How Much Are Your Old Records Worth?


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I will have to have a look what the labels are. I know a lot are Deutchse Grammophon. Berlin Philharmonic under Karajan. Probably over a hundred mostly off brand labels, but I stiil think a lot of them sound better than CDs apart from the odd pop or crackle.

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The subject has gone off piste a little, but is interesting nevertheless. Record-playing runs in our family. Before the war, dad, who was very good at carpentry, made a radiogram, in the art deco styl

'Diana' sung by Paul Anka (#109), always reminds me of the Nottingham Goose Fair. I'd be stood with my mates at the side of the Waltzers watching the girls screaming as the chaps walk around spinning

The thing about Hi-Fi and all the attendant gubbins was that the equipment was more than just for playing records, the stuff was 'Objet d'art'. It looked great as well as sounding great. I notice th

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Loppy, re: #49. I think ( but I'm not certain) that the 160 is worth more, but whatever, the TD150 is a 'proper' record player. FWIW, I sold a 'new old stock' Shure V15 III stylus on eBay for around £100, and an unused V15 cartridge for a bit less.

My current record player is:

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Mitchell Gyrodec SE, with Orbe Platter. The tonearm is an Audiomods converted Rega arm.( Sadly, not the SME arm shown) Cartridge is an Audio Technica AT OC9 PTG or thereabouts, which came with the deck which I bought s/h. Deck is around £2k+ and the cartridge around £600. But then I'm very sad, have no friends, never go on holiday etc... :)

I've also got one of these knocking about.

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Amazing cartrige because the cantilever is a 1.2 mm long rod of diamond, to which the stylus is attached. I can barely see it.

I love vinyl!

Col

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Lopy, all of the DG records are nice but it's mostly the early 'Large Tulip' labels that have special value.

Have a look here;

http://www.pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showthread.php?t=8266

Pinkfishmedia is where I spend a lot of time arguing politics, talking rubbish, discussing hi-fi, etc.

Col

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Ian, it's all about priorities. If you're happy with your set-up, then it's fine. I'll bet you have loads more records than me. I'm working towards a slightly better set up for vinyl, and then getting all of my CDs onto a server so I can stream them instead of grovelling about trying to find whatever CD.

Col

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I still have my expensive "Ratshack" (radio Shack/Tandy) deck, direct drive DC with strobe to set speed correctly, beats my belt driven Marantz hands down.

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I am a record junkie,CDs do not sound the same,I'm not even sure how many records I've got,but some must be worth a few quid.From age 15 when I started work I bought at least one single a week mostly Motown ,but I did buy others as well,I have a record on the crab label,it's private number by Ernest Wilson.,wonderful.

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Even though I collect music,in any format..I am a completist regarding certain artists.

Van Morrison

Rolling Stones

Roxy Music

Small Faces

Chuck Berry

Jimmy Cliff

Django Riendhart

These I collect vinyl,tape,CD,8 track etc..Never bought a record just because of its value. On one occasion in a store I found six shrink wrapped copies of Riot on Sunset Strip.. a fiver each!! I only bought one. Learnt that the Mamas & Papas used to be called The Mugwumps

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Even though I collect music,in any format..I am a completist regarding certain artists.

Van Morrison

Rolling Stones

Roxy Music

Small Faces

Chuck Berry

Jimmy Cliff

Django Riendhart

These I collect vinyl,tape,CD,8 track etc..Never bought a record just because of its value. On one occasion in a store I found six shrink wrapped copies of Riot on Sunset Strip.. a fiver each!! I only bought one. Learnt that the Mamas & Papas used to be called The Mugwumps

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Ayup. #56. How much is 'expensive'?

Col

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Record players.

I've always gone with the idea that proper engineering is the key to a proper record player. There's a bit more to it than just getting the record to revolve constantly at the correct speed. But there are also arguments raging constantly in the 'hi-fi' fraternity, as to what is the best approach.

I well recall that our Dansette Major used to have pretty dreadful mechanical feedback through the pick up. You could hear all of the assorted whirrings and clankings of the autochange mechanism not just directly, but also through the pick up and built in little valve amp.

So, when I bought my first half decent 'music centre', in the early 70s, I made sure it had a Goldring Lenco record deck fitted. This was an idler drive design with a motor bigger than that fitted to most washing machines these days. It sounded excellent and was very 'speed stable' but still not immune to the mechanicals 'breaking through into the audio.

I binned the music centre years ago, but kept the record deck, fitted it into a new plinth and added an old SME 3009 arm and an Ortofon cart with 78 stylus. It's now my 78 player.

