New guy on the block

I have been reading your forum for a while now as I had pulled out all my old vinyl and decided I wanted to start listening to some of my old favs again.

Well, now I had to go buy a new turntable, have become an ebay junky looking for lp's, and my Clearaudio TT arrived today on my doorstep.

I am so pumped !!! BUT - where and how is the best way to start finding quality recordings (other than this forum of course). I am more concerned w/quality than price .

I know everyone has different ears and likes, but sure need someplace to start....

Great forum everyone.......

 

Welcome fellow West coaster,

I'm sure you'll find more info. than you ever bargined for here. I can't help ya much because I'm not into vinyl myself but welcome anyways.

 

The best thing you could possibly do is to hunt down in your local area where people are dumping their own vinyl. First place to start is your local used record/CD store. Find out which ones are daring enough to sell used black waffle - cheap.

Yeah, and make sure you go around knowing that a beat-up Beatles record isn't worth $5 (or sometimes $20) no matter what the owner's been smokin. Know thy value of the recrods.

Gather what you love. Don't start buying proficiantly recorded stuff unless you LIKE it. True, this is how I changed into a Jazz fan, but experiment.

Look at the record. If it's used, not sealed, make sure you sharpen yer eyeballs for poorly kept records. I can tell the difference between a mint record that needs cleaning for $2 over a slightly beaten record that WILL sound beaten for $5. I forgot who said this in here but "Choose Your Battles" is exactly my point.

I got a totally mint copy of "No Secrets" by Carly Simon (Butterfly Elektra) for $2. I was impressed, not because I found one, but because I was daring enough to give a mint, cheap record a try. Trust me on this. Well worth my $2! - And just an example.

However, if you want to fight on Ebay for MFSLs and DCCs from yesteryear, go right ahead! Get them gloves OUT! But look for the music you love, whatever you might be after, and look for original pressings, some imports, and Look, look, look. My record prowling is twice a week, semi-religiously. I have enough used record dumps in town to let this be semi-entertaining.

Red Trumpet and some of the Classic Records reissues are phenom. Don't forget when Analogue Prods finally let's go the CCR reissues Steve's got in the gates. Soon enough, they'll be available.

Shop till you drop, but shop AROUND.

 

That was me, not that it really matters.

This to me is one of the absolute joys of vinyl collecting -- finding a fine record in great shape for $.50 or $1 or even $2. (It happens more often than you might think!) I've been exposed to a lot of good music that way that I may never have paid full price for ... but for that kind of price, I took the chance. (I paid $.50 a month or two ago for the double album Chicago VII, and I can't stop playing Side 4!)

I love hardware and cool systems as much as anyone, but there's nothing quite as cool to me as a great piece of software -- especially when you find it cheeeep!

Best of luck on your vinyl hunting! Sckott provided a lot of great tips, so get out there and dig in.

 

And remember on Ebay to check that sellers feedback, also to be prepared to eat a lot of junk records graded as mint or mint-

 

True enough, beware. Anyone want to take trashed original UK mono's of With the Beatles and A Hard Day's Night off of my hands??

 

what jazz recordings got you started in jazz. I love listening to jazz at clubs etc... but don't have a clue who the artists are when I hear stuff I like. Same w/classical.......

 

You're right, Steve, and I learned the hard way.

I managed to replace With the Beatles with a better one (that album sounds SO good in the original mono!!), but I'm still out of luck with Hard Day's ...

 

Uh-oh, vinyl lovers beware. I think a well-heeled Seattleite just entered the battle field. Better grab those gems in the used record stores and hide those you can't afford to buy yet.

Hello McIntosh,

Welcome aboard! May I point you to the home page of this site http://www.stevehoffman.tv/ and check the links under "site seeing". Since you are less concerned with price, pick the one who charges most.

Kidding aside, we are all here to learn, share info, debate, argue and insult each other. Oops, the lattest is not allowed. Don't be too stingy to give us a tip or two.

 

Ouch! (as the Rutles would say)

I hope if they do end up on eBay, you'll let us know the URL(s). I still dream of owning a nice black/yellow stereo Beatles for Sale ... among others.

 

How high will the people just from this forum raise the price if these ended up on ebay.

 

Stop it Steve! You're gonna make me cry!
What's worse, I gave away what now is probably $1000.00 worth of vinyl in the early nineties because I was all digital and ****! Fortunetly, I did keep a large number of LPs but I could kick myself for what I gave away. Now I'm buying back stuff at 10 to 20 times what I paid originally. I'm waiting for the day I fork over fifty bucks for an LP I can identify as one of mine that I paid $3.99 for. Then the tears will flow.

 

Another source for vinyl if money isn't really an object to you is to look at ads in Goldmine, Record Collector and/or Discoveries magazine(s) available in many record collector shops or by subscription.

 

Don't eat them. Re-sell them!

Of course, if you describe them accurately you probably won't get back what you payed.

 

The Salvation Army near me had an incredibly beat up McCartney Ram Lp for $10 and some torn up Jim Stafford record for $5. What in the hell is going on here?

 

Re: Re: New guy on the block

 

which stores do you recommend.........?? Probably won't have time this weekend as I am sure I'll be tweaking.

Never had a real nice table before that needed anything but turn of the ol' dial at the end of the tonarm......

 

I once saw a mono copy of "The Beatles' Second Album" for 40 bucks at a local antiqes barn that had seam splits on all sides, no inner sleeve and was so worn you couldn't read the stamping number! How much you wanna bet the seller read that value in some book?

 

Are you sure it is a Salvation Army thrift store? Years ago I used to pick up original RCA Living Stereo/Victrola for 50 cents each at the Salvation Army on Fairview in Goleta, CA. I don't think we've had a 1,000% inflation since then. How things are changed, sigh.

 

I can certainly sympathize with everyone's quest to find quality vinyl. As a vinyl lover who, once in a while, sells too - it's often a frustrating hobby to say the least!

While, obviously nothing can beat a good initial visual inspection (and a basic knowledge of the pressing involved)...eyeballing can only go so far - and that's the frustrating part.

Eyeballing won't show an LP that's had its inner grooves chewed up by a blunt conical stylus on a misaligned table. As Steve mentioned, the vintage and minutes per side on a disc can also help gauge how much initial abuse the record can tolerate. I've had 70's era Warner pressings that looked like hell, but played quieter with my microline stylus than some cheap recycled vinyl that looked pristine to the naked eye.

Truth be told, the very nature of your stylus-table-preamp setup will very likely make a disc sound totally different than the guy next door.

Best advice...find a vinyl dealer you trust and STICK with 'em!

 

Re: Re: Re: New guy on the block

You are quite welcome. (Did I say that already? ) The honor is mine.

Wow, putting a second arm on your Clearaudio. I'll have to lose an arm and a leg to do that.

Bill who? Living next to you is good enough for me, McIntosh. Could I call you Mac?