A Message From Marshall - Audio Fidelity to Close Shop

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It's nothing personal, I'm just not impressed with their product.

If vinyl hadn't made the comeback it did, I think we'd be seeing a lot more QUALITY QUAD/5.1 and Stereo higher res reissues! Ironically, almost every movie I see today has someone spinning vinyl. It's as if Universal Players never existed. The public, apparently, has spoken!
 
And yet the 'flow' of Stereo/Mono vinyl reissues seems to be endless...............

But not as "endless" as Digital Downloads according to the New Arrivals list from Acoustic Sounds that shows all the formats coming into their store.... :)

New Arrivals at Acoustic Sounds - May 18 2018.png


http://store.acousticsounds.com/index.cfm?get=results&NewArrivals=true
 
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If vinyl hadn't made the comeback it did, I think we'd be seeing a lot more QUALITY QUAD/5.1 and Stereo higher res reissues! Ironically, almost every movie I see today has someone spinning vinyl. It's as if Universal Players never existed. The public, apparently, has spoken!
I meant specifically MFSL pressings. I'm a vinyl fan, I would have thought the context of my statement would make that clear.
 
This is sad news, but I'm not at all surprised by this announcement.
With no news of any new releases since earlier this year, I knew that the writing was on the wall.

I think I purchased all but 2 of AF's Surround SACDs, and I'm grateful for every release they put out, even the ones I didn't really like.
I honestly still think they got into the Surround SACD business a little too late, especially since there were several companies that released SACDs of certain titles before they could, but better late than never, right?! I'm still amazed to have certain titles all thanks to them!

Let's face it. We will always be a specialty market, and AF did what they could to feed our appetites as a specialty label, but there's not as much room for that in today's world of downloads and streaming, is there? (Vinyl being an obvious exception...)

Three cheers to Audio Fidelity for a good two years and almost thirty surround SACDs released in that span!

:)
 
I meant specifically MFSL pressings. I'm a vinyl fan, I would have thought the context of my statement would make that clear.

Yes, I was under that impression. Read an article recently that NO new Record Pressing lathes [and associated equipment] have been manufactured in YEARS [and YEARS] and that they're ALL being refurbished.

In your opinion, WHO IS consistently producing the VERY BEST vinyl pressings today?
 
AF as we've said before issued a staggering collection of quad from the 70s on SACD. And however much of it was ignored by the stereo only crowd - I will bet my bottoms that the collector's prices rise and rise higher for the multichannel SACDs over and above the stereo only titles on SACD or gold CD.

It is already happening. Surround as it goes oop is considered special and something different than another reissue of Breakfast in America.

Oh and since I stated that Spectrum was the rarest of the AF quad SACDs - look at the latest asking price for that one on eBay. Just offered for $179.00. Someone is reading my posts and runnning away with it.
 
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I am curious anyone know how old Marshall is as hasn't he been in the record/cd/music business for quite along time.

Like many things that are going bye/bye, yes its sad but happy for whatever Marshall will be doing next as like with many of us, speaking for myself any ways I am currently ready to turn page on one career as well as have put in 40 years with one company and its time for a new chapter and new challenge in life.

I don't know how old Marshall is but considering he's been in the business since the late 60's he's gotta be a fair way into his 70's
 
In your opinion, WHO IS consistently producing the VERY BEST vinyl pressings today?

Speakers Corner. Without a doubt. Everything I've ever got from them has been both outstanding and reasonably priced. Don't get me wrong, the MFSL releases aren't bad per se, they just aren't any better than standard price Rhino, Warner or Capitol reissues. In fact, the Neil Young albums I have bought are some of the quietest vinyl I own. Ditto the Emmylou Harris on Nonesuch. That's why I say that MFSL is a cash grab. They are using a purchased legacy to fool people into thinking the product is something special.

Analogue Productions is another label that I trust much more than MFSL, but they are also a bit pricey.

Also, the label isn't as important as the pressing plant, which you often don't know until after you purchase, just like the old days.
 
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I'd rather keep AF and see MOFI go under. Other than rice paper sleeves I have no use for them.


