How to Judge an LP

I can certainly understand PBBs hesitation about purchasing used LPs. Just the idea of a rock slamming around a soft plastic groove trying to replicate wavelengths that approach light itself is enough to make some go running from the room. But my practical experience is quite otherwise. I believe that one reason is that modern stylus shapes ride in a different portion of the groove due to their small overall shapes with greater width. The Kenner Plug 'N Play along with it's BSR kissin' cousins rode very high in the groove and caused damage in a different area than the modern rig mines. Sure there are scratches, warps, gunk and all the rest, but I find most of the used records that I buy, and my collection is over 2500, to be anywhere from acceptable to quite good. There is a higher level of transient noise on LPs than CD; that's just a given. I find that, when the record player is correctly set-up, most of this noise takes place in a different plane than the music and is easier for my perceptual gating mechanisms to tune out. With much digital media the distortion is within the fabric of the music and though lower in absolute terms may be harder to take, at least for some.

You've all missed !!!! It's the music which is so often unavailable on CD, DAD, hybrids and especially SACD. The literally millions of titles only found on old stock vinyl. As a friend and I always banter back and forth "It's the music stupid"!

Really doesn't matter if it's only available on LP if you can't listen to it. But the covers shure look nice. It's the covers, stupid.

Not much need to add to Twl's excellent rundown (though I wouldn't take Pbb to task quite so hard for his basically complimentary and reasonable response - his point of view is not maybe the same as all of ours, but it doesn't strike me as being an attack or off the wall). I routinely enjoy records, especially 45's, with flaws and noise levels that would scare off most audiophiles for sure, but then again they probably wouldn't be listening to some of the kinds of music involved in the first place. However, when it comes to classical, it's got to about perfect or nothing at all for me. Some further tips: scratches that run more or less in the direction of the grooves will usually be more problematic than radial ones as far as causing skips goes; mono records can have their surface noise decreased by monoing the signal; an opaquely filmy-looking surface often indicates heat damage even without the presence of warping and will cause constant background hiss despite cleaning; be more picky the tinier the groove size is and more tolerant with a larger groove; beware a 'ragged'- or slightly whitish-looking groove which ususally indicates past mistracking even without scratches present; don't be automatically dissuaded by the presence of deceptively abundant fingerprints, dust, or even mildew on desirable records that don't show other obvious wear beyond scuff-marks, as these will often clean up quite nicely. Happy hunting!

Beware of records pressed on lightweight polystyrene rather than vinyl. This is an exclusively US thing, very common on 45s but also found on the LPs of certain labels, especially US Decca/Coral/Brunswick from the 50s, early Pickwick and Halo/Rondolette budget albums, and some smaller New York based labels of the 50s and 60s. The styrene LPs stopped coming around 1966, but the 45s continued well into the 90s.

Styrene pressings "ding" instead of "thud" when you tap on them. They're very lightweight but usually pretty thick. The labels are often (though not always) glued onto the record surface rather than pressed into it, or else printed directly onto the plastic.

The reason you should care is that groove damage is invariably much worse with styrene--it's a softer surface that can be chewed to bits by a worn or misadjusted stylus, or one that just contacts the groove wall in "the wrong way". I've heard some very expensive brand-new cartridges that, for whatever reason, eat styrenes for lunch. I have a box of never-played styrene promo 45s that I keep for testing new stylii for my V15-VXMR. And some of them flunk!

I'd say about 60% of the styrenes I've purchased have had problems, even if they looked stone mint. It's a good thing to watch out for to avoid disappointments and properly assess the gamble you're taking. Look for whitish-looking groove damage, even very slight--that's usually the red flag on a styrene pressing.

All used records are a gamble. Just accept it, make your best guess, then chance it. And you're allowed to buy fried records if you still think you'll get enjoyment out of them.