2. analog
  3. 195395-196045

"Users of wide-range playback equipment should compensate for the RIAA curve"

On a whim, I bought "Duke Ellington Presents ..." as an LP record from Presto.  Well, it was half price and turned out to be mono.  The sleeve has the title line printed on it and I am confused about what compensation means in this context.

Now the original recording was made in February 1956 and my copy is made in Czech by Bethlehem Records in 2022 and is described as High Fidelity.

The sleeve contains what could be original notes by one Joseph P Muranyi, immediately followed by compensation notice, then a list of similar recordings from Bethlehem.

There is a lot of treble energy on the record but that's expected because there’s four trumpets in the band!  It sounds better than expected for 1956.

Surely Bethlehem in 2022 would have applied the RIAA curve reasonable correctly and only included the compensation warning for nostalgia?  What am I missing?

richardbrand
jond's avatar
jond
6,063 posts
 

@elliottbnewcombjr Thanks for posting that President super cool and awesome looking piece of vintage gear!

richardbrand's avatar
richardbrand OP
565 posts
 

@dwette 

Yep, Australia.  About right given the exchange rate!

Decca's ffrr even made it into Flanders and Swann's Song of Reproduction which shows how little the hobby has changed since 1957

Song of Reproduction

elliottbnewcombjr
5,972 posts
 

jond

I get to think of my uncle whenever I reference his system, and of course each time I listen to my speakers which are new enclosures with the ElectroVoice Drivers from 1958. The woofer is 15W weighs 37 lbs, the big corner Klipschorn used the 15B version. They face forward now, they faced down when in the President, it was on 8" high bronze legs.

 

I’ve re-coned the woofers a few times and have a full set of replacement drivers and crossover, new 16 ohm L-Pads. The horns drivers are impregnated linen and the crossover components are buried in tar in the grey metal can, seemingly indestructible.

The tweeters are T350’s, originals were the smaller T35’s, I burnt a T35 coil blasting Iron Maiden’s "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". On my Reel to Reel version, you can hear him drunkenly say "In the Garden of Eden". 

More to discover