Oregon Distant HIlls 1979 MFSL 1-514 1/2 Speed Master LP Japan Press Audiophile

$

17

Oregon
Distant Hills
Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL 1-514
1979 Half Speed Remaster By Stan Ricker
Pressed in Japan using JVC "Supervinyl" developed for CD-4 Quadradisc LPs

Item Details
Manufactured in: Japan
Recorded: July 2-5 at Vanguard's 23rd Street Studio, New York
Lacquer Cut By: Stan Ricker (SR/2 in matrix below) at JVC Cutting Center Hollywood CA
Pressing by: JVC Yokohama Japan
Original Issue: 1973
This Issue: 1979
Label: MFSL 1-514
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
Side 1: (etch:) MFSL-1-514-A1 A SR/2 ORTOFON (stamp) H 1 1 1 &#xA530 (etch:) C
Side 2: (etch:) MFSL-1-514-B4 t/m SR/2 ORTOFON (stamp) H 1 4 1 &#xA530
Was gifted to me by my good audiophile buddy Dave when he was converting his music sources to digital. Dave took pretty good care of his vinyl but always put some kind of stickers on the LP covers as you can see down in the lower right corner. This one was treated with the LAST vinyl wear preventative on Side 1. While under my care it has had only a couple of plays on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge. It also has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.
Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse (50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
1: Aurora, Dark Spirit, Mi Chinita.

2: Distant Hills, Canyon Song, Song For A Friend, Confession.

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. It is virtually impossible to know the true vinyl condition from any photograph. That takes very bright and close visual inspection PLUS play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment.
Grading Details
Note: Record grading by text characters is subjective and does not fully describe quality levels. Please see photos and my detailed descriptions below.

Outer Jacket Inspection:
VG++/NM-
Down in the front lower right corner you can see Dave's sticker residues. The front would easily be NM but for those. Front surfaces are perfectly smooth and whites/colors are bright. The jacket rear has a very faint curve of ring discoloration only in the lower right corner. There is the slightest hit of rubbing wear on the upper right corner and a very tiny crease on the upper left corner. Please examine my photos carefully so you can judge the grading to your own personal opinion.

Vinyl visual inspection:
After cleaning, surface visuals were inspected under high intensity halogen light. I rotated and tilted the record in multiple angles with my eyes a few inches away from the vinyl. Side 1 looked visually perfect. Side 2 had a couple of extra fine reflective "nano-lines" from sleeve insert and removal.

Play Testing:
NM/VG+
Extensive play testing was performed after visual inspection. I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of each track for a few minutes on each needle drop. I also listened to all lead-in, lead-out and transition grooves between each track. Some tracks were played all the way thru when digitizing my favorites to 192k/24-bit WAV files. Continuous written notes were taken. Here is rundown of each side from my notes.

Side 1 Play
First, the LP lays flat as a pancake on my platter (I do use a record clamp). I found all the lead-in/out and transition grooves to be very quiet. This side has very few small ticks which really lets the music remain in the listener's attention even in the quietest passages. I ranked this side to have one of the most perfect MFSL vinyl pressings in my collection. It truly sounded like a very first play and I rate it a solid NM

Side 2 Play
I noticed a small amount of crackle going into the start of T1 and that noise did reduce as the volume of performance rose. However, that lower background crackle did persist through the end of the track. The character of the vinyl noise floor on this side was different from Side 1. It has a kind of "sputtering" quality to it. The matrix codes suggest it was a later stamper and that may account for the difference. T2 had a bit better signal-to-noise ratio than T1. T2 sounded cleaner to me but I did hear a couple of slightly audible "chuffs" here and there. T3 was my side favorite because of the outstanding recording and mixing of the bass. During T4 I heard some repeating clicks per revolution (about 3) in the middle of the track. So, because of the comparison with Side 1 per vinyl quietness, I rate this side down to VG+ even though the music was overall reproduced very well due to MFSL's 1/2 speed process.

Packaging

• Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
• Record has been placed into a new MFSL-style "rice paper" sleeve. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean during shipping and ultimate buyer usage.
• Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
• Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed within 5 business days($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you intend to buy more than one LP do not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined invoice. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.