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Next up I got a Rega Planar 2 turntable which was light years ahead of the Goldring. It was very basic, but the money was in the things that mattered. Bearing, motor, tonearm and isolation.

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Next, the famous.. almost legendary Linn LP12 Sondek. Made in Glasgow. In continuous production since about 1973 with more modifications and upgrades than you can count. Suffice to say mine cost me around £600 in 1993, plus almost £600 for the middle of three Linn arms, plus another £300 for a s/h Linn Lingo power supply, designed to properly control the drive motor and minimise vibration, speed fluctuation etc.

A very detailed sounding deck, which dug far more musical nuance from the grooves than the Rega could. At a price.

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But the Linn has a character of sound which doesn't appeal to everyone and I got increasingly bored with it before finally selling it a few years ago and getting the Mitchell I posted pics of above.

Along the way, I've encountered a number of other great decks. Some people might be surprised to know that there is still a very strong following for the old top end Garrards, such as the 301 and 401 transcription decks. A 301, which is esentially 1950s vintage, can sound fabulous if put into a decent plinth and fitted with a decent arm/cartridge combination.

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The Thorens TD124 was also an 'idler' design used for broadcast and also has a following. A bit lighter and 'airier' sounding than the Garrards, but also very nice.

td124zetadl103rss.JPG

Some people still like the Technics 1200 series 'DJ' decks, but the general feeling is the arm is a bit lacking, so various companies offer aftermarket arm mounting mods to allow fitting of something a bit better.

Nottingham has a proud tradition in Hi-Fi. Nottingham Analogue turntables designed and built in Underwood, Notts, are world famous. Sadly, Tom Fletcher, the man behind the company, passed away far too young a few years ago. I met him a few times and was impressed by his quiet confidence in what he was doing.

Nottingham-slide.jpg

As I said upthread, you can now spend anything from a few quid to upwards of £50k on a record deck. It's worth going above the bog standard plastic tat, but beyond that it's about diminishing returns, and personal taste. The starting point for a 'real' hi-fi turntable is around the £200-300 mark. In hi-fi enthusiast circes, anything below around £1k is a 'budget' deck. Tonearms similarly can cost from around £250, up to many thousands. Cartridges too. Some of the exotic hand built Japanese cartridges cost more that £5000, but good stuff can be had for a coupe of hundred.

If you want a decent 'deck' that won't break the bank, have a look at Richer Sounds, or Sevenoaks. Richer have a branch in Mansfield Rd I think and Sevenoaks are in Arnold. Project and Rega are decent 'budget' brands.

Col

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I'm pretty sure it cost over $200 Australian, that was 35 years back, pretty expensive for that period.

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I've a pair of Kenwood tower speakers, they need repairs, two 15 inch woofers in each tower, one mid range and a high range in each, whoever bought them must have paid a "pretty penny" Repair kit for the cone supports will knock me back around $60 and some cabinet repairs needed.

I also aquired a very old pair of Tandy speakers a while back, I need to make two new cases for them, can't recall the size of the woofers, although they are only rated at 25Watts RMS, they do have a remarkable "sound" to them.

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Dave, you can get a reproduction Marantz tube amplifier, the old "goldline" if you have a few thousand bucks to throw away!!

A feller who was a high fi nut found out Marantz were going to have a wharehouse clearout some years back. he went and negotiated a buying price, Maranz were going to bin the lot, so he got a good deal..

All original components made for Marantz, tubes, tube bases, output transformers, power transformers, capacitors, pots, resistors even a few chassis.

He got permission to build amplifires using Marantz's name and sells finished amps of the 50's and 60's from $1000 to several thousand an amp, depending on the power level etc.. They look good too, all tube amps and pre amps.

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I don't hear much these days Dave, my hearing is shot.

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I guess the old tube vs solid state battles still go on. I remember in the late 60s some folks used to get quite heated about it in letters to the editor in hi-fi mags. Probably still goes on on the internet, I just haven't botherd to look.

I got a pair of pretty good hearing aids, John. They definitely help.

Edited to add above sentence.

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I believe the arguments between tube and solid state was over "transistor hiss" in the early solid state devices, that's all gone now. Transistors were essentially current amplifiers years back and tubes voltage amplifiers, again all changed, you can get both voltage and current solid state amps these days.

Same arguments will arise in coming years over CRT's and LQ display TV's and cold cathode backlighting against LED backlighting in TV's.

Even when I could hear good, damned if I could tell the difference between modern solid state and tubes.

Besides, all recordings have been made on solid state equipment for years, so the arguments just don't "hold water" LOL.

Technically, both devices amplify in exactly the same way.

