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I just cleaned and listened to the Blue Box "Abbey Road" LP, and I still prefer the Apple mono UK version the best.
The instrument and voice volumes on the Blue Box are balanced like the Apple UK, but I do not like hard right and hard left of the stereo Blue Box. The Blue Box is not as clear as the Apple UK, but it is better than the Mobile Fidelity.
The bass is not overblown, but still not as clear as the Apple UK.
For me, I rank the releases as best down to the worst:
Mono Apple UK
Capitol Stereo SO 383 1969
Blue Box BC13
Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-023
IMHO of course. You have more listening experience than me.
Follow Ups:
I thought there was no mono mix made.
nice alliteration.
so I thought it was mono. The German release also has excellent center fill compared to my Blue Box and Mobile Fidelity, so I thought it might be mono.
You are right that everything I have recently read on the net about "Abbey Road" says it was recorded in stereo only, and there are times when the Beatles meant to have sound predominately coming from just one speaker. Maybe that's why I concluded that the sound was hard panned.
I only used the song "Come Together" to compare my four copies from Mobile Fidelity, Capitol, EMI German, and Blue Box.
I was using that track from the MoFi pressing to compare speakers at one point.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
I'm OK with mono jazz, but don't want any parts of mono rock n roll.
But, thanks for the rating. I might be able to find SO 383 locally and for not a ton of dough. There are so many copies of Abbey Road in circulation that the US Apples and Capitols are pretty cheap.
My UK copy should be here any day, and it's got the matrix code that's allegedly gooder, according to the anal retentives over at the Hoffman forum.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
That reminds me of the 5 years I worked at a Dodge dealer. Customers would come into service and say " I am here to pick up my truck". We would ask "which one is it?". They would reply "The Dodge, oh, out back".
nt
the one I ordered is also stereo.
I listen on headphones a lot. Not as much as I used to, but still a lot. Mono on headphones isn't any fun at all.
Generally, I won't listen to any mono records on the cans, which means they're seldom played.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
they didn't know quite what to do with 2 channels. I have quite a few older labels where there's plenty of ping-pong going on.
some of you might remember the Dynaco PAS preamp that had a 'blend' control with 2 options until you hit mono on the 3rd. Mine has been loaned but when I get it back someday I'm going to try it on such. Tube lovers take note.
Ptolomy Almagest
I looked closer at my supposed UK pressing, and it turns out to actually be a German pressing of "Abbey Road." I guess the label words Seite 1 should have given that away. Discogs lists 13 German LPs all with the same catalog number. Three are stated as stereo by discogs, even though "stereo" is not written on the label. Two more of the 13 have "stereo" printed on the label.The German company used the same label number from 1969 all the way to 1981. My German copy is from September 1969.
So, I really don't know if my German pressing is stereo or mono. There is good center fill, as opposed to extreme far left and far right sound with no center fill. I really cannot do a complete test due someone else in the same room as my stereo. :^(
Edits: 03/29/21
On headphones, I could tell you if they were stereo or mono within a couple of seconds. FWIW, I've never seen a mono copy of Abbey Road .
But you gotta love those catalog numbers. I bought a copy of the Foundations LP Build Me Up Buttercup from Discogs and was majorly disappointed to find it in mono. The sleeve says "Stereo," the catalog number is the same for mono and stereo, apparently all of the sleeves have "stereo" on them regardless of what's inside the jacket. The only way to be sure it's stereo (and there is a stereo mix) is to look at the LP itself. If it doesn't say "Stereo" on the label, then it isn't stereo.
Just to make things even weirder, I've got some Prestige jazz two-fers, issued in the 1970s. One of them has "Mono" on the label even though the recording is stereo, another is the opposite.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
that's a bummer. I do have one re-release mono record that's a wonderthrill, Nat King Cole After Midnight. Even my dad thought he had the best voice out of all those crooner's. And he was great on piano too. What a spin and treasure.
Ptolomy Almagest
am sorry he went completely pop. Still a good voice but not like the small jazz combo that I like.
Ptolomy Almagest
nt
I can't read maps without glasses
Ptolomy Almagest
nt
But they're jazz and I only listen to them on the speakers. Some of them sound spectacular, in fact.
But I've never, ever, heard a mono rock and roll record that sounded as good as it's stereo counterpart. To my ears at least, too much of the interplay between vocals and backing vocals, guitars, bass, drums gets buried in a mono mix.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
a mono record is the best way to check you whole system for image centering, an FYI that I hope has been told before
Ptolomy Almagest
Don't know why anyone would want a mono Abbey anyway. It was supposedly the first Beatles album that was designed from the get go to be stereo. All releases to that point the focus was on the monos.
The hard right/left early stereos mostly sucked compared to their mono counterparts.
But Abbey is different. It was intended to be stereo and not a stereo afterthought.
and a mono copy of Rubber Soul . I've played PPM maybe twice.
Made it through one side of Rubber Soul. These are the high quality mono reissues from the original analog tapes.
I'd rather listen to the hard-panned stereo than mono. The mono Rubber Soul will eventually find itself in the discard pile. I'll keep PPM because I'm obsessed with that album.
The problem is not that there is evil in the world, the problem is that there is good. Because otherwise, who would care?
nt
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