Steely Dan Aja LP MFSL 1-033 Half Speed Master Audiophile

$

22

                                                                       Steely Dan
                                                                             Aja
                                             Mobile Fidelity Original Master Recording
                                                            Half Speed Mastered LP
                                                                  Gatefold Jacket

                                                                     Item Details
              Pressed in: Japan on "Super Vinyl" originally formulated for CD-4 quadraphonic LPs
            Mastering: Half Speed by Stan Ricker (SR) with Ortofon Cutter from original stereo tape
                                                                  Recorded: 1977
                                                                 Issued: July 1980
                                             Label: Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab MFSL 1-033
                                                   Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers: 
            Side 1: (etched:) MFSL-1-033-A3 A SR/~ ORTOFON 30 MAY (stamped:) 132 ? ?
            Side 2: (etched:) MFSL-1-033-B3 A SR/2 ORTOFON 30 MAY (stamped:) 131 ? ?

Half speed mastering allows the cutting head twice as much time to render the groove. 
This means more fine detail on playback (especially in the highs) and less waver on long 
sustained notes.

I am not the first owner of this LP but bought it used long ago and can't recall where.
I played it a few times only on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, and cartridge.
While I had it, the record  has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and was 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.

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

Track list
1: Black Cow, Aja, Deacon Blues.

2: Peg, Home At Last, I Got The News, Jose.

I never take "distant" photos or the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket.
I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see as much of what I describe in the grading.

Grading 
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: VG (Very Good) There is a fair amount of shelf wear on the front sides with noticeable
ring wear. The jacket rear has less ring wear but some random wear patches throughout. All corners, 
edges, and the sleeve show light to moderate rubbing wear. There are no split seams. There are some 
strange "wrinkles" on the inside gatefold left side that were there when I bought the record. 

Vinyl: NM- (Near Mint Minus) Surface visuals were first inspected under high intensity halogen light.
Both sides looked visually perfect with very deep shiny luster. Spindle holes and labels have 
no wear as seen in the photos. Both sides were next cleaned as described above. I played the 
beginning and end of all tracks and the silent grooves between. I would describe the consistent 
audio quality as having impact, drive and liquidity. My favorite of all was "Jose" because of its terrific 
bass definition. There was some vinyl noise in the form of low level random ticks that could be heard a 
bit through the music at the start of side 1 but they gradually lessened as that side went through. 
None them prevented me from enjoying and being pulled into the music. The tracks I thought to be 
the quietest  were S1/T3, and all tracks of side 2. That whole side was overall quieter. 

Packaging
Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
After cleaning I placed into a new a "rice paper" sleeve to keep the vinyl surface 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
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.