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Beach boys Pet Sounds LP - best SQ version

ex brickie

ex brickie

pfm Member
I'm sure I read recently that the best pressing of this LP is the Analogue Productions version produced in the last couple of years. Trouble is, the number of the AP edition is APP-067 but this appears on several versions. I get it that the one with suffix M is Mono but the same number appears on a single LP 200gm version as well as a 2xLP 45rpm version.

I'm confused as to which to look for in terms of the version with the renowned best SQ. Something tells me the 45rpm should be better but what's the experience here?

I have a feeling this has been answered here before but my search of pet sounds doesn't find it!
 
I’d really not go too far on this one, it is obviously a stunningly good album, but technically its a bit of a muddy mess due to countless bounces/dubs in construction. I have the Steve Hoffman DCC (mono) vinyl, which is worth a lot these days, recognised as about the best vinyl, and even that doesn’t clean up the muddiness to my ears. I can’t comment on the stereo mix as I’ve never heard it, but I can’t see it being anything other than compromised given the lack of tracks Wilson had at his disposal and amount of dubs he needed to get the result he wanted. It is one if those albums where the artistic vision was just far ahead of the available technology.
 
I agree with Tony. I only have it as a high Rez download, but technically it’s pretty poor with a muddy sound and quite a bit of hiss in places.
 
Mmmm....shame. I have an older re-issue version which I agree isn't the best SQ going. I was rather hoping a more recent pressing might do the trick. Maybe I'd be wasting my money
 
I've got the mono and stereo mixes on CD, the DVDA (which has got a surround sound mix on it - not that I've got anything to play it on), and the recent mono vinyl reissue - none are what you'd call hifi dem material. Probably my favourite is the mono vinyl - it sounds like it's coming out of a massive old radio; in a good way.
But really, who cares when the songs, arrangements, and performances are so good.
 
I have always been intrigued by these SQ versions of records.
Does SQ mean ‘Stereo Quadraphonic’, or something else?
My only exposure to one was in the late ‘70s, when a friend and I bought Neil Diamond’s ‘Seranade’ album.
Mine was standard stereo and my friend’s was in SQ.
He bought it as he was considering ‘going quadraphonic.’ He never did...
On his audio system the SQ version sounded exactly the same as mine, which was reassuring.
If I recall correctly, four-channel audio faded away into the mists of time.
 
In this context SQ mean sound quality. The main quadraphonic systems back in the day were SQ and QS. Both of those were matrix systems, whereas CD-4 was a discrete system relying on a high frequency signal carrying the rear channels.
 
I’m amazed they managed to make anything stereo out of Pet Sounds, quad would be impossible!
 
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