We Get Letters

  (Item #: letters_0910) 



Some people think we must be crazy, some think we might be on to something, and even more (thankfully!) think we sell the best sounding records in the world. You can read what people have on their minds below. (Letters may have been edited for space.)

FIVE new letters went up in late August.

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  (Item #: aurios_letter_110108_) 



Richard recently became a Hot Stamper customer, purchasing a $100 copy of Bad Company’s first album. He wasn’t sure that it was all that much better -- or any better -- than three out of the five copies he owns. (He must really like the album, but so do we, so we have that in common.)

Having heard our copy, and knowing what the typical pressing of that album sounds like, I was pretty sure that ours would be likely to beat any of his five, assuming he was conducting the shootout properly.

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  (Item #: steelpretz_testimonials) 



Click here to see what our customers think of our amazing Hot Stamper pressings of Pretzel Logic. Naturally, being giant Steely Dan fans ourselves, we can't resist following their comments with some of our own.

Our discussion of Pretzel Logic track by track can be seen below.

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  (Item #: ambroambro_testimonial) 



Our good customer Ed likes doing his own shootouts, and to that we say Here Here -- more power to ya. He had about a dozen copies of Ambrosia's debut on hand and thought he might actually have one or two that were pretty special. Then he popped for one of our Super Hot Stamper copies and heard why we've been such big fans of the album. Here is his story.

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  (Item #: aurio_letters) 



Over the years we’ve received plenty of Testimonials and Endorsements for these vibration-reducing pucks, our favorite turntable tweak of all time. When we say they are Quite Possibly the Biggest Analog Upgrade Out There, that’s no exaggeration. They are.

Aurios are at the heart of the Revolutionary Changes in Audio we discuss on our site, the advances in various audio technologies that make it possible for us to do our Hot Stamper shootouts, as well as being Number One on the list of Sound Improvements We Recommend.

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  (Item #: acdc_backi_testimonial_0409) 


Another new and satisfied Hot Stamper customer. Martin recently received a batch of records from us including his very first Hot Stamper, AC/DC - Back In Black, which by all accounts is not a bad place to start! Needless to say he was very impressed with the sound.

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  (Item #: who__whosn_testimonial_0409) 



This week’s letter came from a long time customer of ours, Dan. When he ordered this album he left the following note in his order comments - This is one of my favorite albums of all time!! One of my personal desert island discs. Can’t wait to hear it!. I’m not sure his ears were prepared for what was about to happen though. Read on to see what Dan thought of his Very Hot Who’s Next.(We have added the headings you see between the paragraphs.)

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  (Item #: john_goodb_0409) 



Hall of Fame Pressing

Complete with customer review.

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  (Item #: hancomaide_testimonial) 

Hello Gentlemen,

I have to commend you once again. I have never heard Maiden Voyage like this before. The transparency on this copy is superb! I gave up listening to my reissue a while back. It had a heavy veil hanging over it that was obvious. Yet as the listener I yearned to hear past it because the music itself is so wonderful. Thanks for digging up this treasure. It will bring many hours of enjoyment now and in the future.

Records are a tangible investment for the listener. When you find a great copy you hang on to it because it engages you. It moves you in a real sense. A collector who collects for value of first issue is a collector too. However they collect as one would coins, stamps or baseball cards. The value is attributed to what is perceived not what is experienced. I do not slam anyone for this. If joy is found in this manner then, so be it.

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  (Item #: simonparsl_fremer) 



But Why Guess At All?

I received an email recently from a customer who had gone to great pains to do his own shootout for a record and in the end come up short, with not a lot to show for his time and effort. It had this bit tucked in toward the end:

Some of Tom’s Hot Stampers are very dear in price and most often due to the fact that there are so few copies in near mint condition. I hate to think of all the great Hot Stampers that have ended up in piles on the floor night after night with beer, Coke, and seeds being ground into them. Can you imagine all the 1A 1B or even 2A 2B masters that ended up this way or were just played to death with a stylus that would be better used as a nail than to play a record!

As it happened shortly thereafter I found myself on Michael Fremer’s website of all places...

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  (Item #: steveteafo_testimonial_200) 



Roger is up to his old tricks again, doing shootouts with our Hot Stampers and all the great pressings he already owns, in this case putting our humble Brown Label A&M domestic LP up against the legendary Pink Label Island British Import and a couple of MoFis. We’ll let Roger tell his own story, since by now we all know he does it as well as anyone.

Hi Tom,

Just a note on another hot stamper shootout I recently did, this time on Cat Stevens Tea for the Tillerman. It was interesting comparing itto the regular MFSL half-speed, the MFSL UHQR pressing, and a UK Pink Island 3U pressing, which was my all-time champ.

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  (Item #: wrong_truther) 



We received the following letter recently from someone who seems quite upset that we have changed our minds about the pressings we think sound the best. First MoFi, then DCC, now neither. What on earth is our major malfunction anyway?! The writer takes us to task six ways from Sunday, exactly six ways as a matter of fact; the subject line of his email being:

6 pts why we do not genuflect and kiss the ring of the all knowledgeable Tom Port

Indeed there are six points our Truther lays out in his letter, presented for your reading pleasure complete and uncut. (I've cleaned up some of the text and punctuation in places to make it more legible.)

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  (Item #: talisman_testimonial) 

Our good customer Dan was pretty darn impressed with the Walker Talisman. Here is his story.

Tom,

Just used the Talisman this evening. Fan-friggin-tastic! This is AT LEAST a $1000 upgrade for a quarter of the price. Even the glowing reviews on your site could not prepare me for the difference this magical little wand made.

Where do I begin? That thick, invisible curtain (or were there three?) is now lifted from my speakers. Clarity, detail, and transparency have been DRAMATICALLY improved. The top end soared, and with much greater ease. Vocals lost grit and grain. And all the instruments, whether it was a snare drum or a sitar, had vastly sharper imaging, having been stripped of their magnetically-induced distortion. Who’d a thought, right?

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  (Item #: stevetease_testimonial) 



Roger here likes doing his own shootouts, having acquired many of the so-called audiophile recommended pressings over the years. Like us, he knows firsthand that those recommended records have little hope of standing up to the real thing, the real thing of course being an old record we charged him a lot of money for, or, to put it another way, a Super Hot Stamper. Can it possibly be worth the three hundred clams it cost him? Let’s hear from Roger on that subject.

Hi Tom:

Just the usual note to let you know of my latest LP shootout: Cat Stevens Teaser and the Firecat. Since you recommend this recording so highly, I was looking forward to comparing your Super Hot Stamper (SHS) to a British Sunray pressing I had and my Mobile Fidelity Anadisq. Since I had previously found, as you have, that the MFSLversion was thin and bright, I bought a UK pressing, finding it much more full, warm, and dynamic, and my recent .

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  (Item #: stevemonab_testimonial) 



Our good customer Joel not only loved our slightly noisy but amazing sounding Mona Bone Hot Stamper, he found it to be pretty darn quiet to boot! He says it’s the Best $180 I’ve ever spent on an LP. Seems like a lot of money for one record but when the music and sound are this good who wants to argue with a happy man?

Hi Tom

I just spun the bargain tics and pops A+++ Mona Bone Jakon. I listened to this record hundreds of times growing up, but never like this! Silky smooth voices and guitars, so lifelike! Nice bass extension also... I have to laugh, because I think that the condition of this record is excellent!

Now I know how the other half lives! Listening to this hot stamper reminds me of my image of the rich man, eating only the center of the watermelon. These hot stampers are amazing, I wouldn’t believe it if I weren’t hearing it! Best $180 I’ve ever spent on an LP...

Joel

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