Original Source?

On that basis, the best performance from the UK pressing, the one that matches the spatial perspective, layout and timing of the German version, while actually offering greater dynamic range and better harmonics and textures (as you’d expect from an earlier pressing) is actually RIAA. Just to put this in context, I own a lot of DGG pressings – more since I first purchased the P1 – and this is only my second example of a Deutsche Grammophon record that requires RIAA EQ. But, if I only had the UK pressing and played it – on autopilot – with the Teldec curve, it would have quickly found its way into the recycle bin… Instead, I’ve got a great record featuring the peerless Rostropovich on typically collegial form, with the Melos at the height of their artistic and expressive powers.

This is not an isolated example. UK pressed RCA records from the fabled Living Stereo era (carrying the SB prefix) were manufactured by Decca and cut using the Decca curve. Play them with the same RIAA EQ employed to cut the US discs and they are a poor shadow of the originals. But play them with the Decca curve and they are a match or in some cases, superior to the US pressings. Which is good to know, not just from a performance point of view, but given the vast price differential between the US and UK pressings! A similar situation exists with the early (blue/silver lattice label) and highly sought-after Columbia SAX records. Manufactured in the UK by EMI, they need the EMI curve for correct replay.

Although I’m constantly asked which curve applies to what record and when the various labels finally switched to RIAA, there simply is no hard and fast answer or fixed dates. Despite what some would have you believe, this was an organic evolution, not an overnight revolution. Like all such evolutions it suffered its fair share of institutional resistance, incompetence and organisational inefficiency. I’m sorry guys, but the world just ain’t that tidy. Even the most ardent RIAA evangelists are finally coming to accept that DGG never adopted RIAA for their 20^th C. German pressings, despite the fact that the evidence was readily available since this debate first got heated: at least for anybody who cared to look.

Where does that leave collectors of second-hand classical records? In essence, it amounts to some variation on “play each record the way it sounds best”. But at the same time, knowledge, experience and a modicum of detective work when it comes to the evidence available on the record itself and the sleeve it arrives in, can offer a significant short-cut to achieving the best performance available. If you buy second-hand classical or pop recordings pressed in the ‘60s or 70’s, then access to variable EQ can make a huge difference to the musical results they’ll deliver. But accessing variable EQ is just the first step on a long – but thankfully fascinating – learning curve.