Sound quality of new vinyl recordings.

The golden age of LPs was 1950s, early 1960s.  They took trouble and the raw material was purer.  Best is to collect these.

'Audiophile' reissues in my experience are of VERY variable quality.  Most early MoFis are excellent.  Good example of many is Beatles For Sale - Lennon is singing in the room.

Everything else is very variable.  Some are dire and I hate myself for having been taken in to spend big money on a disc a lot worse than the original.  Unfortunately apart from listening and (possibly) review, there is no way of knowing beforehand.

@grislybutter 

We're in the same ballpark.  Three's huge quality in many old LPs from the usual suspects - Decca, Mercury, EMI.  For a long time I was paying more like £2 than £5.  Boxed sets were £1/disc and still very cheap.  I rarely pay more than £10 for a used LP.

But I would pay £50 new (but not more) for a really good reissue, and have.  That Beatles For Sale for instance. The other mid-period Beatles are very good too.  The 45rpm Crosby 'If I Could Only Remember...' (not MoFi) is one of the best pressings I have.

What we need is a used record seller who let's us listen.  Back in the 1980s/90s I used one in central London who had classical only.  He was careful what he bought and sold more records by letting me listen.  He had an OK rig in his shop.

@grislybutter     Do you mean 7 inch EPs?  (extended play).  The Beatles issued quite a few in the early-mid 60s.  They were mono, as I recall.  I had most of them at the time, gone now I think my brother has them.  They played well but were a bit flat at the frequency extremes.  But then my father's record player wasn't up to today's standards (Garrard, then Goldring Lenco - he was into hi-fi).  Mono cartridge with stylus as fat as you like.

The Beatles were lucky.  Their contract was with EMI.  The Stones were luckier - Decca.  My original UK 'Aftermath' has great sound by any standard.  And nearly 30 minutes per side for goodness sake.  Of course Decca famously turned down the Beatles in 1961.

@grislybutter 

Sorry. I read 6 " as 6 inch.  My mistake!

I am lucky and have nearly all the 60s Beatles LPs as original UK pressings.  They are mostly good, but the MoFi are a noticeable improvment.  I only have three of those.

I would like to buy the earlier Stones albums too, but everyone knows they're good and I won't pay the price.

I bought a Connoisseur turntable kit in 1969, £8.99 as I recall and a second hand SME 12 inch, only about £12 - wow..  I built a wooden plinth.  I sold the SME about 30 years ago for £65, to a Japanese, and they are hundreds and hundreds now.  When my father died 10 years ago, I sold his 9 inch SME for nearly £200.  He still had the Lenco and I gave it to a thrift shop.