What was the most expensive record that you ever bought ?

my most expensive record? it’s actually a box set, the Classic Records LZ 45 box set. the Holy Grail for LZ fans.

cost me $750 in 2006. Currently Discog shows 5 for sale. from $10,645 in Greece, $14k from Italy, $18k from the UK, $20k in the US, and $26k in the US.

https://www.discogs.com/sell/release/5882431?ev=rb

mine is not for sale, even at $26k.

$165 cantate domino step one made in Germany .

$135 used , CLASSIC RECORDS 4 single sided 45rpm 200 gram

David Crosby's  " If I Could Only Remember My Name " 

And they say that equipment is expensive, $26k for a reissue set.

And they say that equipment is expensive, $26k for a reissue set.

Led Zepplin recordings are very good, and Led Zepplin fans are hard core. LZ being likely among the top 3 or 4 all time rock groups. #1 for many. epic even. considering all that.....how many complete studio catalogues have been given that level of treatment mastered by Ernie Grundman?

none. this set pegs all the meters.

so these are unicorns of Rock fan vinyl choices.

those who have heard this set in my room understand it.

Paid $75 for a British release of Jimi Hendrix Electricladyland with the nudes on the cover.

I recorded myself and thought I sounded like million dollars.  On the other hand, my wife thought that the cat died!

I remember when many of the Classic Records archives were hawked on eBay, maybe ten years back, a test press 45 set of the Zeppelin BBC sessions went up. I forget how much it ended on - it wasn’t cheap but I was a little surprised it didn’t go higher. Silly listed prices on Discogs and similar can train people to think stuff is much more “stupid valuable” than it actually is.

But $750 for the whole catalogue is cool!! 😎

I paid $110 for this Japanese, Steely Dan compilation.

It was in much worse condition than I was expecting.

Like the cover art and the obie, but the scratches and popsake this purchase quite meh for me.

Steely Dan Japanese Compilation

None of the records that I bought on ebay from Japan were over graded, though I mostly bought from three or four particular people. Often the condition was better than promised and the records had been cleaned.

I have to cheat a bit and say $450 for the 250th Anniversary CD box set of the complete recordings of Beethoven on the D.G. lable.  

Criminal record by far the most expensive.

@mikelavigne I have a sneaking suspicion that eventually, Chad at Acoustic Sounds will get the rights from Jimmy to reissue the Classic 45's of Zep. 

After buying Classic Records, Chad probably has all the Classic master tapes. 

`Tears for Fears Elemental, MINT, about $162 two months ago.

I’d seen one for sale for around $500 not long ago and thought “pfft, NFW.”

Worth every cent of $162.

Also bought YES, the Steven Wilson remixes box set for $289 last year… still haven’t opened it.

The Velvet Underground Banana original pressing with an unpeeled sticker. Mint condition too! These are listed on Discogs for around $1200. I found mine in a bunch of LP's I paid $10 for!

What??? No high dollar Yoko Ono pressings?  I’m shocked I tel you, shocked!

@mikelavigne I hope you have a serious relationship with your insurance agent. 

I hope you have a serious relationship with your insurance agent. 

@noromance not as good as my kids. 😀 they make sure my stuff is covered. and I have guard elk, and guard hummingbirds to help.

a point I do want to make is that with vinyl, the media is more important than the gear. we fall in love with gear, but it's great pressings that sound great. certainly your gear needs to exceed a baseline of performance, but the quality of the pressing does the heavy lifting.

let's say someone is a Led Zeppelin fanatic. and they are contemplating a $70k to $80k vinyl front end. that is certainly expensive, but many here are in that realm when it comes to turntable, arm, cartridge, and phono stage. it's the upper end, but not the top, or tip top. my case would be that buying this Led Zeppelin box set for $20k, and lowering the gear by $20k, would net you a higher musical result. and 10 years from now, likely more resale value.

not saying that is the correct approach. but not wrong either. depends on how seriously you want Led Zeppelin at their very best.

and one big issue about collecting best pressings is the effort it takes to hunt them down. many times that is the bigger challenge than the investment. how many records must you buy to get that gem? 

lot's of ways to view it.

 

I have a sneaking suspicion that eventually, Chad at Acoustic Sounds will get the rights from Jimmy to reissue the Classic 45’s of Zep.

After buying Classic Records, Chad probably has all the Classic master tapes.

@vinylshadow

I think Classic Records dirtying the water with Led Zeppelin has muddied the water for any future thing like that. and when those tapes came over from the UK they came with a security guard to make sure Bernie did not keep a dub or any other nefarious thing happened. Hobson never had his hands on those tapes, so Chad never got them either. that is what I understand happened. but I could be wrong.

time will tell.......everyone will be watching.

and now 18 years after the 45 box set, the tapes are 18 years older, whereas my vinyl is still pristine.

I have three grey market LZ early album tapes and they are very good, but as my vinyl front end has improved, plus my LZ box set, the vinyl is now better than my quite fine tapes. even with my much improved (over my Studer A-820's) hot rodded ATR-102 + MR70 decks.

