      MylesBAstor commented
      Editing a comment
      For sure zero from me. I won't give him the right time of the day after the crap he pulled on me. He is a low life.

      I thought he only recommended the LTS issues and pissed all over the original releases.

    • Rob
      Rob commented
      Editing a comment
      I know practically nothing about Arthur beyond his online persona but his LP reccos are top notch for SQ (doesn't mean a goniff cant have tastes ) , the readings or interpretations of each work is not a subject im qualified to debate. If you don't like the reissues he lists then opt for the original press, either way its a good compendium of music that doesn't list the 'usual suspects' you see everywhere else

  • #4
    Thanks Rob. I put EMI on my eBay search list....available classical record titles seem endless. Rack space is becoming an issue...lol
    Christian
    System Gear

    Comment


    • #5
      I have written a bit about the originals of the 50´s and 1960´s incl Decca, London, EMI, Columbia UK, etc. from over 30 years of collecting these stunning records.
      Keep in mind that there can be issues if you buy on the second hand market including surface noise and substantial wear to the record and the seller seldom addresses these issues, normally they sell records with visual grading, which tells absolutely nothing about the sound and wear of that record, prepare your self for some heavy misses, even if you have prayed top dollar for the record.
      Hit the right record from this period and you will be in for a sonic stunner, I will promise you that in advance, but remember you will also be hit with stunkers, cherish the ones you hit right, you will keep them for ever, they will never leave your collection, or that is how it is for me.
      The conclusions in the link is my own and personnel views of the subject and record collecting from this period of records and some disagree with my conclusions here, just so that you know it.
      Wish you luck in your hunt.

      Comment


      • rockitman
        rockitman commented
        Editing a comment
        So FR is earlier than RFR with mercury ? Is there a guide to know the sequence...FR then RFR, ect ?

      • banditcat200
        banditcat200 commented
        Editing a comment
        Rocketman, here is a complete listing made by James Lacy, of all Mercury Living Presence recordings ever made.

        Complete Mercury Living Presence Discography with Cover Images


        Its FR first, the RFR second and CTFR late pressing, only the 2 first pressings are worth buying, the later sound terrible

      • rockitman
        rockitman commented
        Editing a comment
        so avoid Mercury CTFR completely ? Thanks for the Mercury link.

    • #6
      Among the EMIs, it is largely the ASD series (excluding the boxes), right?
      And I would also add a selection of the Lyritas, which were 20th century English composers- many pressed by Decca or Nimbus. Elizabeth McConchy's symphony is one l liked. The label is famous in audiophile circles for Arnold's Scottish Dances, which had a big drum sound, but I didn't think the music was as interesting as some of the other releases on that label. These can be found pretty cheaply, i think- and ought to be in good condition, since they were released a little later in time.

      Decca Headline series is also quirky- had Gerhard's The Plague, which is odd, spoken word, Dorati, and and big symphony.

      Comment


      • rockitman
        rockitman commented
        Editing a comment
        Thanks Bill.

      • MylesBAstor
        MylesBAstor commented
        Editing a comment
        The Plague, if you like the music, is one of the best recordings ever done. Gerhard's Astrological Series and Messiaen's Transfiguration of Christ are two other Decca Heads worth picking up. Most of the Decca Heads are modern music and sound like studio recordings. Little dark and not much air.

        EMI box sets are worth acquiring. Usually but not always, the box sets are later pressings though. A few I'd add to my list:

        Elgar: The Kingdom
        VW: Choral
        VW: 9 Symphonies
        VW: Sea Symphony
        Shostakovich: Symphony #7 (Leningrad) --hearing that next month at Carnegie when BSO is in town
        Rachmaninoff: Symphonies (The single album releases here were definitely earlier pressings)
        Prokofiev: Ivan the Terrible
        Messiaen: Turangalia (Robert Reina's favorite EMI)
        Dupre's Favorite Cello Concertos

        Messiaen's Chronochromie is another outstanding Decca/Argo to get ahold of too!

    • #7
      Originally posted by Bill Hart
      Among the EMIs, it is largely the ASD series (excluding the boxes), right?
      And I would also add a selection of the Lyritas, which were 20th century English composers- many pressed by Decca or Nimbus. Elizabeth McConchy's symphony is one l liked. The label is famous in audiophile circles for Arnold's Scottish Dances, which had a big drum sound, but I didn't think the music was as interesting as some of the other releases on that label. These can be found pretty cheaply, i think- and ought to be in good condition, since they were released a little later in time.

