The Moscow Sessions Sheffield Lab 1987 Rare Pre-Release 3 LP Box Set Audiophile

$

45

• Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra.
• The Moscow Sessions.
• Conducted By Dmitri Kitayenko And Lawrence Leighton Smith.
• Pre-release 3-LP Textured Plain Black Box Set Promo/Review Pressings.
• Four Page Color Insert With Session Notes, Technical Notes, and Program Notes.
• Recorded On A Two Track 1/2" Studer Tape Deck With Custom Electronics Designed By John Curl.
• Rare Collector's Edition.
• Awarded "SPECIAL MERIT: Classical" By The Absolute Sound Audiophile Magazine (TAS).

Item Details
Manufactured in: USA
Recorded: August 9-18. 1986 By Keith Johnson (custom mixing console and microphones)
Recorded At: USSR State Television And Radio, Moscow
Metal Parts Plating At: Sheffield Lab Matrix, Santa Monica, CA
Pressing By: Allied Record Company Los Angeles, CA
Original Issue: 1987
This Issue: 1987
Label: Sheffield Lab
Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
TLP-25 Side 1: (etch:) SH-101-A-4 (stamp:) TML-X (etch:) △ 15306 1-1
TLP-25 Side 2: (etch:) SH-101-B-3M (stamp:) TML-M (etch:) 23991 (2)
TLP-26 Side 1: (etch:) SH-102-A-4 (stamp:) TML-X ⍺ (etch:) △ 15307 1-1
TLP-26 Side 2: (etch:) SH-102-B-2 (stamp:) TML-X ⍺ (etch:) △ 15307-X 1-1
TLP-27 Side 1: (etch:) SH-103-A-1M (stamp:) TML-M (etch:) 23978(3)
TLP-27 Side 2: (etch:) SH-103-B-2X

I acquired this box set when I attended the June 1987 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Chicago. The Sheffield booth was offering to attendees a pre-release promotional 3-LP plain black textured box set titled "The Moscow Sessions." Upon their official consumer release all 3 LPs were sold separately as single LPs. The production release 3-LP box set had full color artwork on both front and back. I'm sure I never played all tracks on all the LPs completely so this play test will be only the second time for play sampling the music on each track.
All vinyl sides are cleaned on a VPI HW-16.5 record cleaner. I use the Audio Intelligent "One-Step" formula that requires no rinsing and leaves no residue. It is alcohol free and uses enzyme agents to remove pressing mold-release compounds, fungi & bacteria, finger oils, and many other environmental contaminants. Made with laboratory-grade pure water(50X purer than distilled water). I neutralize residual static charge from both vinyl and new inner sleeve with a Milty Zerostat. I wear nitrile surgical gloves while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones using a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with NOS Soviet Voskhod matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
For track listings, please see my attached record label photographs.

I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. After cleaning I use very bright light and close visual inspection on each side to assign "visual-only" grades. However, I always perform play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment to assign play grades.
Grading Details
Note: Grading LPs by text characters is subjective and at best are only a guide as no two used records are of exactly the same quality. I do not use "EX" grades as my VG+ is right below "NM-." I never sell a "G" play grade and very rarely ever sell a "VG" play grade. Please, refer to both my photo evidence and detailed descriptions to judge by YOUR OWN grading standards. Questions are always welcome. Play quality is personally most important to me so vinyl visual qualities are separately graded and described in detail for your complete assessment.

Outer Jacket Inspection/grading:
(Front Face/Rear Face)
NM/NM
The plain black tectured box has no flaws I could find.

Vinyl Visual Inspection/Grading:
(TLP-25-S1/TLP-25-S2/TLP-26-S1/TLP-26-S2/TLP-27-S1/TLP-27-S2)
NM/NM/VG+/NM/NM/NM
All sides except for TLP-26 looked perfect NM. The first track on Side 1 of TLP-26 disc had an obvious 3/4" accidental needle drag mark that was impossible to miss. I did not recall that accident after so much time until seeing it during visuals. The reflection of the trace looked like it might cause ticks or clicks that could repeat per revolution so I made a note to very thoroughly play test this area 100% to see what effects it may have on listening quality

Play Testing/Grading:
(TLP-25-S1/TLP-25-S2/TLP-26-S1/TLP-26-S2/TLP-27-S1/TLP-27-S2)
NM/NM/VG+/NM/NM/VG++
Play testing is always performed after visual inspection and written notes get taken. I spot check each track by taking a few needle drops in each one. On wider tracks I take more play samples to get better coverage. I also listen to the lead-in, lead-out and some transition grooves to get a feel for the overall pressing quality. Anything that I find during visual grading that might cause serious noise always gets special attention. If I digitize my favorites to 96k/24-bit WAV files for archiving I listen to the entire track while recording giving 100% coverage. Below are play testing rundowns of each side.

