Living Stereo sound bad?

Groove damage should be fairly obvious. It will tend to raise its ugly head most obviously as a kind of crackling distortion on very dynamic passages. No amount of cleaning will get rid of it (I find that with a really dirty record, you may need to clean and vacuum two or three times with each subsequent cleaning following 2 or 3 plays of the record to "get the rocks out". That being said, not all Living Stereos or Columbia 6 Eyes or whatever are going to sound great. Some of them, yes, all of them no.

My experience with the old ones- pre Dynagroove US RCAs was generally that they sounded 'soft' and did not have prominent bass, but very natural sounding strings, horns, massed instruments sounded anything but harsh- but more surface noise than other comparable vintage records, eg Living Presence, Londons, etc.
I think the reissues by Classic make buying some of the older ones less compelling, if only because of less noise. Years ago, when the Chesky reissues were the ticket, a friend and I did some direct comparisons and found that we liked the sound of the early "White Dog" best- don't remember which recordings, though.
RCA had some novelty records in the period, too- including all the Hugo Winterhalter, Music for a ____, and other (Esquivel) that were fun.
I have tons of 'em.

I collect many living stereo RCA recording's, where ever I can locate them. Much of their popular recordings are much better when it comes to such things as pops, clicks and ticks. I have found many RCAs even when in excellent to mint condition that sounded just horrible in their earlier shaded dog state and yet many white dog's{later pressings} sounding cleaner and more quiet even before a cleaning.

Pawlowski6132, you might find interesting Arthur Salvatore's comments about the "Golden Age" era pressings of many records so highly touted by collectors. Arthur is a somewhat controversial figure, but I've found that I agree with most of what he says about the sound quality of various LPs (predominantly classical). Here's a link to the section of his web site where he explains why his listing of the best sounding LPs do not include any of the original RCA "Shaded Dog", Mercury "Living Presence," London "Blue Back" et al pressings:

www.high-endaudio.com/supreme.html#Miss

Here's the link to the beginning of his discussion of "the Supreme LPs" (the finest sounding LP recordings he's ever heard):

www.high-endaudio.com/supreme.html

.

IMO, the classical shaded dog living stereos and other labels made in the late 50's have a mid to rear of the hall perspective. Many later recordings were more front row or even conductor's podium perspective, more "in your face". Some prefer one over the other, I try to decide based on the performance rather than the perspective. Fritz Reiner and Pierre Monteaux of Living Stereo fame were a couple of very fine conductors.

I think that there are very many satisfying Living Stereo records, even from the so-called early recordings with early pressings.
Over many decades of collecting it is obvious that no consensus exists about these records. Not any different than the lack of consensus on any audiophile topic.
Many of my most "amazing" musical and audio thrills have come together on these recordings. There is a considerable variability in what is heard among individual pressings of these records which may account for some of the diverse opinions. Also, as Rcj1231 explains, ultimately the musical values are rarely emphasized in audio discussions, because audio attributes are more obvious, and more easily justify why we spend so much time and money to optimize the potential in a sound system.
Each of us can only speak from our personal experience. I have found many records "to live for" that never even get mentioned in most reviews of older records.
After reviewing Arthur Salvatore's website, thanks to Rushton, I can agree he has identified many great recordings. But, I imagine he could critique the sound in an imperfect seating position in a famous concert hall, causing you to avoid all music played in that hall. When Avery Fisher Hall at New York City's Lincoln Center first opened with poor acoustics this did not prevent hearing some fabulous musical events available nowhere else.
Once a recording, or a live venue, reaches a certain threshold level of acceptability then it is the musical performance which really counts.
Perhaps it is better if everyone leaves over the Living Stereo's for me at sales and thrift stores. Just put them together in one box so I won't have to search so hard to collect them.

Don't touch the Dynagrooves. Preferably try to get Living Stereos mastered by Layton and Mohr. (Lt Kije, Song of the Nightingale, Scheherezade et al )
Cheers