Vinyl Lovers


After a marathon session of ultrasonically cleaning some of my vinyl treasures, I discovered that a few of them had what I'll call "skip-scratches" on various cuts. I have many more to clean (i.e.  somewhere around 5 to 6 hundred, mostly original 60s & 70s LPs) and fully expect to encounter more bruised babies along the way, not all of which I'll probably replace with vinyl re-issues or re-pressings. Some of my all-time favorites, however, I definitely will want to replace, providing I can find good quality re-issues/re-pressings. I know there is much to learn about this, and I am just beginning to scratch the surface (no pun intended). For example, there are issues of so called "virgin vinyl", quality of the vinyl mix, thickness of vinyl, recording from original master tapes, if still in existence and in good condition, quality of the actual pressing process, etc., etc., etc.

So, I guess my question for you all who know much more about this than I, is where the best places are to buy the best quality vinyl re-issues or re-pressings. Local record shops are few and far between and most of them don't have much in the way of variety or stock in anything other than used records. I'm familiar with Discogs but, frankly, am reluctant to buy used records on-line because I don't entirely trust the purveyors' ratings and the endemic hassles of possible returns. Most of the re-issues/re-pressings I've purchased, thus far, have been from or through Music Direct. I've noticed that some of their offerings actually come from companies like:  Island Records; Impex; RHINO and other sources.

So, what are some of your go-to, solid, reputable standbys?

Thanks Much!

oldaudiophile

Classical one place (organization method of choice, i.e. alphabetical, chronological, both, etc.)
Soundtracks in another place (ditto).
Adjacent to soundtracks, the “others”; Xmas, comedy, spoken word, etc, and 7”(ditto).
Virtually everything else alphabetized.
Works well for me when I want to find something efficiently.

I have built up a collection of 6,000+ LPs over 59 years.

- since 2005, I buy 98% of my LPs online, either over eBay (about 98%) or discogs (about 2%, but within the last year I’m going here more than eBay).
- I buy only from vendors with a rating of 99% or higher. Make sure they have sold at least 200 LPs. No exceptions unless I’ve been looking for that LP for ages. eBay guarantees everything, with discogs you have to rely on your credit card to get your money back if anything goes wrong. I’ve bought from two bad sellers: one took months to deliver, the other discogs had to remove him because he was suddenly getting a slew of negs, his rating went from 99.5% to 90% within a week.
- I wander into brick and mortar shops when I come across them, for fun, for old times sake. Very rarely do I buy anything there, either I cannot find it or it’s overpriced.
- I always look first for original NM of pressings of recordings - where they exist - that were mastered analog and pressed before 1990 (AAA: analog recording, analog mastering, analog pressing). Remastered issues come from “master tapes” that have been sitting on a shelf deteriorating for 20, 30, maybe 50 years or longer, so the remastering almost will never sound as good as a well cared for original press. Sometimes a EX or even a VG+ will sound better than a remastered LP, certainly often better than one merely reissued. I bought a reissue of Blows Against the Empire by Paul Kantner and the Jefferson Starship - for example - that was so muddy sounding that I returned it for that reason alone. Same with Eric Dolphy’s Out To Lunch: my original mono and stereo deep groove presses sounded waaaay better than the reissue. If I do get a reissued remaster, I want it to be AAA. Avoid ADA - where digital has been inserted into the chain at the mastering stage: it IS possible to hear the loss of sound. Years ago, I found myself wondering - for example - why the quality of MFSL remasters suddenly seemed to drop off: the sound seemed thinner, with less dimension and detail. Then the news came out and I said “aha!” I’ve never bought a MFSL ever again.

https://www.theaudioatticvinylsundays.com/

 

Surely any ionising device works by splitting an atom or molecule into a positively charged and a negatively charged moiety? And they will recombine as soon as they can, unless by some means they are kept separate? Anyone who has rubbed a balloon on their woollen sweater knows this is possible, and that the separated charges recombine and annul each other very quickly. Static electricity is a dark art to me, but I believe it must be the case that a Milty Zerostat can only send out a stream of ions of one charge if it keeps the oppositely charged ions to itself, and I guess the slow deformation of the piezo ceramic inside it is instrumental for this?

Find sellers you trust on Discogs and go back to them and only to them. That's my suggestion. I have 5 or 6 go-to sellers that never do me wrong. It took some trial and error to land with these guys, but so well worth it. A few of my sellers of choice VPI clean their LPs before sending, so it saves me the trouble.