Two things took me back decades at JB Hi Fi today.

Upon entering I was struck by a large sign saying "WE NOW STOCK VINYL!" so I took a look and there was a small bin of maybe 30 titles, priced from $39.99 per album to $89.99 for a boxed set.

The second thing occurred while I was waiting in the checkout queue. A woman had a Samsung Home Theatre on a trolley. I was noting the various symbols on the box such as Bluetooth enabled, wireless network enabled, etc, and among all of that I was surprised to see a symbol of a vacuum tube. Turns out this model has a pair of 12AU7s in the preamp.

I was at JB in the Strand Arcade last Christmas and noticed a rack of LPs on display. Most were heavy metal though and thus not really to my taste.

I am hoping with the rollout to other stores that the range also increases.

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A valve a day keeps the transistor away...

Analogue buffs like the old RCA"Living Stereo" and the Mercury"Living Presence" series LPs. Probably because they had Valve recording equipment when these came out.

I once did this experiment: I wondered what it would sound like to hear a Hi Fi recording that was only valve tube signal-path from microphone to speaker

So I had this stereo Amp - a 1959 Bell Carillon - that had "tape-head" (NAB Eq) input and wired stereo tape deck replay head to coax leads to Amp

I then played pre-recorded tapes that were released in the late 1950s. How did it sound? Divine! an open clear sound like nothing else

Here is an early Mercury 'Living Presence' reel tape I have uploaded, but via a solid state tape deck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBql9ZEgBiM.

Yes, that's exceptionally clean and un-tampered with.

As soon as I heard that track I was reminded of some of my mother's LPs back in the day, including stuff by Mitch Miller.

Interesting to read about the recording technique:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Records#Mercury_Living_Presence_series.

Thanks, great info on link, says many Mercury classics were recently reissued on audiophile vinyl - worth looking for!

I'm looking at the info page inside the tape box and apparently this recording was done outside Mercury at the famous large Universal Recording studio in Chicago. So did not use the 3 channel 35mm Mag Film but an Ampex 350-2 track plus 13 channels into mixer, close mikes and direct boxes for guitar & Hammond! And a (very large) EMT gold plate Reverb (they had one of these at Chnl 9 in Brisbane- equipped in 1959)

GTC: " including stuff by Mitch Miller."

I have a reel tape of his on Columbia/CBS. I guess It gets close to the original studio audio quality they achieved.

He has a good orchestra mixed nicely under except for a leading accordion player who is amazing - so worth it for that alone!

However I object to his use of excessive reverb on the singers - strange he'd do that given that
Mitch was a classically trained musician who produced for many record companies and is famous for his outspoken opposition to Rock n Roll in the 50's - costing the recording Co a fortune by not signing Elvis, Buddy Holly, (and the Beatles who went to Capitol) Although I share his dislike of the Beatles.

Said record collection, played on a Krielser portable radio-stereogram (a copy of which I have been trying to find for years), comprised albums from Mitch Miller, Mantovani, Dione Warwick, Shirley Bassey, soundtracks from all the big Broadway shows, etc, etc -- the usual "square" stuff that parents had back in the day.

It also contained an LP titled "Breakthrough" which was a stereo demo album. I found a copy of that LP on the Internet that a few years ago.

Thanks for that scan of the tape recording notes. Great detail indeed.

I still possess my TEAC X-10R machine. It cost me the equivalent of 20 weeks rent in the 1970s and I don't have the heart to get rid of it. No prerecorded tapes, just tracks I dubbed from LPs for parties. Still have the majority of my vinyl collection, too.

Have a few thousand LPs still, I see that Breakthrough album quite a bit when out hunting, I think I have a couple already.

Have a TEAC A3340S and boxes of tapes. Still debating whether to keep it as I don't record much anymore.

A few thousand is a very big vinyl collection! I have maybe 200.

Just took a look and I have 2 stereo demo LPs from EMI Columbia:

"Breakthrough - An Introduction to Studio 2 Stereo" SOEX 9339

and

"Impact - The Breakthrough to the Exciting World of Stereo Sound" SOEX 9479

Can't find any dates on them but would be 1960s.

As for tapes, I haven't recorded any since the 1980s. I switch the deck on for around 15 minutes each month to keep the caps wet. It would need a good lube.

The Studio 2 Stereo series were very good, maybe not as highly revered as the RCA Living Stereo or Mercury Living Prescence but very high quality just the same. I think John Keating's Space Experience is my favourite.

Yeah it's a lot of records! There's some pretty dodgy stuff in there. Once people know you collect them they tend to gravitate to you whether you want them or not. I just don't have the heart to throw them away. I'll probably donate all the doubles eventually or give them to collectors. How many copies of the Xanadu soundtrack does one really need!

Mitch Miller's accordionist imitates a train with percussive squeeze effect on "Shuffle off to Buffalo" (from 1933 movie "42nd Street"). Mitch was already 22 in'33 - his kind of music - he couldn't handle Rock 'n' Roll two decades later.

But as a record exec, Mitch too would use Universal Recording in Chicago sometimes like Mercury exec David Carroll did.

I did tech support for a studio supply company in the 1980s and Universal Recording was still big then with Murray Allan replacing Bill Putman as the resident sound genius. They moved in 1989 and then faded from the scene apparently, as home studios became affordable.

Maybe same fate for EMI in Sydney?

I found 5 more Mercury tapes - some using the 3 channel minimal miking process including another David Carroll "Percussion Oriental"

And a Norrie Paramor Orchestra (UK) "double album" on Capitol(3.75 ips) - some may recall he would back Cliff Richard & the Shadows with strings sometimes.

I have a Slim Dusty 78.
Its been played that much the centre hole is flogged out!

I think I only have 1 or 2 LP's here.
A couple of milk crates of mostly undesireable 78's

Father in law has 3 45rpm jukeboxes with piles of 45's
He hasnt bought any in the last few years, but there was a place in Tas that was still making them.

Early 78s would have a midrange resonant bump because they didn't use a feedback cutting head.

Here's the tape of Mitch in studio-like high fidelity!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AMz6fQRrH0.

Is he using 'Double Tracking' on the chorale? Sounds a bit too sugary - a unidimensional echo. But everyone was doing it in the sixties - works better with solo or small group vocals.