      Decca Headline series is also quirky- had Gerhard's The Plague, which is odd, spoken word, Dorati, and and big symphony.
      For EMI's, there were two big full priced series which both had boxes. The ASD series that Bill mentions (that also included many boxes- the earlier ones having ASD on the spline, and the later ones having SLS on the spine.) Many collectors divide these up into the 3 digit and 4 digit series (ASD251 to 655, and ASD2251 and higher). The 3 digit, particularly with the earlier white/gold labels are often pricey or even crazy insane pricey. But that is really artificial since the renumbering was done to align their mono catalogue numbers (much like Decca did for the SXL2000 to SXL6000 transition). I have about 75% of the 3 digit ASD's and just about all of the four digit ASD's not including the digitals which I don't collect for good sonic reasons (missing 3 albums). The second big series was under their Columbia label (not US Columbia), the SAX series. They are generally rarer (similar in rarity and cost to the ASD 3 digit series). Boxes were included in that series. I have about 60% of those titles. Some are crazy expensive on the used market. There are complications with labels which both indicate transitions and later pressings.

      Lyritas (stereo) are wonderful recordings, focusing on composers from the UK, many lesser known - so not much Elgar, Vaughan Williams and Britten. They were all engineered by Decca, many by Kenneth "Wilkie" Wilkinson. My friend John Dunkerley engineered many of the later albums, including the Arnold Dances and the Maconchy. Decca did all the original pressings until their purchase by Polygram and closing of their New Malden plant in 1980. From then on, although Decca continued to engineer the albums, the pressing was done by Nimbus, including remasters of earlier pressings (so you can buy both Nimbus and Decca pressings of most albums). We are talking about 85% of the original pressings of Lyrita albums were done by Decca and the rest by Nimbus. Later on Lyrita had a third mastering done by another company - but I don't know who. The Arnold Dances (which are the most expensive of the Lyritas) even had a fourth remastering/pressing done - which was awful - I bought one new at Tower records many years ago. I have all of the Decca original pressings and the rest as Nimbus and the third company.

      The Decca HEAD series was very short- some twenty one albums including 3 double albums. It was focussed on avantgarde music. Gerhard's Plague is the most famous, since it was a TAS Super Disc. It is based (with narration) on Albert Camus' "The Plague". Mike Mailes was one of the engineers and he gave me his copy of the album. It was his first trip to the US and he was working with "Wilkie" who was the chief engineer. Again I have a complete set of the albums.

      Larry
      Last edited by astrotoy; 01-05-2017, 04:25 PM.
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      Comment


    • #8
      Originally posted by Rob
      I Love DECCAS (SXL2000 and SXL6000 series) and if you're not already hip to them, EMIs are super too.

      Arthur gets no respect from some circles but there's no denying his recommended record list is very very good IMO. tons of recommended DECCAS (and EMIs, Hyperion, L' Osieau-Lyre, Argo, Accent, Harmonia Mundi, etc).

      http://www.high-endaudio.com/supreme.html
      Both L'Oiseau Lyre and Argo were bought by Decca and most of their issues, except the very earliest ones were engineered and pressed by Decca. I have all but one of the L'Oiseau Lyre albums (SOL and DSLO), and all but two of the Argo albums (ZRG series), excluding digitals.

      I have some Accents and a bunch of Harmonia Mundi (French). One of the great engineers is Jean-Francois Pontefract who did many of the HM France albums.

      Be aware that Arthur does like the dutch pressings and later repressings of the Decca and London albums - not the earlier tube lathe pressings. Easier and cheaper to find.

      Larry
      Analog- VPIClassic3-3DArm,Lyra Skala+MiyajimaZeroMono, 2xAmpex ATR-102,Otari MX5050B2,Merrill Trident Master Tape Pre,Herron VTPH-2A
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      Dig Play-mchNADAC, LampiHorizon, Roon, HQP, Oppo105
      Electronics-Doshi Pre,CJ MET1mchPre, Cary2A3monoamps
      Speakers-AvantgardeDuosLR,3SolosC,LR,RR
      Other-2x512Engineer/Marutani Symmetrical Power, AudioDiskVinylCleaner, Scott Rust Interconnects,
      Music-2000R2Rtapes,50TBrips

      Comment


      • #9
        Originally posted by rockitman
        Thanks Rob. I put EMI on my eBay search list....available classical record titles seem endless. Rack space is becoming an issue...lol
        Christian, I have over 6000 Decca Family and EMI family albums. So you need a lot of space!

