I picked up about 40 albums at a garage sale last weekend. Sold by nice man in his seventies, I think they had been sitting in his living room in the same house since he bought them in the 1950's. They are in great shape.

They are all classical albums from the 50's, most of them are:

- Columbia Masterworks

- RCA Victor Red Seal

All are hi-fi, mono.

Are these labels known for excellent recordings and well respected by collectors of classical? They sound good to me.

I know some of these recordings were later converted electronically to stereo and re-released. Do collectors prefer the original mono albums ?

I plan to keep them, just curious to know more about these labels.

Thanks. Snade

I have a pretty extensive library from those two labels. The mono versions are more common and I don't think have the collector appeal that the stereo ones have. Nonetheless, most are excellent recordings which will serve you well. Mono doesn't mean lame. The RCA "shaded dog" records are a favorite of mine. Real good stuff. I'd hang on to them.

I'd say yes, good score!

Do you mean "electronically reprocessed stereo" or similar? I personally stay away from those. True stereo is good. Mono is good. :) I don't know what is more collectible.

Congrats.

Pete

I actually think that some of the mono's sound better, especially the solo violins and Heiftez series are tremendous....Some were recorded in stereo and mono at the same time...the stereo were sometimes mixed down from a 3 channel recording.

The RCA's are very desirable and don't forget Mercury's Living Presence series!