Sound quality of new vinyl recordings.

Don’t ignore or underestimate the importance of a vinyl cleaning system THAT YOU WILL ACTUALLY USE.  It makes a tremendous difference but only if you use it.

The golden age of LPs was 1950s, early 1960s.  They took trouble and the raw material was purer.  Best is to collect these.

'Audiophile' reissues in my experience are of VERY variable quality.  Most early MoFis are excellent.  Good example of many is Beatles For Sale - Lennon is singing in the room.

Everything else is very variable.  Some are dire and I hate myself for having been taken in to spend big money on a disc a lot worse than the original.  Unfortunately apart from listening and (possibly) review, there is no way of knowing beforehand.

@clearthinker I am in not danger of spending $100 for a MoFi LP, but not even $30. Interesting to hear that that's no guarantee either, it seemed they were somehow worth the big investement. I buy $5-10 albums and about half of them are spectacular, all 60s, 70s, US or British pressings. 

@grislybutter 

We're in the same ballpark.  Three's huge quality in many old LPs from the usual suspects - Decca, Mercury, EMI.  For a long time I was paying more like £2 than £5.  Boxed sets were £1/disc and still very cheap.  I rarely pay more than £10 for a used LP.

But I would pay £50 new (but not more) for a really good reissue, and have.  That Beatles For Sale for instance. The other mid-period Beatles are very good too.  The 45rpm Crosby 'If I Could Only Remember...' (not MoFi) is one of the best pressings I have.

What we need is a used record seller who let's us listen.  Back in the 1980s/90s I used one in central London who had classical only.  He was careful what he bought and sold more records by letting me listen.  He had an OK rig in his shop.

@clearthinker funny things is, I have about 6 "original" Beatles LPs, (I never thought they were from the 60s, probably reissues from the 70s and they are meh. And now I looked closer and they are from "digitally re-mastered tapes"  

I know they cared a lot about the quality and production, especially as McCartney was obsessed with it and a tech nerd, and I'd probably pay a lot for Abbey Road or Rubber Soul - if it was stellar quality.