        Larry
        Analog- VPIClassic3-3DArm,Lyra Skala+MiyajimaZeroMono, 2xAmpex ATR-102,Otari MX5050B2,Merrill Trident Master Tape Pre,Herron VTPH-2A
        Dig Rip-Pyramix,IzotopeRX3Adv,Mykerinos,PacMicroModel2
        Dig Play-mchNADAC, LampiHorizon, Roon, HQP, Oppo105
        Electronics-Doshi Pre,CJ MET1mchPre, Cary2A3monoamps
        Speakers-AvantgardeDuosLR,3SolosC,LR,RR
        Other-2x512Engineer/Marutani Symmetrical Power, AudioDiskVinylCleaner, Scott Rust Interconnects,
        Music-2000R2Rtapes,50TBrips

        Comment


        • #10
          Originally posted by banditcat200
          I have written a bit about the originals of the 50´s and 1960´s incl Decca, London, EMI, Columbia UK, etc. from over 30 years of collecting these stunning records.
          Keep in mind that there can be issues if you buy on the second hand market including surface noise and substantial wear to the record and the seller seldom addresses these issues, normally they sell records with visual grading, which tells absolutely nothing about the sound and wear of that record, prepare your self for some heavy misses, even if you have prayed top dollar for the record.
          Hit the right record from this period and you will be in for a sonic stunner, I will promise you that in advance, but remember you will also be hit with stunkers, cherish the ones you hit right, you will keep them for ever, they will never leave your collection, or that is how it is for me.
          The conclusions in the link is my own and personnel views of the subject and record collecting from this period of records and some disagree with my conclusions here, just so that you know it.
          Wish you luck in your hunt.
          Thanks for your link and the work you have done. Putting it all together was a real labor of love.

          Here is my take on the Decca vs London pressing issue. Empirically, when I have listened to records with identical stamper info (London vs Decca) in similar condition, what I hear is either no difference or the Decca wins. However, the difference is smaller than the difference between records of the same album with different stampers. Here is my surmise. When Decca was issuing records, mostly they were pressing for both the UK and American market and releasing the records at the same time (although there are definitely records issued earlier in the UK or earlier in the US). Assume they have their presses set up with a particular stamper and they are going to press 1000 records with that stamper. 300 go to the UK market and 700 to the bigger US market. They start stamping the records and putting labels on the records. They, of course, will do all of one label before they switch to the other label. Which do they do first? My surmise is that they do the UK labels first and then the US labels. First, the UK is a smaller run, and second, if they care at all, the UK is more immediate and more important to them. Therefore, the UK records tend to pressed when the stampers are fresher and the impressions are a little sharper - e.g. slightly better sound. This is most noticeable if you happen (by chance) to be comparing an early UK label with a late US label record - since that would show the greatest difference. However, if the two records you are comparing are ones that are close to the change over, then there would be no difference that one could hear. Clearly one would expect that in a place like New Malden, famous for their pressing quality, they would change stampers before they were audibly worn, so the differences should be small, maybe inaudible with the playback equipment of that time. However, today, differences would be more noticeable, particularly with the finer equipment we have and the general truth that the Brits took better care of their records than the Yanks.

          There are lots of complications here - quite a few Decca's were released months before the comparable London versions were released and vice versa, so those records did not share common stampers. There are even cases which will detail in another post, where the London version was pressed in New Malden, but the Decca version was pressed in Baarn. The reverse could also be true, though I don't have first hand evidence of that.

          Have the good fortune of buying the vast majority of my Decca and EMI records in our many visits to London, I didn't pay much more for my SXL6000's than I would for the same London records.

          BTW, it is well known that the stereo EMI recordings were not (with few exceptions) pressed in the UK and sent to the US to be relabeled Angel, but that copies of the running masters were sent to the US where they were remastered and pressed, and hence are quite generally of lower sonic quality that the original UK EMI pressings.

          Larry
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          Dig Rip-Pyramix,IzotopeRX3Adv,Mykerinos,PacMicroModel2
          Dig Play-mchNADAC, LampiHorizon, Roon, HQP, Oppo105
          Electronics-Doshi Pre,CJ MET1mchPre, Cary2A3monoamps
          Speakers-AvantgardeDuosLR,3SolosC,LR,RR
          Other-2x512Engineer/Marutani Symmetrical Power, AudioDiskVinylCleaner, Scott Rust Interconnects,
          Music-2000R2Rtapes,50TBrips

          Comment


          • MylesBAstor
            MylesBAstor commented
            Editing a comment
            +1

            Sedrick and I wrote together for a time at TAS.


            In a nutshell, the Londons always sound tipped up to me; the Deccas richer and airier. But on the other hand, they might be the only pressing you will be able to get.

          • banditcat200
            banditcat200 commented
            Editing a comment
            Thanks, Astroboy
            I put quite some research and money into this subject and music was the driver here, I simply love those old records for the way they play and grip your attention and then you are hooked, although they are not perfect in modern terms

            Myles
            My experience is that it comes down to the stamper and the condition of the record, many London´s are battered by the bad turntables used in that time, especially the recordchanger´s converted into stereo, they will ram and batter a record to destruction in a very short time.
            In short the Decca´s where better kept in the UK then the London´s in the US.
            I will grap any Decca or London if it is in good condition, which ever comes first, I am not religious as many hardcore Decca collectors maybe are, to me there are no differences, apart from stampers and condition, this runs true for other labels to.

