Tips on Buying Quiet Quality sounding LP's

Another good site to search is Music Angle (Michael Fremer's web site) devoted to reviewing music. You can search a particular title and pull the review and there will be a rating on the music and the quality of the sound. The quality of sound incorporates both recording/mastering quality and the quality of the pressings.

Tvad's approach is a practical one. You are essentially relying on an expert to make the determination in advance for you on a title that you are interested in. That will work but will carry a cost premium of some sort which may or may not matter depending on the individual.

Groove damage is common and harder to spot reliably perhaps than other types of defects, like scratches, etc., but it can be done.

I typically buy a dozen or more used lps at a time when I find them, often for $1.00 or less. Its like picking out fruit at the market. If you are good at it, most of the time you can weed out the defective or damaged ones.

Many of these are titles I have never heard or heard of before that I am willing to try in the interest of new discoveries. Having been collecting for years, most titles that I really care about I probably already own. Inexpensive used lps are a very cost effective way to trow new waters musically, I find, especially if you are open minded to music recorded years ago, which is when vinyl was king.

I've probably acquired a couple hundred used lps over the last year this way and I would estimate less than 6 were unlistenable. 80% or more sounded very good or better (once cleaned).

Identifying good sounding lps is both an art and a science and can be very hit or miss though. But the audio rewards can be great, even if a few bad apples make it through inspection.

I've probably acquired a couple hundred used lps over the last year this way and I would estimate less than 6 were unlistenable. 80% or more sounded very good or better.
Mapman (System | Reviews | Threads | Answers)

The other part of this equation, and one that has been discussed at length in other threads, is the definition of what is listenable (or good , or quiet, or...insert term here). What we have learned through the discussions is that the term *listenable* varies greatly from individual to individual. Hence, the value in finding sellers that share your definitions.

"So Mapman...what do you look for to determine good physical condition?."

Good question. I'll try to relate:

1) obvious scratches or other physical defects like warping or off center cutting (not so much dirt on the surface, which can be removed via cleaning in most cases). Sometimes, what looks like a scratch is only a linear dirt pattern or other surface deposit, which is less audible and can be removed via cleaning if needed. You have to inspect closely in order to determine if it is a scratch that has physically impacted the grooves or not, or to what extent.

2) visible groove modulation/quality (this can be hard to determine reliably with the naked eye, but generally grooves cut with more visible modulation will deliver better dynamics). I will sometimes buy a low cost record in good shape otherwise just for this even if the artist or material is unknown or not relevant to me at the time.

3) sheen/surface texture (specular reflection). Many better sounding records that are not worn tend to reflect light more specularly (like a mirror) than those that are worn, which reflect light more diffusely. If you can detect minute rainbow color patterns in the closer spaced grooves, then that is often an indicator of good groove quality and high frequency modulation that delivers crisp performance at higher frequencies.

And so the Telefunken (dull lifless looking even when new)? will be passed by? Telefunken and a few others just ALWAYS look dull. The dull finish in no way is a marker (by itself) of a bad record.
If the LP has dull bands.. where someone played the same cuts 1,000,000 times.. that is a different matter.