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Today’s second official Beatles announcement!
Beginning November 19 and continuing into December, high-end audio retailers in several U.S. cities will host listening events for The Beatles’ stereo vinyl remasters. Each retailer will present the new Beatles vinyl on completely hand-made British hifi systems, with demonstrations of audible improvements in the new vinyl on a variety of turntables and associated equipment. A guest speaker will also accompany the events. Confirmed locations include:
San Francisco: 7pm, Monday, Nov. 19 AUDIO VISION SF (1603 Pine St., San Francisco, CA 94109)
Los Angeles: 5pm, Tuesday, Nov. 20 AHEAD STEREO (7428 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036)
Atlanta: 7pm, Monday, Nov. 26 AUDIO ALTERNATIVE (895 Indian Trail Rd., Ste. 15, Lilburn, GA 30047)
Dallas: 6pm, Tuesday, Nov. 27 AUDIO CONCEPTS (11661 Preston Rd., Ste. 280, Dallas, TX 75230)
Austin: 7pm, Wednesday, Nov. 28 WHETSTONE AUDIO (2401 East 6th St., #1001, Austin, TX 78702)
Chicago: 6pm, Monday, Dec. 3 PRO MUSICA (2236 North Clark St., Chicago, IL 60614)
Boston: 6pm, Tuesday, Dec. 4 GOODWIN’S HIGH END (899 Main St., Waltham, MA 02451)
New York: 7pm, Wednesday, Dec. 5 IN LIVING STEREO (2 Great Jones St., New York, NY 10012)
Philadelphia: 7pm, Thursday, Dec. 6 COMMUNITY AUDIO (8020 Germantown Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19118)
Washington, DC: 6pm, Friday, Dec. 7 IQ HOME ENTERTAINMENT (10890 Fairfax Blvd., Fairfax, VA 22030)
I will not be buying the new vinyl pressings of the Beatles’ catalog, but I may attend the presentation at Goodwin’s in Waltham, outside of Boston. Although the stereo USB Apple is my ultimate dream format, it will be interesting to see if this new box set undercuts the going rate on eBay for the 1982 Beatles LP box set from Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. I have several of the individual MFSL titles, and they suffer from an annoying 60 Hz hum that sounds like it came from a grounding problem in the Ortofon cutting head. This is the only flaw in an otherwise sterling presentation. The 24-bit FLAC copies are, of course, completely free of hum, hiss, snap, crackle, or pop of any sort that isn’t on the original recordings. The splices in She Loves You have always bugged me, for example, and I’m not fond of the fake stereo used in I Am the Walrus.