EMI Classical Reissues and the Hi-Q Supercuts Audiophile Vinyl Series

A look at EMI Classical, various reissues, and the Hi-Q Supercut Series of vinyl reissues.

Hi-Q Supercuts is a label that specialized in reissuing titles from the Columbia EMI HMV family of labels. Cut at Abbey Road Studios from the original stereo analogue master tapes with the Neumann VMS82 lathe fed an analogue pre-cut signal from a specially adapted Studer A80 tape deck with additional ‘advance' playback head, making the cut a totally analogue process.

The series focused on the analogue era from the dawn of stereo to the late 1970's. You won't find much commentary about them. The series, though cut at Abbey Road Studios, claims to be done in an all analogue process. These are not half speed mastered. Pressing issues are what gave this series a poor reputation, and among other things led to the label's demise. In this video I give you a brief overview of what to expect if acquiring a Hi-Q Supercuts release, and why it might be the time for an in house audiophile quality reissue series of the EMI catalog.

NOTE: I have revised my opinion on the Barbirolli English String Music LP. Even though cleaned twice it was never quiet and full of tics and pops. This definitely affected my assessment of the record, as much as I tried to listen through it.
Due to a comment on this video, I decided to try cleaning it again, using a more aggressive method and solution. I cleaned in three times in a row, so five times in total! The third and forth try were with a strong enzyme solution and very vigorous scrubbing with a VPI brush, a five minute soak each time followed by another minute or two of scrubbing and rinsing under running tap water for 5 minutes following each step. Then I cleaned with my normal Audio Intelligent 6 solution on the VPI vac and a rinse with distilled on the vac. It's now essentially silent, and the music and string tone is great. This is a keeper for me. I can't compare to an original but I'm quite proud I rescued it!


00:00 Introduction
02:04 The MFSL EMI Reissues
04:00 An Alto Analogue EMI Reissue
04:35 The Testament EMI Reissues
05:35 The Hi-Q Supercut Reissues
13:01 Conclusion

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Reference System
-Basis 1400 Turntable
-Rega RB300 Tone Arm
-Audio Technica AT33EV MC Cartridge
-Hana SL ML Cartridge
-ModWright PH 9.0 Tube Phono Pre
-Cayin A-50T Integrated Tube Amplifier
_Elac Debut 2.0 B6.2 Loudspeaker
-Tributaries Series 8 Interconnect
-Herron Audio Interconnect Cable
-Definitive Technology ProSound Sub
-Panamax M5300PM Power Filter
_VPI 16.5 Vacuum Record Cleaner
_Ursa Major Record Cleaning Brush
_Milty Zerostat
_DS Audio ST-50 Stylus Cleaner
_Disc Doctor Record Brushes