@richardbrand
You may be able to tell that my last response was posted before I’d finished editing. There was a lot more there, which would take me too long to reproduce.
But the gist of it was that you can find outstanding recordings used if you shop by known good labels: RCA Living Stereo, London ffrr, Mercury Living Presence, any of the early Telarcs, especially that label’s first release, the direct-to-disc "Great Organ of Methuen Memorial Music Hall."
Just be aware that it’s not only pressings that matter with these legacy LPs. Stampers, plants, and the # of impressions made by a stamper can make a huge difference. In my lost message, I detailed a hands-on experiment I conducted after reading Michael Fremer’s lengthy postings on this topic. THe album was "Bridge Over Troubled Water" by Simon & Garfunkel. I bought a half-dozen used first pressings, all from different stampers and countries of origin, and compared them to my MoFi 1-Step version. Although the 45RPM MoFi was somewhat better in terms of dynamics and surface noise, in blind comparisions, my 1971 pressing from an early stamper had them all beat in terms of realism and (hate to use the term) "musicality." No comparison, even to other first pressing from later stampers. When Art’s voice comes in on the title track, it’s breathtaking in a way that not even the pricey 1-Step could duplicate. And I paid only $8 for my NM copy on eBay!
Anyway, nice to chat with you, Richard.