CES Promises Audiophile 2003
Chad and crew are just back from the CES show and Vegas. "Wow,
" is the best way we can sum up all that we learned about the year ahead. Clean
your ears, and get ready to pad your precious collections. Here's just a bit of
the CES excitement: As always, the Acoustic Sounds booth was a happening
audiophile haven. One of the highlights surely was a visit to the booth by Steve
Hoffman and Kevin Gray. For those who may have been out of the loop, Hoffman and
Gray are the mastering engineers responsible for the Analogue Productions Creedence
Clearwater Revival reissues and, most recently, our Top 25
remastered Fantasy Jazz titles on Limited-Edition 45-RPM vinyl. Record
Technology, Inc.'s Don MacInnis also stopped by to answer questions about the
painstaking manufacturing and pressing processes for this definitive jazz
reissue series. Many lucky audiophiles who had signed up for the complete
25-title set had just received their first two titles before coming to CES and
were thrilled to meet the people involved with the project. Another head-turner
at the Acoustic Sounds booth was the new AcousTech PhD (Phono Direct), designed
by Ron Sutherland. This pure DC, battery-powered phono-stage caused quite a
stir, and photographers from many international audiophile magazines stopped by
to snap some shots of its sculptural interior layout. Features include smart
circuitry to automatically turn the unit on and off and monitor battery life,
fully adjustable and discrete loading and gain options, and of course,
reference-level sound and build quality. Battery life is estimated at 600 to 800
hours, and units should be ready to ship in the next eight to 12 weeks. In all,
this is a mighty attractive package for $3,000. For current PH-1 owners wishing to upgrade to the PhD, there will be a
special, limited-time trade-in program, details forthcoming. In CES business
away from the Acoustic Sounds booth, there were several major announcements sure
to excite our customers. The Super Audio CD continues to gain momentum, and now
the format may be ready to make a further leap to the regular music buyer. Sony
announced that it will begin to manufacture hybrid SACDs, meaning all of their
titles to come will be playable on both standard CD players and SACD players. 
And one of the all-time audiophile rock favorites, Pink
Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon, will be available on hybrid
multichannel SACD on March 3. EMI has set the release date to coincide with the
30th Anniversary of the title. This marks the first time Pink Floyd's seminal
recording will be presented in full 5.1 surround sound, having been remixed and
remastered by longtime Pink Floyd producer/engineer James Guthrie. By all
industry standards, The Dark Side Of The Moon is a phenomenon. Known
for its complex instrumental textures, the album firmly established Pink Floyd
as one of the most innovative bands in rock history. Since its release in 1973,
The Dark Side Of The Moon has sold over 30 million copies and spent an
incredible 741 weeks on Billboard's Album Chart. Preorder your The Dark Side
of the Moon SACD through Acoustic Sounds today. Continuing with hit albums
ready for their SACD debuts, Sony announced the upcoming release of 15 Bob Dylan
hybrid stereo SACDs. This Fall, get ready for The Free Wheelin' Bob Dylan,
Another Side of Bob Dylan, Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, John
Wesley Harding, Nashville Skyline, Blood On The Tracks, Desire, Slow Train
Coming, Infidels, Oh Mercy, Time Out Of Mind, Love and Theft, Royal Albert Hall
and Street Legal. Universal also announced its plans to release
the entire Police catalog on SACD. They'll start with The Police Greatest
Hits - Every Breath You Take: The Classics on hybrid multichannel SACD to
help celebrate The Police's induction into The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on
February 25. Then comes the rest of these classic albums including Outlandos
D' Amour, Regatta de Blanc, Zenyatta Mondatta, Ghost in the Machine,
Synchronicity and The Police Live.
On the vinyl side, Mike Hobson, head-honcho of Classic
Records, revealed his latest reissue, Roy Orbison's Lonely and Blue in both golden stereo and mono versions.
