I rarely listen to classical, so it made a very pleasant change. Some of the records Kedar fetched along were spectacular recordings. 
The M7 in particular seems to suit classical very well. Tried the phono stage in the M7 for the first time yesterday too. I was quite shocked how good it was 
More like.
Vocal concerto
You’ve got some great ‘hardware’ there Jim. It must be interesting to hear it running great ‘software’. Regardless of musical preferences, some of the recordings above are exemplary, created at a time when the majors were having to go to the very extremes to create a new ‘Market’.
It may seem strange to consider today but from 57 to the early 60’s the record co’s were essentially saying - ‘Bugger off and buy another amplifier / speaker and cartridge’. The payoff for this expense / aggravation / Frustration at re buying your collection was a musical effect promised as: ‘a life like’ experience’ (See RCA’s ‘Living Stereo’ or Mercury’s ‘Living Prescience’)
The rejection rate for classical during QC at Decca was 10% - No company today would go to the lengths of QC that was once standard. Consider also the equipment from equalizers / boards / Mics / pressing and plating equipment, Valves and TAPES! - They were all NEW then. Much of this equipment was being designed and operated by scientists and engineers who really were capable of striving for the north star. The obvious difference was that many of these golden era pressings were done (in the case of classical) by the majors that had very deep pockets - unlike today’s cottage industry audiophile co’s that simply do not have the R&D budget or economy of scale to produce as standard recordings superior to 99.9% of what was being turned out at the advent of Stereo.
Weather you like the music or not it’s not so easy to have a truly ‘audiophile’ experience without the right ‘Software’.
More seriously, some systems make me play more LPs for longer and I had over 6 hours of listening yesterday with zero fatigue.
But worry not. I haven’t recorded the entire session so videos are mostly done
Resuming weekday service
Out of interest, what is your home system?
Simon did some good work with that to balance the gain with the line stage and get rid of any noise. Think it has 2x GE 5* and an RCA fitted at the moment. Would definitely benefit from the same Raytheon 6072/A black plate triple mica that are in the line stage but they are as rare as hens teeth and around £200 each.
Worth it though 
That’s the part I miss about it, the Io Gold with the AN-S8 step up into the M7 phono was fantastic.
About ten years back I attended a bakeoff (at Jack’s in Malvern, iirc) where there was a SUT shoot-out. Pete brought along his AN S8 and the Silver Slagle he’d made, there were several copper SUTs too.
All agreed the two silver SUTs were by far the best sounding, but there was nothing in it between the Silver Slagle and AN S8.
Shortly after this, Pete asked me if I’d like to buy the Slagle. I said yes please!
This video captured my wow
Really?
Like ever ever?
WOW!!!
After how many months?
That is quite shocking!
One of the major selling points of that piece of kit imo.
At least I’ve achieved something then, shocking you Kev is not easy! 
Yeah well, my opinion is different and I was the one doing the buying.
I already have a superb phono, so that was not the major selling point for me.
A M7 with phono is a rare beast and a major selling point (for the majority)
Arguing with Kev…
Yes
As “problems” go, I don’t think having such a good phono stage that you aren’t even tempted to try the onboard stage of a highly regarded preamp doesn’t really rank up there does it? 
Are you out on day-release?
I’m guessing he meant the recording was of the very first performance