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The subject has gone off piste a little, but is interesting nevertheless. Record-playing runs in our family. Before the war, dad, who was very good at carpentry, made a radiogram, in the art deco style. The deck was 78 rpm of course but was variable in speed either side of this. Playing at, say 75 rpm gave a little more time on the record, but was probably only good enough for speech reproduction. The deck was an auto-change made by Garrard. It was interesting in that it had three columns, on top of each were two extended ledges. The stack of records rested on the ledges and when in operation the columns turned allowing the bottom record to fall on to the turntable, while the other ledges held the remaining records.

Along come young Chulla with his vinyl records and buys himself an RGD radiogram, with a 4-speed Garrard auto-change (still have it). Took this with me when I got married, so dad had to construct a new radiogram to play his Jim Reeves. Incidentally, he introduced be to synthesizer music - he had the LP with Popcorn on it.

By the 1970s I was wanting to hear better-sounding music in our new bungalow, so invested in a decent, but not expensive, deck, and a Goodmans Module 80 tuner/amp. I like to see such equipment in a piece of furniture, not separate items, so in the family tradition I constructed cabinets to go either side of the feature fireplace, with speaker cabinets to match. All were made with teak trimmed with copper. One cabinet has the equipment, the other for record storage. Originally I had the old auto-change out of the RGD in the cabinet along with a modern deck. The speakers are 7-inch Wharfedale, later complimented with Eagle tweeters.

Over the year the equipment has changed. The Module 80 had to go because it did not have FM. Its space was taken by a Philips CD player. For some years now the equipment set-up has been all Technics, none of which has ever gone wrong:

Deck SL-DD33

CD player SL-PG490

Tape deck RS-B355

Tuner ST-G70L

Amplifier SU-470

As for the quality of sound, I'm not saying its the best, but I will match it against some equipment that has cost a lot more than what I paid.

Fireplace_zpscav6zkuj.jpg

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Looks nice Chulla. I still remember an article in HI-Fi news back in the late 60s. A rather comical look at a man's progression from a stereogram, which it described as a long coffin like object to his first steps in Hi Fi. I remember looking at Ferguson Unit audio at the Co-op back in the late 60s. Glad I didn't buy it now. It got some pretty bad reviews. I was steered towards some good Wharfdale speakers, a Rogers amp, and a Thorens turntable by Peter Anson at Pete's Electronics on Arkwright street. I mentioned this on another thread a few years ago so won't labour it here. Just to say Pete (Now deceased) was a great guy. A man who sold Hi -Fi gear because he loved it, not just to make a quick quid. Wish there were more in business like him. At the time the good stuff did not set me back much more than the Ferguson would but I believe it was ten times better. Started buying some good records to enjoy on good equipment and still love it all to this day. Even if I can't hear high notes anymore. Started me on a life long hobby.

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Still got bits from Pete's loppylugs, I remember getting a tax rebate In'83 on Market street I bought a full bang and awful( expensive) set up, £968.00.. Great for classical though..but for pop etc..not so good. Like Dj360 said,you don't have to break the bank to play your music!! My 10 year old Denon CD unit is still OK!!

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Everybody on here who had anything to do with Pete spoke well of him. He moved to Bobber's Mill and became Peter Anson Electronics. Sounds a bit more upscale than the Arkwright street shop, but I bet he still made a lot of folks happy.

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The thing about Hi-Fi and all the attendant gubbins was that the equipment was more than just for playing records, the stuff was 'Objet d'art'.

It looked great as well as sounding great.

I notice that someone had a Michel Transcriptor deck in an earlier picture. What a fantastic bit of kit.

And Bang and Olufsen - expensive but superb.

On the TV someone just found a pair of speakers in a loft and didn't know what they were - but raved about their styling.

I knew instantly what they were - Quad Electrostatics. A better sounding set of speakers you are unlikely to ever find.

I bemoan the fact that people don't have big speakers and amps and flashing lights in the lounge (!) anymore because it was all part of the listening experience. Even the size of records made for great artwork and sleeve notes.

I don't regret the passing of vinyl because the pops and clicks and terrible pressings used to drive me mad, but the whole 'record' experience from selecting in a record shop, to buying equipment and listening intently to great music was something absorbing and extremely enjoyable.

How the hell did we manage to lose it?

There are no record shops now, Hi-Fi shops are very few and far between. People listen on tiny headphones or scratchy mobile devices - and the music seems designed to fit i.e. no dynamic range, unimaginative, unmelodic.

Yes I know I sound like an old fart but I genuinely believe that people of my age lived through a golden age and that where we are now is a low period for music and media in general.

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