        • #11
          What does the EMI label 'His Master's Voice' mean and is it something to avoid?
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          Comment


          • #12
            Originally posted by Madfloyd
            What does the EMI label 'His Master's Voice' mean and is it something to avoid?
            Ian, the His Master's Voice label was used in all of the ASD series. It simply refers to the Little Nipper Dog, which is the trademark of EMI in the UK and Europe. (The little dog is listening to the gramophone and it sound so real the dog thinks it is his master's real voice.) The label started as a white gold color and morphed into various variations of red and black with time. RCA has the copyright for the little nipper, so EMI imports to the US have some sort of sticker or sometimes they would completely paste on a black Odeon label to hide the dog. If you can post a screen shot of the label you are talking about, there may be another label that you are referring to. Otherwise, they are not to be avoided.

            Larry
            Analog- VPIClassic3-3DArm,Lyra Skala+MiyajimaZeroMono, 2xAmpex ATR-102,Otari MX5050B2,Merrill Trident Master Tape Pre,Herron VTPH-2A
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            Speakers-AvantgardeDuosLR,3SolosC,LR,RR
            Other-2x512Engineer/Marutani Symmetrical Power, AudioDiskVinylCleaner, Scott Rust Interconnects,
            Music-2000R2Rtapes,50TBrips

            Comment


            • Madfloyd
              Madfloyd commented
              Editing a comment
              Thank you very much, Larry.

          • #13
            Originally posted by Madfloyd
            What does the EMI label 'His Master's Voice' mean and is it something to avoid?
            I think EMI owns the UK rights to nipper the dog and the slogan his masters voice. its a marketing thing.
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            Comment


            • #14
              Originally posted by astrotoy

              Both L'Oiseau Lyre and Argo were bought by Decca and most of their issues, except the very earliest ones were engineered and pressed by Decca. I have all but one of the L'Oiseau Lyre albums (SOL and DSLO), and all but two of the Argo albums (ZRG series), excluding digitals.

              I have some Accents and a bunch of Harmonia Mundi (French). One of the great engineers is Jean-Francois Pontefract who did many of the HM France albums.

              Be aware that Arthur does like the dutch pressings and later repressings of the Decca and London albums - not the earlier tube lathe pressings. Easier and cheaper to find.

              Larry
              Don't overlook the Albert Paulin or Pierre Studer engineered Harmonia Mundis either. All three HM engineers made wonderful recordings. Paulin and Studer were a little more into closer miking; all three did judicious multi-miking. Then later on they were joined by Peter McGrath.
              Myles B. Astor, PhD, Administrator
              Senior Editor, Positive-Feedback.com
              ________________________________________

              -Zellaton Plural Evo speakers
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              -Goldmund Mimesis 37S Nextgen preamplifier
              -Doshi EVO and Goldmund PH3.8 phonostage
              -VPI Vanquish direct-drive turntable
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              Comment


              • #15
                Larry, there were a few Decca recordings only released on the London label right?
                Myles B. Astor, PhD, Administrator
                Senior Editor, Positive-Feedback.com
                ________________________________________

                -Zellaton Plural Evo speakers
                -Goldmund Telos 440 and 1000 Nextgen mono amps
                -Goldmund Mimesis 37S Nextgen preamplifier
                -Doshi EVO and Goldmund PH3.8 phonostage
                -VPI Vanquish direct-drive turntable
                -VPI 12-inch 3D Fat Boy dual pivot tonearm, VPI 12-inch 3D Fat Boy gimballed and SAT LM-12 arm
                -Lyra Atlas SL Lambda, vdh Colibri Master Signature, Mutech Hayabusa,
                -Technics RS1506 with Flux Magnetic heads, Doshi V3.0 tape stage (balanced)
                -Assorted cables including Skogrand, Kubala-Sosna, Audience FrontRow; Audience FrontRow, Genesis Advanced Technologies , Goldmund and Ensemble Power Cords
                -Accessories including Stillpoint Aperture panels, Cathedral Sound panels, Furutech NCF Nano AC receptacles; Silver Circle Tchaik 6 PLC, Symposium ISIS and SRA Craz 3 racks, Audiodharma Cable Cooker, Symposium Ultra and assorted SRA OHIO Class 2.3+ platforms.

                Comment


                • banditcat200
                  banditcat200 commented
                  Editing a comment
                  One of these was CS 6126 Borodin Symp. 2 and 3, Prince Igor overture , Ernest Ansermet and the Suisse Romande
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