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.

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.

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.

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

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.