Vinyl Lovers


After a marathon session of ultrasonically cleaning some of my vinyl treasures, I discovered that a few of them had what I'll call "skip-scratches" on various cuts. I have many more to clean (i.e.  somewhere around 5 to 6 hundred, mostly original 60s & 70s LPs) and fully expect to encounter more bruised babies along the way, not all of which I'll probably replace with vinyl re-issues or re-pressings. Some of my all-time favorites, however, I definitely will want to replace, providing I can find good quality re-issues/re-pressings. I know there is much to learn about this, and I am just beginning to scratch the surface (no pun intended). For example, there are issues of so called "virgin vinyl", quality of the vinyl mix, thickness of vinyl, recording from original master tapes, if still in existence and in good condition, quality of the actual pressing process, etc., etc., etc.

So, I guess my question for you all who know much more about this than I, is where the best places are to buy the best quality vinyl re-issues or re-pressings. Local record shops are few and far between and most of them don't have much in the way of variety or stock in anything other than used records. I'm familiar with Discogs but, frankly, am reluctant to buy used records on-line because I don't entirely trust the purveyors' ratings and the endemic hassles of possible returns. Most of the re-issues/re-pressings I've purchased, thus far, have been from or through Music Direct. I've noticed that some of their offerings actually come from companies like:  Island Records; Impex; RHINO and other sources.

So, what are some of your go-to, solid, reputable standbys?

Thanks Much!

oldaudiophile

Showing 2 responses by dogberry

Sorting vinyl? Reminds me of Nick Hornby's book High Fidelity (definitely read the book, not watch the movie), in which the main character's life revolves (!) as it were, about his efforts to find the best way of arranging all his vinyl albums.

Not that any of us resemble him in the least...

Surely any ionising device works by splitting an atom or molecule into a positively charged and a negatively charged moiety? And they will recombine as soon as they can, unless by some means they are kept separate? Anyone who has rubbed a balloon on their woollen sweater knows this is possible, and that the separated charges recombine and annul each other very quickly. Static electricity is a dark art to me, but I believe it must be the case that a Milty Zerostat can only send out a stream of ions of one charge if it keeps the oppositely charged ions to itself, and I guess the slow deformation of the piezo ceramic inside it is instrumental for this?