Glad to see at least one person agrees with me.
MoFi is a corpse dead several decades now that somehow still stirs.
The fact that they depend on vinyl sales in 2018 says it all.
 

thanks for the link Clint, he comes across as a nice guy in that interview, the record player looks a bit naff to me maybe, surprised he'd put his name to it, when I hear his name I think of high end top quality product.. but still, if it makes him happy/makes money, best of luck in the new endeavour and thanks for all the wonderful Quad SACDs.
 
I'd rather keep AF and see MOFI go under. Other than rice paper sleeves I have no use for them.

while its sad about AF, i'd happily see the MOFO's go under! whether purposely or inadvertently, the end result was still a disaster for us imho with MFSL Quadblocking so many albums over the years by spewing out Stereo only SACDs of albums with Quad mixes, I can never forgive them.
 
Well dis is da Suckage! :cautious:

Oh and Jon .... with the limited amount of MC that was released.... me doubts that was an overall factor. :unsure::LB- Their thing was stereo......some of their stereo releases were say.... not so hot sought after IMHO
 
I just sent Marshall a note. I really hope that the M/C series of SACDs were not a major cause of AF's downfall. That would be a shame. A real shame.

ah the good old scapegoat surround.. only joking ;)

even if MCh wasn't a big moneyspinner for AF at least they tried, good for them, great for us, for a while!

sadly i fear the market for AF's product generally (whether Stereo or Surround) has shrunk somewhat.. i imagine to the point it was deemed no longer viable with their business model/within their own corporate structure.

hipsters want vinyl (fair enough, I still like it but for me digital coexists with old records, its not an either/or thing personally) but it seems that's the direction AF's CEO is moving in with that suitcase record player thing they've developed.. so, great job on the Surround AF! hope it wasn't your downfall (it may have been a contributing factor, I don't think it was) and best of British luck to you! (y)
 
Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast. ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them. under their feet....
Shame upon the great unwashed passel of pigs and their love of homogenized MP3 garbage.
I guess we cannot hold back the tide. We needed to get recruits but they are in the grip of cheap low fidelity "music" made by producers for performers backed by little miltia of "dancers" whose job is to distract an audience from performers who are no longer musicians.
This as bad as OPPO going down too. I have bought my spare OPPO 203 and I will be able to die enjoying my "quaint" DVD-Audio/SACD/DTS/Blu-Ray/Gold optical media.
It just maybe we here have lived in the golden age of audio and our collections of will be all that more precious and valuable. Vinyl is great stuff but it just sucks it will deteriorate like clockwork - a victim of wear dust mold and mildew mishandling . I feel lucky as I have some of the best music ever made and most of my favorites made it onto our "quaint" DVD-Audio/SACD/DTS/Blu-Ray/Gold optical media collections. Beach Boys, Beatles, all DOORs, most ELP, EAGLES, all Genesis, all Jethro Tull, King Crimson, Kraftwerk, most Moody Blues, most Pink Floyd, Police, Queen,REM, Steely Dan, Talking Heads, Yes, BS&T. Super Session, Gentle Giant, Elton John, Carly Simon, and Metallica and a million points in between. Someday we should re-do the surround poll. There are recordings that are shamefully misrepresented as being good as well as those that are far down on the list that should be higher too. But I digress...

Thank you all at Audio Fidelity - I enjoyed being #128.
 
Regarding the cost/risk of pressing SACDs... I don't see any download retailers getting serious about pop/rock/metal DSD MC downloads. It's mostly classical/world/jazz for MC.
I would definitely be among those willing to do hi-res, multichannel downloads of pop/rock/metal and similar genres. DSD or ISOs of various types.
It would cut down on manufacturing and shipping costs. Win/win.
 
Regarding the cost/risk of pressing SACDs... I don't see any download retailers getting serious about pop/rock/metal DSD MC downloads. It's mostly classical/world/jazz for MC.
I would definitely be among those willing to do hi-res, multichannel downloads of pop/rock/metal and similar genres. DSD or ISOs of various types.
It would cut down on manufacturing and shipping costs. Win/win.
I would hope that DSD goes the way of the dinosaur, and fades into history soon - at least as far as downloads go. It's another format that gets expensive when the cost of a DAC is considered. PCM into FLAC is quite fine with me.
 
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