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RCA Living Stereo

I have collected vinyl for over fifty years. Jazz, classical, rock… I have lots of late fifties jazz recordings… some of the best are RCA Living Stereo albums. So, over the years if I found a Living Stereo Album, even not in the category of music I liked, I would buy it. I just found a couple dozen… I had bought over the years, usually for a dollar. I had cleaned them on my record cleaning machine, treated with Last and hid them in the corner.

I am currently listening to one called, Lisbon At Twilight… stereo 1958. Wonderful recording. There are a lot of these orchestral works created.. jazzy often from contemporary tunes. The recordings are compelling, so are the orchestrations and individually musicians even though I would have to classify much as elevator music.

 

But with such great recordings in a great system they can be really enjoyable. They are 180 gram of heavier as well. $1… what a deal… blast from the past.

ghdprentice

Showing 3 responses by drbond

drbond
396 posts
 

???

I don't know what you're used to listening to, but RCA is by far the absolute worst manufacturer I've ever heard on LP.  The sound quality is very poor, and the engineering is as bad.  Supposedly, the shaded dog LP's are better quality RCA LP's, and the white dog about the worst, as RCA's focus on quality went to zero very quickly, and shaded dog are earlier than white dog.  Supposedly, some very early RCA, which I suppose could be some of the Living Stereo LP's are the best RCA LP's, but I have found that they are very bad for the music that I listen to: classical, acoustic, etc. 

drbond
396 posts
 

@lewm 

So maybe I exaggerated slightly about RCA LP's, but only slightly:  the only label that I've heard that was a worse recording than RCA is a Supraphon LP from the former USSR, Czech manufacture. . . but they were on about equal footing with RCA.  

In my experience, the most reliable label for classical LP recordings and engineering is Philips. 

drbond
396 posts
 

@audioguy85

Here is a link to a more informed thread about all the various RCA pressings, and nuances:

RCA-Victor Shaded Dog / White Dog LP pressing question... | Steve Hoffman Music Forums

 

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