u/zRouth

This was only one of the purchases I made this month… I may have a problem….

The three I already owned are Kind of Blue, Can’t buy a Thrill, and Are You Experienced. The rest I received yesterday. The sound on the UHQRs that I own is second to none and I pretty much only buy brand new or NM or M- records. Hilariously my TT is in the shop!

A little about UHQR - Ultra High Quality Record was originally pioneered by Mofi in the 80s. These days they are made by Analog Productions the flagship label of Acoustic Sounds. Here are some of the specs:

200 gram clarity vinyl. Vinyl is naturally clear. Black pigment is added for visual consistency and to hide defects. By stripping away the magnetic properties and microscopic contaminants found in black carbon, the noise floor is reduce to almost dead silent background.

Unlike Mofi, UHQR Never uses digital files, they are always cut from the original masters from sound engineers such as Bernie Grundman and Chris Bellman. They aren’t all 45rpm but 90% are and I think those that aren’t have 45rpm options on the way.

The packaging is first class, a box within a box within a box. Like Russian dolls but with records. I’m happy to have almost all the current UHQRs with the exception of The Who, one or two jazz records I already own and some Bob that I’m waiting for the 45rpm version.

TLDR: UHQR: The highest quality analog records you can buy. If anyone is wondering if this is worth it I think the answer is resoundingly yes but it does depend on your vinyl playback system and what you value in our crazy addiction of our hobby that is collecting.

This is the One Step Vinyl pressing of Hybrid Theory and Meteora and they are incredible. If you’re a fan of Linkin Park and have the means and system which excels at vinyl playback, I highly recommend them.

Girlfriend loves my vinyl… I never expected this but the moment has arrived anyway and had to share. Cheers.

This is a follow up post (which I will try and find the link to). The quick and short of it is that my new girlfriend loves music and so I was able to setup my system in her apartment and she’s was blown away! We now share this excellent hobby together!

I got a ton of comments (as is the norm) for the fact that the speakers were on the same surface as the deck, the speaker too close to the wall, blah blah etc etc. Of course that was the first setup just getting it in there for her. So now that I have the stands and my audio rack I thought I’d share so all those people can rest easy and sleep well tonight knowing that another system has been properly set up. Everyone knows that for every stereo image that is destroyed by improper setup, Zeus kills a kitten. And we can’t have that.

Please excuse the lack of cable management. That will be done shortly.

For those interested:

Not pictured are 2, 12inch Rhythmik subs -$2k
Sierra 2 speakers $1,500
M6si - $2,800
Musical surroundings nova II phono- $2k
Well tempered TT - $2.5-3k
Nagaoka mp150 - $200
Sumiko pearwood celebration II cartridge- $2,800

So MSRP is $13,500 all in.

However I bought used where I could:
Rhythmik brand new $2k
Sierra b stock blemish $1,200
M6si audiogon used - $1,600
Nova 2 - Us audiomart - $650
Well tempered TT broken fixed it myself - $1,100
Sumiko pearwood cart estate sale - $800
Nagaoka mp150 - $200
Blue jeans cables $75

$7,550 more or less.

Wanted to share my happiness here. Been dating this girl for a little and mentioned I have a stereo in storage that I can’t setup at my house. I asked her if she had ever heard a real stereo in the $10,000 range and she said no but she loves music and got very excited by the idea.

I set it up and when she saw the records she flipped and pulled out a couple choice picks. Coltrane, Nina, Mingus but we ended up listening to Kid A first.

Boys, I tell you she had the exact reaction we all hope someone has when hearing a real stereo. She couldn’t believe it. Her eyes were closed when I started playing it and First thing she said “I’m hearing so many things I’ve never heard before”. Shortly followed by “so this is what music is supposed to sound like?”.

After a bit I started talking nerd shit about the speakers and then caught myself and said “nevermind this is really nerdy” and she said “go on I want to hear about it”. I explained some more and we listened to Coltrane after and she couldn’t have been more thankful. She said “I’m never going to leave my house when I’m not working” and thanked me over and over.

We’ve already spent hours upon hours listening to records together and her taste in music is immaculate. She might be a keeper!