@mikelavigne I collected almost all of the Classic Record sets but passed on the 45 LZ suitcase because I had all the other LZ editions.... What a mistake!

How does the 45 LZII rate against the LZII RL SS? 

Most of the high value (in terms of price) records I have are a large collection of UK Vertigo Swirls of the more obscure prog acts, private label and small label post bop jazz from the early '70s, a few real outliers-- De De Lind Io Non So Da Dove (which came to me with tattered shrink put on when somebody imported it, with old price stickers from US record outlets, the record had never been pulled from the sleeve). I have many Island UK pink labels, some of which fetch a price these days. (I'm not a completist in the case of full catalogs). 

I did a rough list when we moved for insurance purposes and kept that rider in place thereafter. 

I've slowed down in buying, not only b/c of price inflation, but the rare records are much harder to find, and the ones on offer are usually not M-. (Overgrading is now common, given the surge in record prices for old pressings). 

I agree with Mike that the cost in today's dollars of the media typically exceeds the cost of the gear. 

Single record would be a pair, both UK first pressings, both unopened never played and both bought from the same collector. $250 each. Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here and Supertramp's Crime of the Century.

After a good deep clean they sounded spectacular best recordings I've heard yet.  There is something about the originals that were so good and new originals sound even better. 

i collected almost all of the Classic Record sets but passed on the 45 LZ suitcase because I had all the other LZ editions.... What a mistake!

How does the 45 LZII rate against the LZII RL SS?

@vinylshadow

i’ve been told that the Classic LZII (which i have) is equivalent to the RL SS LZII, but never heard it myself.

OTOH the guy who designed my listening room is Chris Huston, who was an engineer on LZII (he is listed on the inner jacket). he spent a couple of days staying with me during the project and we listened to LZII and he talked about that experience. pretty amazing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Huston

@mikelavigne Very cool!

I have the Classic Records180g LZII and the RL SS. I will do a comparison after I get my new TT. 

OT but do you use any special isolator pucks/pods etc directly under your DAC, streamer and amplifiers?

I've recently heard very good things about Stack Audio's Auva 100's for speaker isolation and their EQ's for individual components. I think it's time to replace my Stillpoints spikes/disc under my sub and speakers with something better...Thank you. 

I paid $525 each for Led Zeppelin I and IV, Classic Records Clarity Vinyl one sided 45 rpm versions. Quite nice sounding. I have no regrets spending the dough. I bought them directly from Classic Records when they were still in business and when they had a 20% off sale. These are the white box sets that have recently been listed on eBay for over $2000.

OT but do you use any special isolator pucks/pods etc directly under your DAC, streamer and amplifiers?

I’ve recently heard very good things about Stack Audio’s Auva 100’s for speaker isolation and their EQ’s for individual components. I think it’s time to replace my Stillpoints spikes/disc under my sub and speakers with something better...Thank you.

@vinylshadow

i’m also big into resonance control and i prefer decoupling in various ways; i use Arya RevOpods (32 of them) under my Wadax digital, which is 5 chassis. each chassis sit’s on a Taiko Daiza platform, which then sit on my Massif racks which use Nordost Sort Fut footers. pictures on my system link.

https://www.arya-audio.com/revopod

https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/daiza-isolation-platform/

https://www.massifaudiodesign.com/racks

https://www.nordost.com/sort-systems/sort-fut.php

my preamp and monoblock amps sit on Taiko Tana active shelves.

https://taikoaudio.com/taiko-2020/tana-150-140-active-anti-vibration-platforms/

this gear isolation discussion should be taken to another thread so as not to derail this thread topic. if you do i will follow along.

Steely Dan’s Aja from Discogs. There was a review on you tube where someone did a shootout with 6 versions of Aja. He determined that the “Cisco” was the best. So, I gambled $400 based on his review and it is awesome. I cannot spend that or nowhere near on a record collection. Therefore I continue to upgrade my digital gear so streaming sounds good. 

@mikelavigne 

I agree and will not derail any further. I don't know which isolation thread is most current/relevant but in the meantime, I will scour your links. Thank you. 

Mobile Fidelity “Original Master Recording “ ( whatever that means) of The Beatles White Album in about 2000 for $75 in mint condition. 

Funny this subject came up. I have been on strike for the last 9 weeks and it has given me some time to clean and catalog my collection I'm not done yet but have been shocked as to what I have come up with thus far.  So far, the highest value for a single record has been Dido Quiex SV-P pressing median price $481.00, three for sale from $1,612.00. I paid between 20 and 30 bucks. The highest box is the Mo Fi Beatles Collection median price $825.00. I got that a few years back with the Rolling Stone Mo Fi box and the Sinatra Box for $900.00. But my prize is Alice in Chains Jar of Flies/ SAP autographed copy going for a median price of 300 buck, without the signatures. Who knew my record collection would do better than my IRA?

@hysteve - I'm sure it sounds great, but that must have been the one reviewer who didn't think the QRP double-45 sounded best. Different setups, different systems, etc, it's all good, but personally I have yet to hear a double-45 that didn't sound even better than a great quality 33 1/3.

