How to buy vinyl, for a newbie

[Freestone]

Those rcm can be expensive. There should be a local cleaning service for $0.50 or so per record!

Is that rolling stones 11 album mobile fidelity box set bad too?

I was reading over at better records since someone mentioned it. Wow, who can afford that vinyl?

I guess I will just do my own listening!

[Whart]

VPI is like what, 550 bucks for the 16.5? Not terribly expensive, given the price of some of these records. Oh, and back in the early 70's, the best hi-fi salon where i grew up had a Keith Monks machine- what the Loricraft/Odessey types are based on- and he did provide a record cleaning service to customers. The machine was probably the equivalent of what it costs today $5,000 or so.
I have no idea what the new Mobile Fidelity sounds like, I stopped buying records under that label back in the 1980's- they were one of the only games in town then. And I didn't stop because they sounded horrible, i just moved to on to collecting classical, jazz and alot of other stuff in its original pressing form. And it was a cool idea to have a high quality pressing at that time- keep in mind that the quality of vinyl had been sliding ever downward. By the late 70's- early 80's, most records were getting really thin, nasty, cheaply thrown together- they sold for what- 7 or 8 dollars -at Tower back then (with a sticker of maybe $10.99 or $11.99)? So, when Mobile Fidelity offered virgin vinyl, half speed mastering, high quality liners and packaging, all directed to the vinyl enthusiasts, they were very early players in what is now a burgeoning niche industry. The revival of the vinyl record, post CD as a choice for 'sound' made all the difference- when they were the mainstream media, they weren't being sold specifically to the 'audiophile' market, it was the main medium for music and the consistency was truly bad. Now, post-digital, vinyl is marketed for its sound and people are critical. If the record skips or mistracks, they'll bitch. (It used to be a way of life and you could haul it back to the record store for credit, but...). Now, vinyl is a specialty product, catering to a market that buys it for its sonic attributes. And, of course, today there are a whole host of companies offering high quality pressings, reissues, etc. on vinyl- far more choices than there were 20 or more years ago

Mobile Fidelity today is an entirely different company than the company that existed in the 70's-80's. In fact, I think they are owned by Music Direct (although I'm not sure who does the actual mastering, manufacturing and packaging). If you dig the Stones, go for it.

The Better Records site cracks me up. Occasionally, they will admit that a 'heavy' vinyl record is OK, but for the most part, he's selling records that retailed at 7 or 8 dollars back in the day for 399 dollars and more, just because he has listened to them and picked the ones that sound good. Yeah, I suppose if you want that guarantee, you could go that way, but you could buy an awful lot of cheap old vinyl for the price of one of those and do it yourself if you had the time. His shtick is to tell you every new issue is crap compared to a hand-picked old mainstream copy. That's sort of extreme, the other way.
Keep in mind I'm not dissing the idea of reissues. Some are great. Chad Kassem (Acoustic Sounds) started selling used records over the phone and mailed out lists. Now, he produces records, reissues records, and is manufacturing records. He has probably done more good than anybody, even if he is expensive- but he knows his market. (Alot of the stuff that was on the original HP List- which I haven't looked at in 20 plus years, would have to be crazy expensive now in original pressings- the reissues are probably a fraction of the cost of some of the great Mercury's or RCA's, i don't know, i sorta stopped buying those by the early 90's as well). My focus these days is to find good original pressings of music that are affordable. I'm just beyond pressing 'buy' on the Internet just cause it's the latest. I also know that the old copies can sound great if you can find them and they are in good condition. It's all a trade-off. I've got alot of crap that I will eventually have to cull, I have a ton of mono records that I'd love to listen to but I'm not really set up for it right now. There's a ton of information on these various labels, and reviews comparing different pressings. There are also alot of sources, here, and in Europe.
Don't over-read into what i'm saying that you shouldn't buy fresh pressings of stuff. I'm just presenting a counterpoint, hopefully not as extreme sounding as the guys at Better Records- that there's alot of good music in records that you can find in yard sales, etc. if you are willing to shlep them home, clean them and give them a listen, that's all. Part of it is just the label 'audiophile' as a marketing ploy that irks me- as if that makes something better. It doesn't.

PS. Based on cursory research the Rolling Stones set is older Mobile Fidelity, right? These are not recent reissues? The summary I read said they were taken from the original Decca masters, which should be good. And according to a discussion over on Steve Hoffman's site, the Stone's collection actually sounds good. (They didn't have kind things to say about the Sinatra set that was issued before or after it though, characterizeing it as 'dead' sounding). I can't imagine you'd find the original pressings these days- some of which were probably mono- in great shape. So, again, I don't think you should trip out over buying that.

[Freestone]

Great thoughtful response Whart!

[Freestone]

How often do you need to clean a particular record?

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by Freestone

How often do you need to clean a particular record?

Apparently for someone with 10,000 albums such as Whart, if you play six per day you would only have to clean each one once every six years.

[cmalak]

Freestone...here are some sites that review LPs (both in terms of content and sonic quality):

Album Reviews | Analog Planet (Michael Fremer's site)
The Audio Beat - Insightful reviews for audiophiles and music lovers (TheAudioBeat.com's music reviews section)

There are many more but I think these two are a good place to start. By the way, Whart provided a lot of great advise, so definitely lots of good stuff there to try out and try out.

[Mikado463]

Originally Posted by Freestone

There should be a local cleaning service for $0.50 or so per record!

you really need to get back on your meds .....LOL ! Perhaps you could drop them off at your cleaners when you have your dress shirts cleaned and pressed !

[Still-One]

Originally Posted by Mikado463

you really need to get back on your meds .....LOL ! Perhaps you could drop them off at your cleaners when you have your dress shirts cleaned and pressed !

There was a local dealer who would clean a reasonable number of records for free. I am not sure if he still does since I haven't stopped in his shop in a couple of years. So I guess it isn't too crazy.
Jim

[Freestone]

Originally Posted by Mikado463

you really need to get back on your meds .....LOL ! Perhaps you could drop them off at your cleaners when you have your dress shirts cleaned and pressed !

Amortize the fixed cost of a high volume machine. Not a big enough market I suppose.

[Freestone]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Freestone...here are some sites that review LPs (both in terms of content and sonic quality):

Album Reviews | Analog Planet (Michael Fremer's site)
The Audio Beat - Insightful reviews for audiophiles and music lovers (TheAudioBeat.com's music reviews section)

There are many more but I think these two are a good place to start. By the way, Whart provided a lot of great advise, so definitely lots of good stuff there to try out and try out.

Really helpful. Thanks.