Albums at Disk Union range from 500 to 10000 Yen. There were some boxes with cheaper ones for 300 Yen, they call those "Dead Stock". I dive into the Dead stock and picked out a few good sounding Jazz LP. I always look into the cheap boxes first, even here in the USA, because I have found some real Gems in those boxes. Last year I saw a few albums at one of Disk Union Jazz Store for $1500.00. This time I went into Disk Union with a price range in mind, I did not buy any record over 1000 Yen. I bought mostly Jazz LP. Earlier this year I when I was there i spent up to 2500 Yen for records, not this time. But make sure you check out this store if you are in Tokyo. I also visited two other record stores in Tokyo but the records were too expensive. I was also in Singapore and picked up a few Jazz records. But the prices there are crazy. I Shelby Laine (spelling???) for $28 SGD. I know I could get it here cheaper but I got caught up in the shopping fernzy. In Singapore I also net Gabriel, the guy who invented the Zenn Record Cleaning Machine. He demo the prototype and I saw the real thing at another record store in a building called Adelphi. Google to get more details. I almost bought one for $450 SGD. They used it to clean some records I bought from them and it seems to work really well, but I still think the vacuum suction on a RCM like the Nitty Gritty I have, does have the edge over the Zenn RCM. What I like most about the Zenn is that it is very quiet, it make as mich sound as a small room fan. But of course, Gabriel told me that he used a fan motor in the prototype mentioned above.One more thing: Adelphi is a building that have many floors with High End Audio stores and record shops. Prices are high. Better deals here in USA.
Japanese Vinyl Pressing
I just returned from Japan and I must say I have fun at the Disk Union stores in Tokyo. They have a Disk Union store for all Genre. I spent hours at Jazz and R&B stores. I also like the fact that they clean the records and add new sleeves, at least the ones I went through. I ended up buying 30 LP's after going to the stores three days straight. But here is the interesting thing. It seems to me that the Japanese pressed records sounds better than most of the ones I bought here in the USA. The Japanese pressing sounds clearer and crisper, no darkness in the sound, and the bass not bloated at all. I am wondering if anyone have any comments on this, or have the same experience with Japanese pressing.......