TLP-25 Side 1 Play
Side 1 has 3 tracks and T2 is the widest (28 minutes), so I made sure to take many play samples of that track. All tracks had no detected noise on any play sample. T2 had dynamic range at the limits of what is possible to get on vinyl and was spectacular. A confident NM play grade

TLP-25 Side 2 Play
This side had a long T1 with 4 tracks total. All transition grooves were very quiet so there was no surprise to find all play samples producing very clean NM audio quality.

TLP-26 Side 1 Play
T1 has that 3/4" needle slide mark at the start of the grooves. I expected to hear loud "clicks: on every revolution but did hear some repeating and single soft LF ticks that were sometimes masked by music loudness levels. I listened continuously and eventually they seemed to disappear fully after about 1/4" or so into the track. All the 3 remaining tracks were fully NM in audio quality. I wasn't sure how to grade this side as a quite high percentage of the side was NM so just settled on VG+. A potential buyer will have to figure out their own total grade based on my details.

TLP-26 Side 2 Play
Only 2 tracks on this side with the first clocking at about 17 minutes. T1 only had some random soft LF ticks in the first few seconds but no others picked up after that. T2 was completely clean with explosive peak levels at the end. Solidly NM as a whole.

TLP-27 Side 1 Play
Side one had three tracks with T3 at a very long 24 minutes requiring more play samples. T1 starts out at very high loudness levels that were very impressive. No vinyl noise detected on any play sample. T3 had very low volume levels for the first 3/8" of grooves and they were very free of vinyl noise. The rest of the track was louder and it was very clean with wonderful audio quality. A very solid NM side.

TLP-27 Side 2 Play
S2 had 4 tracks. At the start of T1 I detected some low level but audible crackle that I expected to go away pretty quickly but it seemed persistent. Not totally distracting but certainly continuously present so I just kept listening to see if/when it might go away. It did stop at about 7/8" into that track but then the vinyl was quiet from then on. The visual check showed nothing in that band like mottling or a handling wear mark so I made a note to recheck the visuals in that area under different kinds of bright light. The first silent transition grooves going into T2 were very quiet. T2 had very gentle music levels. In the first few seconds I heard some very soft tiny ticks only in the first few seconds. T3 was also gentle and so beautiful a track that was clean on all play samples. T4 only had a few HF very tiny "micro-ticks in the last 2-3 seconds but the whole track was overall was very much NM play quality. I rechecked T1 under my very bright photo lamp through a large magnifying glass rotating very slowly all the way around. There were absolutely no vinyl blemishes or surface marks anywhere in the entire area of that track. It leads me to believe the noise is a result of metal plating flaws in the mother or one of the stampers. So too could have been a warn stamper. I can say with certainty that it was not caused by handling damage like TLP-26's Side 1. Clearly a pressing flaw. Does it sound exactly like it did on first play? Yes, so is that NM? Given that a very high percentage of the real estate on this side played NM I just settled on VG++ for a realistic play grade.

The released 3-LP box set versions are selling for around $200 with single albums going for a minimum of around $30 on eBay. Because of that needle slide on TLP-26 Side 1 T1 I decided to set my minimum bid low and see what happens.

Packaging

• Original inner sleeves are included separately.
• All records will be placed into new MFSL-style "rice paper" plastic sleeves. This will keep vinyl surfaces clean and well protected during shipping and ultimately during buyer usage.
• Sent in high quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners and all corners double-taped.

Shipping

• Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $5.00 per single item sale. eBay keeps raising the rates for Media Mail but I still don't pass all of that or any costs for shipping materials on to the buyer. I do try to reduce additional costs for my customers.
• A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed on the same day ($5.00 plus $0.50 for each additional LP).
• If you do buy more than one item on the same daydo not pay immediately but wait for my all-combined with the discount applied to your total.eBay does give you the option to "Request an invoice from the buyer," but this option is not available on the eBay mobile app. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. Then, once payment is received, the items will ship.