Records not stored vertically for decades

But Raul’s pint is valid, especially since we are not sure we have the full story(conditions of storage being the most important). Why not play a few LPs from the bottom of the stack and a few off the top.? Then let us know your results.

@Soix - The records may be noisier and or skippy because the lower ones will have quite a bit of pressure on them so any surface contaminants are going to be well pressed into the grooves.

If 150 records is the totality of your collection, I would also carefully consider the opportunity cost of investing in a vinyl playback system versus what else you could do with your system.

lewm is right. If you have a friend with a decent analog rig, take some samples to him and give them a spin. Given the high cost of quality gear, it’s a good step.

A couple decades of records being stacked may actually help some warped LPs straighten out, in my non-informed opinion 

@lewm Raul’s Pontus are not valid or useful for my situation.  Did you not read my post?  I mentioned both the storage conditions and that I currently can’t play the albums, so I was simply asking what damage may have been done by storing the records flat in piles rather than upright/vertical.  That’s all.

@yoyoyaya Thanks for your thoughts regarding contaminants — that makes a lotta sense and makes me hope my better records are near the top 🤞🤞🤞.  Also, I already have a turntable/phono pre ready to go so won’t cost anything to get going but currently don’t have a place to set up my system due to personal circumstances.  Looking forward to rediscovering vinyl though.