Conference cookie::notes$archive:cd_v1

47.0. "A (relatively) new CD addict" by CYGNUS::FRANCINI () Mon Nov 26 1984 08:25

Hello there from beautiful downtown Maynard!

I am a relatively recent purchaser of a CD player (a Technics SLP7 in 
September, and I have just discovered this file.  I intend on reading and 
writing to it very often.  

I have about 20 CD's; my wife and I love the player.  The sound quality is 
just so much better than even the best LP's that I have that I am totally 
converted to CD sound.  

I have noticed large differences in the quality of CD recordings from disc 
to disc.  For example, I have some digitally mastered stuff by Von Karajan 
and the Berlin Philharmonic which is absolutely silent. (I can even hear the 
breathing and page-turning of the orchestra during the quiet passages!)
Others aren't quite that good, especially if they are analog recordings.
Genesis' "Abacab" album has a fair amount of hiss and a goodly amount of 
hum (probably from the mixing console or other analog elements in the 
recording chain).  Billy Joel's "Nylon Curtain" would have been much better 
if they had remastered it without the high compression used on the LP.  The 
album contains numerous quiet passages, and during those you can hear the 
hiss/hum level rise and fall as the compressor "rides the gain" as the 
signal changes.  The effect is rather unnerving and totally unneccessary on 
a CD.  

By the way, where can I find the largest selection of CD's in the area 
without having to resort to going to the Coop? (I live in Framingham, and 
Cambridge is a bit of a trek from here.)

One other thing:  there is a new (3 months old) magazine out called 
"Digital Audio".  It deals mostly with CD's and CD players, although it 
also gives reasonable coverage to PCM tape machines and studio equipment.  
It is aimed at the consumer, and it includes several disc reviews in each 
issue.  It also includes a comprehensive listing of all the CD's released 
by all the manufacturers worldwide.  

I have seen it on sale at most larger newsstands in drug stores and also at 
B. Dalton's in Framingham.  

Keep up the good work.

John (CYGNUS::) Francini

The biggest selection in Framingham would be Rockin' Mania records in
the Tropical isle Plaza on Rt. 9 or Strawberries. Also check out the
record store in downtown maynard. Sometimes they have good stuff. If
enough Digits show interest, he will order more selections.

Jay

Tweeter etc. has a fair selection, and if you get one of their
preferred customer cards, you can get a 15% discount.  The Electric
Gramophone in Sudbury may well have one of the largest classical
selections in New England, they only deal in classical.  As stated
above, Rock'n Mania has one of the larger Rock selections.

					    -Dave

I will try Rock 'n Mania, that's one I hadn't heard of before.

As far as Strawberries is concerned though:  yes they do have a decent
selection, but they tend to be far more 'mainstream' than I would prefer.  

A little bit east down the road, in Sherwood Plaza, is Good Vibrations.  They
have a substantial selection, including some stuff that Strawberries doesn't.

They have a reasonably-sized jazz collection there as well.  

unfortunately, a lot of what I'm looking for isn't distributed by U.S. record
companies, and I have to go to the Coop for it.  (Last weekend, for example,
I went to the Coop and picked up Pink Floyd's "The Wall" and Spandau Ballet's
"Journeys to Glory".  According to Digital Audio magazine, the album "True" by
Spandau Ballet has also been released on CD by Chrysalis (but I think in
England, not in the US).  I am looking particularly for some other record
store that is strong in British/European/Japanese import CD's.  (By the way
it is fairly easy to tell the import from the non-import CDs.  The domestically-
distributed CDs come in those infernal 6 by 12 inch holders, while imports 
are simply shrink-wrapped.

Also, the Coop is now selling a sort of modular CD holder cube.  It is stackable
both horizontally and vertically.  Anyone else hear about such a thing?