For those audiophiles who may not be familiar with this release, prepare to be
shocked and amazed. This is sublime music recorded in 1960 "live" to an Ampex
tape machine with tube mics by legendary engineer Bill Porter in Nashville. The
Classic Records reissue marks the very first time this title has EVER been
mastered and cut from the original two-track stereo master tapes. The original
mono version of this record was created from the stereo tapes by folding
together the left and right channels. That's exactly the way Classic created the
mono version of this reissue. Also, the mono version was cut using Classic's
all-tube mono cutting system, which includes a mono cutting amplifier and mono
cutting head. The original Monument Golden Stereo release of Lonely and
Blue is all but impossible to find, mostly because at the time of the
original release, the mono version was cheaper and more-accessible and therefore
sold more. If you were holding an original in "as new" condition replete with
the Golden Stereo banner, the price would likely be somewhere in the $1,000 to
$2,000 range. Even original mono versions routinely go for around $500. So, how
does $26.99 sound? Both of Classic's mono and golden stereo versions are in
stock at Acoustic Sounds and available for immediate shipping. The two versions
have different covers. Seeing that majestic gold horizontal strip across the top
of the stereo version recalls that same feeling you had looking at your first
Living Stereo LP. Get yours before it's too late! Hobson announced Lonely
and Blue as the first title in what will be the Classic Records Roy Orbison
series. Stay tuned for Crying, In Dreams and a Greatest
Hits title, all available by year's end. Classic Records also is reissuing
Procol Harum's self-titled debut album in its original mono UK version as
released by Regal Zonophone, a sub-label of EMI. That means original front and
back cover art with a gatefold that features original band photos. But what it
also means is that this record will be mono, the way it was recorded. There have
been several electronically processed or "fake" stereo versions though the
session was only mixed to mono. Furthermore, Hobson and the gang are adhering to
Regal Zonophone's decision to keep the hit single track, "Whiter Shade of Pale,"
off of the full-length LP. Where Regal Zonophone released that song separately
as a 7" single, Classic has included it as a 12" disc with the song cut at 33
1/3 on one side and 45 on the other. Good stuff! And if that's not enough,
Classic also unearthed the only two four-track tapes that came out of the
Procol Harum session. Those tapes hold alternate takes of "Whiter Shade
of Pale" and "Lime Street Blues" (which originally backed "Whiter Shade" on the
7" single). Classic took those four-track tapes to David Gillmore's house
boat-turned recording studio on the River Thames and, using mixing engineer John
Leckie, created the first-ever true stereo version of "Whiter Shade of Pale."
Granted, it is an alternate take of the song, but Hobson says only a diehard fan
of that song can hear the subtle instrumental differences. So, that stereo
version will be pressed on a 7" record and backed with a stereo alternate of
"Lime Street Blues." The 7" bonus disc will be included in the first 1,000
pressings of Procol Harum. Preorder your two-LP copy of Procol
Harum for a preorder special price of $34.99. And if you think you can
handle more, Classic has also secured the rights to the much-coveted The
Allman Brothers - Live At Fillmore East to be released in April. On Classic
Records' Quiex SV-P 200-gram vinyl, this legendary title will sound better than
ever. Preorder this double LP for the preorder special price of $39.99.Groove
Note Records is continuing to mix great jazz with audiophile sound and debuted
two new titles, LA4 - Just Friends on LP and SACD and Ray Brown Trio - Soular Energy on SACD. Both titles are
in stock at Acoustic Sounds and ready for shipping. Then there's the latest
venture of Marshall Blonstein, the former owner of DCC. Blonstein and his crew
including Steve Hoffman have launched Audio Fidelity, and have already released a slew of hit SACD
titles. At the show, Blonstein introduced his plans to add vinyl to the Audio
Fidelity stable. He'll start with some blues titles by John Lee Hooker,
Lightnin' Hopkins and a collection of classics entitled O Blues, Where Art Thou? Those LPs and some new Audio
Fidelity SACDs will be in stock soon. Preorder them today. All of the Audio
Fidelity titles have been mastered by Hoffman at AcousTech Mastering, and Kevin
Gray cut the LPs. Wow! CES annually marks the beginning of the new year for the
electronics industry and the microcosm that is high-end audio. 2003 sounds as
exciting as any year in a long, long time.