Mapleshade

[vr6ofpain]

Has anyone bought CD's from them? They seem to have a good deal, where if you purchase 4 CD's, the are only $9.60 each. I was interested in buying a few, and compared to the local record stores and amazon/cdnow that is cheap. Does Mapleshade have their own production, because the cover art they show in the catalogue is different from the covers shown on cdnow....

anything positive or negative to say about them?

[dean_martin]

Has anyone bought CD's from them? They seem to have a good deal, where if you purchase 4 CD's, the are only $9.60 each. I was interested in buying a few, and compared to the local record stores and amazon/cdnow that is cheap. Does Mapleshade have their own production, because the cover art they show in the catalogue is different from the covers shown on cdnow....

anything positive or negative to say about them?

I used to get their catalog, but I never ordered anything. The word I got was that the sound quality is excellent, but the selection of artists is limited. Although I haven't seen their catalog in a while, I didn't find much of interest to me. But I was curious about the sound quality and recording techniques. I almost got one of their samplers. Have they expanded their catalog to include more than their own recordings of obscure artists?

P.S. I think I remember a discussion of Mapleshade over on the rave recs board.

[nightflier]

I just ordered a four pack of CD's from them that I should be getting soon. A couple of notes:

- The sampler cd's don't qualify for the discount
- Their selection is very limitted, mostly blues and jazz (maybe 200 or so cd's)
- Sound quality (although I haven't heard it yet) is described to be as close to the real thing as possible.
- A tremendous amount of work and detail goes into each recording (most of them done in-house)
- They also sell interconnects, speaker cables, power cords, as well as refurbished classic components.
- Their philosophy is to simplify things as much as possible, a good philosophy IMO.
- They have a ton of "free upgrades" or tips for improving sound. Most of these that I have tried have brought me a marginal improvement in sound.
- The wording in the catalogs and on their website tends to exaggerate improvements but theoretically at least, their solutions (whether purchased or free) make a lot of sense.

Most importantly:

- The owner, Pierre Sprey is extremely knowledgeable and typically responds personally to emails. So go ahead and email him your questions...

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

The record company makes some of the best minimal miked straight gain recording in the business. There are very meticulous in making sure that they capture everything as naturally as possible, no processing, no downconverting, no mixers. All of their equipment is custom made and extremely expensive to make to their standards. Their production standards could never be used by most record companies as it would be too expensive and time consuming. They can get away with it because they use non mainstream artist, and the record company's owner does all of the recording himself. No union workers, no expensive hall or recording venue here, they use barns, living rooms, basements, and various other inexpensive off beat recording locations to record.

I have two CD recordings of Shirly Horn by maple shade, and they sound so real I can hear Shirly taking breaths between phrases. Such detail!

[vr6ofpain]

well their interconnects and speaker wire seem a bit ridiculous. also, I am not too sure about mounting bookshelves on the floor at an angle on $250 pieces of wood.

though I did find 3 CD's i wanted, and I am deciding on a fourth, then I will make my order ($9.60 each). some of their 'free upgrades' sound intriguing. like the one where it says to:
"snip off any plastic phase ring in front of the tweeter. you'll hear as much as 100% improvement in treble"
I have some old Infinity's with the standard 0.5-0.75" polycarbonate tweeter (super commonly used on cheaper speakers) which has one of those rings. since i dont care about them, it would be interesting to listen to them, then compare them with the rings removed, see how the sound changed. they look like these:



anyone tried this?

[nightflier]

some of their 'free upgrades' sound intriguing. like the one where it says to: "snip off any plastic phase ring in front of the tweeter. you'll hear as much as 100% improvement in treble"

If you look at all the free upgrades, they all make sense in some logical way. While you're not likely to get 100% improvement (unless the tweeters were completely dead before), it does make sense that removing something from the front of driver (grille, plastic rings, or whatever) does make sense.

Mr. Sprey applies the same logic to his interconnects. Aside from the plastic wrap, they are about as simple and minimal as they can be, and there is something to be said for that. He also does this with his speaker wire and power chords and aside from shielding, I doubt much else is needed (sometimes I wonder what Monster Cable puts inside their pricier cables). With Mapleshade, you know right away; no secrets.

About the blocks, you have to also consider how much trial & error went into finding the right wood density, thickness, etc. I read somewhere about how much time and effort they spent on developping their original brass "heavyfoot" spikes, and although I can't afford them, they certainly seem to be worth the money.

Mr. Sprey has spent 20+ years working on these upgrades comparing them with some of the top brands out there, so I'm going to guess he knows a thing or two about it. Most everything at mapleshade comes with a 30-day guarantee, so it couldn't hurt to try some of these out against your own reference equipment.

[dean_martin]

I have two CD recordings of Shirly Horn by maple shade, and they sound so real I can hear Shirly taking breaths between phrases. Such detail!

That's awesome! How's her voice and what did you think of the selected material?

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

That's awesome! How's her voice and what did you think of the selected material?

Dean,
She was in excellent voice, and the material on one of the CD is a little slow for me(too many slow songs on one CD), but the other had songs that were all over the map tempo wise. I listen to these recording quite a bit these days.

[dean_martin]

I just ordered a four pack of CD's from them that I should be getting soon.

Hey nightflier, please report back when you've had a chance to listen to your new cds!