price of new records

lcrim · « **on:** 21 Jul 2003, 07:38 pm »

I am a relative newbie to vinyl (this time around) and have no new recordings, only stuff which has been around the block many times. As a result, surface noise or the old crackly sound is a constant companion to a greater or lesser degree.
I was wondering if new records would eliminate this noise. I expect there will be those who are atteched to this and the prices of new records are sometimes heart stopping. What would you consider a fair price ?
I think $10 would be about right but I am curious to hear what others think.
Searching through thrift shops and yard sales has only provided more crackly vinyl for me. Maybe I am expecting the silent background of CD's along with the dynamics and natural sound I hear on vinyl. Not having a vinyl player for many years has kind of skewed my outlook.

Psychicanimal · « **Reply #1 on:** 21 Jul 2003, 08:58 pm »

Quote from: lcrim

I am a relative newbie to vinyl (this time around) and have no new recordings, only stuff which has been around the block many times. As a result, surface noise or the old crackly sound is a constant companion to a greater or lesser degree.
I was wondering if new records would eliminate this noise. I expect there will be those who are atteched to this and the prices of new records are sometimes heart stopping. What would you consider a fair price ?
I think $10 would be about right but I am curious to h ...

Two things:

1) You need to go to decent used record stores.
2) Make your own record cleaning fluid and get a decent brush.

I buy used vinyl and most of it it's in great shape!

dogberry · « **Reply #2 on:** 21 Jul 2003, 09:51 pm »

As long as the records are free from heavy scracthing, cleaning them should really make a difference. I picked up a dozen used albums this past weekend and cleaned them with my Nitty Gritty machine. They are almost dead quiet.

Make your own or buy it--either way, clean those records!

lcrim · « **Reply #3 on:** 21 Jul 2003, 11:25 pm »

My records are the cleanest things I own. But I took the advice offered and things improved noticeably. I might have been treating the records too kindly during the cleaning process. But I still hear that now much fainter crackle which somewhat spoils things.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #4 on:** 22 Jul 2003, 12:15 am »

lcrim,
why should new LP's be cheaper than CD's (i.e. $10)??? Granted, there ARE some around $10 (Ryan Adams on Lost Highway, Original Jazz Classics) but I think they're the exceptions. Especially when one considers how much longer CD's are time-wise, causing the vinyl equivalent to be TWO LP's to contain the same tracks. Two recent vinyl additions were Johnny Cash and Lucinda Williams (both on Lost Highway) that were 2 LP sets for $16 or 18??? No complaints from me on those prices.

Why don't you try some of the "Bestsellers" on LP Now??? These are older titles, but still sealed, some of which are quite reasonable (like the early Lucinda Williams). They have a flat $6 s/h so it kinda benefits you to order several titles to spread out the shipping fee. They also have some coupons if you get over $30.

lcrim · « **Reply #5 on:** 22 Jul 2003, 03:08 pm »

Tonto Yoder:
Thanks for the tip re: LP Now.
I went over to Acoustic Sounds site after reading your post last night and put every LP they had for $10 or less in my wish list, found some amazing values.
Sade's "Diamond Life" for $10, "Blood on the Tracks" Dylan for $10, McCoy Tyner "New York Reunion"-$7.50
Gotta stop, this hobby is keeping me broke.

zachslc · « **Reply #6 on:** 22 Jul 2003, 06:08 pm »

Beware cheap (under $10) new LPs!!!

OJCs are generally quite good. However, a lot of the classic rock and jazz otu there (ala the Dylan you mentioned) are Columibia reissues, which just plain suck! Columbia has never pressed great vinyl, but all of the ones they have pressed in the past few years I have heard (reissues) are awful. If you want Dylan I recommend the Sundazed mono repressings.

dogberry · « **Reply #7 on:** 22 Jul 2003, 06:52 pm »

Quote from: zachslc

Beware cheap (under $10) new LPs!!!

OJCs are generally quite good. However, a lot of the classic rock and jazz otu there (ala the Dylan you mentioned) are Columibia reissues, which just plain suck! Columbia has never pressed great vinyl, but all of the ones they have pressed in the past few years I have heard (reissues) are awful. If you want Dylan I recommend the Sundazed mono repressings.

That's a little bit of an overstatement. Columbia has pressed some amazing vinyl (their 6-eye imprint to be specific) is some of the best sounding jazz to be found.

It is true that the new "remastered" vinyl is quite poor and misses the point of having vinyl, since it's analog->digitally sampled->remastered->laid out to vinyl. Ick!

lcrim · « **Reply #8 on:** 22 Jul 2003, 06:52 pm »

zachslc:
Do you know if the Sade on CBS and McCoy Tyner on Chesky would be high quality vinyl ?
Thanks for the heads up on Columbia reissues.

Tonto Yoder · « **Reply #9 on:** 22 Jul 2003, 10:55 pm »

Audioquest LP's might be worth checking out on the Acoustic Sounds site--I have the Robert Lucas "Layaway" that I think sounds great. If you like blues, you might splurge on the $12.50 LP.

lcrim · « **Reply #10 on:** 23 Jul 2003, 07:57 pm »

Thanks Tonto I think I'll give Audioquest and OJC a try.
I picked up what I thought was a new, still in cellophane Impulse LP of Coltrane's "A Love Supreme" at Princeton Record Exchange which for some reason sounds cracklier than records that I know were "frisbees". It looks flawless, and I've cleaned it several times to no avail. Anybody got any theory why this would be so? Was Impulse vinyl crap to start with?