Know why you never hear Beatles vinyl playing in stereo stores or audio shows? (Love doesn't count; give me a break.)
Because they're TOO DAMN HARD to reproduce. You have to have seriously tweaked, top-quality, correct-sounding equipment -- and just the right pressings, natch -- to get The Beatles' music to sound right, and that's just not the kind of stuff they have at stereo stores and audio shows. (Don't get me started.)
However, you may have noticed that we sell tons of Beatles Hot Stamper pressings. We have the stereo that can play them, we have the technology to clean them, and we know just how good the best pressings can sound. The result? Listings for Beatles Hot Stampers on the site all the time. Five of their titles -- the most of any band -- are on our Rock and Pop Top 100 List. That ought to tell you something. (Let It Be and Revolver would easily make the list as well, but seven albums from one band seemed like overkill, so we're holding firm at five for now.)
A True Pass/Fail Test for Equipment
I've been saying for years that an audiophile system that can't play Beatles records is a system that has failed a fundamentally important test of musicality. Everyone knows what The Beatles sound like. We've been hearing their music our whole lives. We know what kind of energy their songs have. What kind of presence. What kind of power. When all or most of those qualities are missing from the sound coming out of the speakers, we have no choice but to admit that something is very very wrong.
I've heard an awful lot of audiophile stereos that can play audiophile records just fine, but when it comes to The Beatles they fall apart, and badly. Embarrassingly badly.
Super Detailed may be fine for echo-drenched Patricia Barber records but it sure won't cut it with The Beatles. Of course the owners of these wacky systems soon start pointing fingers at the recordings themselves, but we at Better Records -- and our Hot Stamper customers -- know better. You can blame the messenger as much as you want -- it's a natural human tendency, I do it myself on occasion -- but that sure won't help you get your stereo working right.
The Beatles albums are the ultimate Audiophile Wake Up Call. It's the reason practically no equipment reviewers in the world have ever used recordings by The Beatles when making their judgments. The typical audiophile system -- regardless of price -- just can't hack it. Reviewers and the magazines they write for don't want you to know that, but that doesn't make it any less true.
