Details of Beatles Vinyl Master Recording BOX Set?


I just inherited a complete box set of the Beatles Master Recording LP set. I see them on eBay fairly often for which they sell at $1,000+. How do these differ from any other boxed LP set?

Clearly the Master Recordings are superior, or at least that is how I understand it, but what makes it better?
Deeper grooves, better vinyl, better recordings? What is it?

Thanks,
Dan
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Showing 4 responses by mapman

I have MFSL vinyl recordings of Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road. Xiekitchen describes them well.

Yes, they sound better in general than standard issue vinyl. Do they sound better than the CD versions? Maybe. Both sound quite good but different. I would describe the sound as very dynamic yet smooth, clear and involving.
Its amazing to me that the Beatles catalog has gone through few relatively few re-masterings on CD.

Many lesser acts have had their catalogs re-mastered umpteen times already.

I suspect the audio buff market that is the natural target for remastered works is a pittance compared to the overall market for Beatles material.

Even in the BEatles case, more re-mastering is bound to happen.

Beatle fans/audophiles take note:

I've noticed the "Beatles-a-rama" internet radio station (which I think is just superb in every way) generally plays the rarer (and very crude) U.S. stereo versions of the older Beatles tunes rather than the mono-versions that have been the mainstay of the Beatles CD catalog for the most part.
I've seen the Capital remasters box sets but haven't heard them...I haven't jumped yet because the standard CD issue mono versions aren't bad.

I thinking maybe at least some of the stereo versions from the Capital remasters CD sets are what they play on Beatles-a-Rama, because many sound pretty darn good for an internet radio source that is surely not lossless , but it's possible they could also be playing from original Capital vinyl stereo releases in some cases.
Back in the days of Rubber Soul, stereo was still in its relative early stages in terms of market penetration. I guess Sir George thought that the voice in on speaker mix helped make the songs more ear catching and appealing to the newby stereo masses.

I think perhaps he earned his knighthood not just because of his skills as a technician and his ear for music, but also for his willingness (along with the Beatles) to explore new ground. In the case of the early stereo masters, lets just say from an audophiles perspective that he went too far at first in regards to stereo separation.

Things did improve in terms of stereo mixing though after Rubber Soul, I would say. Abbey Road is one of the best ever in my opinion, but I think Alan Parsons had a hand or two in that.