I like his interpretation of Beethoven's work as well. I managed to find on used vinyl, Deutche Gramaphone, the complete symphonies. These are all mono recordings.
Probably, you have a mono issue of a stereo recording. It was common in the early days of stereo recording to issue LPs both in mono and in stereo, because although one can play a stereo LP on a mono turntable, it is considered to be better to have a mono recording for a mono turntable, and most people had mono equipment when stereo first came out. RCA even went so far as to actually use different microphones for the mono and stereo releases, which now can be all heard on SACD rereleases with all three front channels used, but with no surround, on the multichannel portion of the discs. (RCA, for many early stereo recordings, used three microphones, with three master tracks, the right and left microphones being used for the stereo tracks, and the center microphone used for the mono track.) I don't think Deutsche Grammophone did that with these recordings, but I am not certain.
My guess is that you have the recordings done in the early 1960's with the Berlin Philharmonic. Herbert von Karajan recorded the complete Beethoven symphonies four times, once in the 1950's with the Philharmonia Orchestera of London for EMI, most (but not all) being recording in mono, as was common in the 1950's, a second time in the early 1960's with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in stereo for Deutsche Grammophone, and again with the same orchestra for the same label in the 1970's and in the 1980's, with the 1980's recording in digital audio.
For the CD buyer, it gets even more complicated, as at least two of the versions have been available as original release and remastered (the ones recorded in the 1960's and the 1980's), with the remastered versions generally being regarded as better, but costing more (particularly the ones from the 1960's, which also have been remastered and rereleased on SACD).
People argue over which is best, sometimes favoring one symphony from one of these recordings while favoring other symphonies from other recordings, and sometimes people simply like one set best. The most commonly selected version as "best" are the recordings from the 1960's. In my opinion, the versions share more in common than the impression one may get from reading comparisons, though I think that, from a pure performance standpoint, I agree that overall, the 1960's performances might be the best. However, I rather like the last set from the 1980's, and think that they are often overlooked and neglected. They also have the advantage of having the least tape hiss and other such issues, as they were recording with high quality digital equipment in the 1980's instead of with earlier analog equipment.
In a way, it is confusing and troublesome to select a recording from Herbert von Karajan, as one tries to figure out which is best, usually without the benefit of hearing them all, but in another way it is not a problem, because they are all of them good and worth hearing (I have heard some of all four of them, and all of some of them). If one is poor, I recommend the original release of the 1960's version, which can be had very inexpensively, and if one cares about tape hiss (which is not bad for the eras in which they are recorded, but still...), one should go with the digital versions, preferably the remastered ones (issues in the "Karajan Gold" series), but either release of the 1980's recordings being good. Beyond that, I recommend further research on one's own, as I cannot know the taste of whoever is reading this at the moment.
And, again, check your local libraries for recordings that they have, so you can listen to some different versions of things before you buy.