I bought that version of 'Aja' for the $150 list price (the most expensive single album I ever bought), and yeah, that's very amazing, too. I've also got a perfect condition promo copy of 'Aja' from when it first came out; that sounds excellent, but doesn't come close to the QRP. 

I don't remember the most expensive I bought;  probably some of the MFSL from the early 2000s.  But the most expensive I sold was one of those--a sealed, limited edition (fairly low number) copy of Pink Floyd's Meddle for $1100.

The only thing that's sucks is you spend big money on an unopened lp and one day you sell it for even bigger money.To find out it's a different copy and not the one on the cover...  So I don't buy sealed copies ,buyer  beware there is fraud everywhere......

Sealed vinyl might be defective, it's not always fraud. I don't buy them above, say, $20 either unless I can return it.

Thorens 125th Anniversary LP. I paid $350 for a mint copy.

However, I sold an LP for $2k once. 

I have not bought an LP since 1982, and I don't remember what they cost back then, but I know that I wasn't going out of my way to buy quality pressings.

However, within the last few years, I did pay a seller $100 for a JVC XRCD red book of Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits .  (It was Different Drum that I really wanted.)  The seller was raving about the sonic quality, but I didn't think it was that great.  IMO, the DCC red book of Linda Ronstadt's Greatest Hits Volume 2 sounds way better as does the MFSL red book of Simple Dreams, and I could probably go on and on about CDs I paid a lot less for that sound a lot better.

Anyway, a while back ago I was taking it out of its jewel case and it snapped in half.

MFSL BEATLES BOX SET.

Original high-grade VeeJay copy of "Introducing the Beatles".  Don't remember what I paid, bc I eventually got a full refund.  The idiot who sold it to me mailed it 3000 miles packaged between two pieces of corrugated cardboard.  Worse, he'd cut those pieces from a cardboard box and positioned the box's crease right in the middle of the cover (LP inside the cover, of course).  As you've probably guessed, the pkg bent in the middle during shipping and the album arrived in two pieces.  And the guy didn't buy insurance. 

The worst part, though, is that the seller guy refused to give me a refund, and it took weeks of haggling with eBay to force the guy to give me my dough back.  eBay is not Amazon when it comes to buyer protection.

Echoing another poster, the two albums I SOLD for the most were a Second State Butcher Block and an original mono UK Trak copy of "Are You Experienced" (bought when I was a kid in 1967 off the shelf from a record store in Bermuda -- and played only a few times b/c, frankly the sound was awful to the point of being nearly unlistenable).  Both went for $5-600, which most people would find jaw-dropping, but here, makes me a piker.

earlier I wrote about the most expensive " Record " that I purchased 

but since the MFSL Beatles box set was just mentioned I have to say 

I Bid $201 dollars on e-Bay for a 1979 Japanese release of the Beatles Collection never thinking I would win but I did so $200 is the most I've spent on a " box set "

These pressing were better that the individual earlier Japanese pressing I have .  

Do CD’S count? I have one that is very rare and is 24k gold release by the Jazz band "Wounderful Sound of Three Blind Mice" I saw one on eBay for $300

CDs don't count, this is analog thread.

Venus 30 th aniversary LP and SAcd . Close to $800 I think.

$169. For Christmas 2019 my wife bought me DSOM ($40) and a blue tooth turntable ($129) to connect to my Yamaha AVR.

It was the only record we owned. Last time I owned one was 40 years prior.

I played it once and found the courage to tell her I could not destroy that record with that turntable.

Latest tally that decision ended up costing us around $100K.

Does that count?

The most expensive record I ever purchased is obviously the first one, "Hot Rod Lincoln" at about $1.00! But that has sent me into this wonderful, beautiful world of music. I have no idea how much I've spent over the years, but it's been worth every penny.

Almost mint copy of original Hawkwind - X in Search of Space with an immaculate Log Book included for $50. I gave my somewhat tattered copy of the Log Book to a girl back in the day and always regretted it. They go for $200-$300+ now. I tend to bargain-hunt originals rather than buy expensive remasters.

@noromance - That's a pretty good price, I also lost my log book and was searching for it at record shows and it was always $100 and up. Always missing from the album when I found them for sale. Same for Cheech and Chong Big Bamboo with the giant rolling paper, always mia.

In Search of Space and Hall of the Mountain Grill my  2 favorite Hawkwind albums.

@richmon I was reading your post from 2009 when you first dipped toes in the vinyl pool. Great to hear you're fully vested now! I've all the original Hawkwind albums up to 1982. Hard to pick a favorite. 

$125 for my holy grail of a rare 180 gram LP of Tower of Power’s 1970 East Bay Grease. Sparkling in the Sand was the cut on the album that’s beyond perfection. I couldn’t tell you what the other songs are because I’ve never listened to them. So yeah, $125 for a 9 minute song. Hey, when it’s good it’s good. 

$350 for a first press, near mint condition of Israeli band Mashina - "Monsters Of Glory." It's been out of print since 1992. Then reissued in 2022 for $30... :-)