Todays new vinyl LP's better than LP's 40 yrs ago?

>>03-03-10: Mlsstl
I find new vinyl just as erratic as old vinyl. Some are great, a lot are mediocre, and some are poor.<<

Disagree.

Been collecting for over 50 years and find old vinyl far offers far more consistency i.e. higher quality and fewer problems than most of the contemporary overpriced product.

That's not to say that you can't find some very fine releases today because they are available.

But take a random sample of 100 albums from the 50's, 60's, and 70's and compare them to 100 new releases and you'll find far more problems sound quality, warpage, etc. than you'll see/hear in the old stuff.

IMO/YMMV

As a sidebar to this thread...

I've been a big fan of Joe Farrell and love his "OutBack" Lp on CTI. Unfortunately, is has terrible sound. It's very hard in the mids and bumped up in the lower treble. I sourced a Japanese CD reissue and it is much smoother and more realistic. So don't give up on the CD if the Lp is awful.

Peter

The original LPs almost always sound better. The only time to buy a reissue, in my opinion, is when the original can't be located or is too expensive.

Dave

Generally speaking, no, they are not better. When it comes to reissues of older records, often the reissuer cannot get the master or a low generation copy, or such tapes have simply gone bad over time.

Even with new issues, the gear for mastering records and stamping records are now ancient and there is not enough demand for anyone to manufacturer new production equipment.

The quality of supposedly virgin vinyl is poorer today than in the past. There is an article somewhere about a relatively new vinyl pressing operation in New York where the operators acknowledge that the vinyl is not as high quality, though they manage to improve the quality somewhat by re-grinding the vinyl they receive.

Still, because a lot of the current market for new vinyl does care about quality, a number of the producers of audiophile records do a pretty good job, such as Mobile Fidelity, Speaker's Corner, Music Matters, Analogue Productions and even Warner. Classic Records have been spotty in quality in the past, though some of the "Clarity" records they have issued have been terrific.

Most new vinyl are somehow made with many and I really mean many flaws. Most are warped. What is the use of 180g or 200g virgin vinyl when almost all of them are so badly pressed?? Some so called virgin vinyl sound like sandpaper. Also the originals are somehow better sounding 9/10 times!

Yes, there are some re-issues that do sound spectacular but they are rare like a needle in a hay stack.