August 2014
In This Issue... The Beatles Mono LPs Release
Editorial By Noel Keywood

 

  This month you won't help but notice our interest and involvement in The Beatles mono LPs release. The new albums are a technological update to improve sound quality and the historical record. My interview with Abbey Road cutting engineer Sean Magee on p83 teases out the fine details of the thinking behind this ultimate release. Next month we review the new LPs.

Our unique access to this album release comes indirectly through the fact that I've lived close to Abbey Road studios for most of my life, have known people there and have visited many times, welcomed in the past by Brian Southall, EMI director and himself a profuse journo. If you want to know more, get his book Abbey Road, available on-line at Amazon – and sitting on the desk in front of me as I type. I use it in conjunction with Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions as a reference. It doesn't pay to get your facts wrong on this topic!

I installed a Quad 33/303 and pair of ESL57s into Paul McCartney's house around the corner from Abbey Road studios many moons ago. Linda McCartney showed me into an upstairs room, the children ran around noisily with the dogs and Paul arrived in his Lambo in suitably impressive style. They were charming and all went well I'm glad to say - nothing blew up – thank heavens for Quad.

Which brings me onto our lead review this month. Quad are alive and well, and their small 9AS powered active loudspeakers – see p10 – suitably impressed us. Connect them to the computer via USB and you're away. Why have the terms Apple and Quad just come into my head?

Also impressive this month were MCRU's No127 loudspeakers. As they played away in our listening room we all came to like them. They were both accurate and exciting – a rare combo. See our review on p36.

The past has come back to haunt us – but that's fine. Turning over a few ghosts for this issue was fun for us – I hope you enjoy it too. The story continues next month...

--- Noel Keywood, editor.

 

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