Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion Stereo COSTCO classical music

Hi, didn't want to "Hijack" a thread, so started this. Has anyone seen, or know anything about the re makes (now SACD) of the late 50's, early 60's recordings at COSTCO. 7.49 (amr) for two old albums, Fiedler..., various stuff, all with the old HI FI STEREO on the old album cover. Good recordings??? (I suppose after all this, it wouldn't have killed me to spring for 15.00 and buy a couple when I was there... Oh well) Thanks, Guy

I think you are talking about the Living Stereo series. I have a few of them now. Good quality sound at an affordable price. Tower records used to have them for 8.99 a pop.

Be aware that these are two and three channel recordings only. The surrounds aren't used in the mix.

These are Living Stereo releases. I picked up three of them last weekend...really nice sounding. In fact, the sound quality on one of the three-channel recording was stunning. COSTCO is offering a limited selection of titles (10) from the 40 that have been released so far.

Guy, as David mentioned, there've been 40 hybrid SACDs released in the series, so I don't know exactly which ones Costco may have. That price is really good and the performances are pretty much all excellent ones. The remastered sound is greatly improved, but keep in mind that there may be a little tape hiss. If they're available, consider among others the Gershwin collection , Daphnis et Chloe , Pictures at an Exhibition , Sibelius Violin Concerto and Ein Heldenleben .

The sound quality on "Pictures at an Exhibition" is amazing. The others I have heard have been very, very good...but "Pictures" blew me away. And to think, this performance was recorded 50 years ago.

Here is a little background on the original idea behind the the Living Stereo Series of binaural recording. To this day people are still using binaural recording methods. Tchad Blake is one who is at the forefront. Tchad is known for his work with Bonnie Raitt, Pearl Jam, Peter Gabriel and Richard Thompson to name just a very few. Quite often he works in collaboration with Mitchell Froom. The concept of Binaural recording is very interesting reading. Search either "Binaural Recording" or "Tchad Black" for more information the following is pasted from the living stereo sacd site

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On October 6, 1953, RCA Victor made its first experimental "binaural" recordings. At New York's Manhattan Center, Leopold Stokowski conducted a pick-up orchestra in Enesco's Roumanian Rhapsody No. 1 and Tchaikovsky's Waltz from Eugene Onegin. In December RCA continued stereo tests in Manhattan Center with Pierre Monteux and members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Then, in February 1954, RCA took equipment to Bostons Symphony Hall, where Charles Munch and the Boston Symphony were recording Berlioz's The Damnation of Faust. For the first time, RCA engineers captured the performance on both mono and two-track tape. These experiments, combined with further technological refinements employed in Chicago's Orchestra Hall in March 1954, were the first forays into the world of stereo.

At the time that RCA initiated multi-track sessions, disc mastering and consumer playback technology were monaural. RCA Victor proceeded to use two- and three-track equipment to record the world's greatest artists--Heifetz, Piatigorsky, Reiner, Munch, Rubinstein, Fiedler--in anticipation that home technology would catch up to stereo sound. Finally, in 1955, 1/4" 7 1/2ips stereophonic tape players arrived on the consumer market, and RCA released its first Stereo Orthophonic tapes. Stereo Orthophonic tapes redefined high fidelity. In 1958, the Western Electric Company produced the breakthrough Westrex Stereo disc cutter, thereby revolutionizing master disc production. Stereo playback equipment was developed to coincide with the new disc cutting technology. The same year, Living Stereo LP records were launched, ushering in the golden age of stereo high fidelity. RCA Victor's first two-track sessions in late 1953 and early 1954 were captured on proprietary RCA RT-21 1/4" 30 ips tape machines, wired to a pair of mono mixers, each dedicated to one tape track. Neumann U-47 cardioid and M-49/50 omnidirectional microphones were favored, as were RCA-designed LC-1A 15" duo-cone speakers in the control room. Three track recordings were realized on tube amplifier Ampex 300-3 1/2" machines running at 15ips and in later years at 30ips, and were mixed down to 1/4" two-track masters. No equalization was used in the original tracking process; the microphone signals were summed through passive electronics and printed straight to tape. In addition, no equalization was used to alter playback takes for artist approval.

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Buy the way I have read a lot of reviews on these and "most of them" are considered to be outstanding performances. BMG is behind the new releases in SACD.

oz

MUCH obliged everyone, "Pictures" was one of those in stock. I'm headed out to get a few. Thanks again, Guy (Now, do I play them, or wait until the M-60's arrive....)