Where old audiophiles go to...

[DaveyF]

Yes Bob, Thanks. But very typical. i have seen many of these big collections....lots of quantity and no quality.

 

[Peter Breuninger]

Someone called the Philadelphia Orchestra and asked if they accept record collection donations (this happens all the time) but this one time my orch friends got wind of it and called the lady. She said her and her husband were moving to a condo and the house was for sale and that he had a 20,000+ pristine record collection of mostly classical lp from the 1960s and 70s. We all started to envision the Merc and RCA catalog in plastic covers... well we get over to the house and it's not been lived in for over a year. She opens the door and a wall of must and mold and cat pee smell hit us square in the face. There was one upstairs bedroom full of records, moldy and monos. The basement was full of the rest of the "pristine" collection. It smelled so bad I went down and didn't touch a thing. I sat outside while two of my hoarding friends dug through the debris, they came out with about 20 lps. It was my car and I told them they have to go in the trunk. They were mono Mercs, like Wellingtons Victory and stuff like that.

 

[microstrip]

I still have to find a way of getting out the smoke smell of a few hundred LPs I got some years ago. I have kept the covers in open air for a few weeks, and it reduced it, but if I keep the room where they are kept closed the damn smell returns. Does any one have a good receipt for it?

 

[DaveyF]

Peter, that story is similar to what I went through last night. People's perception of what is pristine is certainly highly variable. OTOH, about ten years ago, I was called over to a woman's condo whose husband had passed away and she did have over five thousand pristine LP's including many Blue Note's and some amazing merc's and dogs. Even some of the best Beatles stuff I had ever seen. I bought the lot and to this day it forms the core of my collection. I guess you never know. What's more typical was my experience last night..

BTW, micro, you might try this old trick....get a woman's spritzer of perfume and lightly ( LIGHTLY) spray each cover from a distance of about 2'. Sometimes this will be enough to knock back the smell of the smoke. You get a little perfume smell, so be sure to pick a perfume you can live with...BUT

 

[NorthStar]

I believe that the older audiophiles who truly take/took care of their LPs collection, and want to sell them are the exception (rare) and that you have to be real lucky in your search to find them. And I'm talking about truly mint music collection and of real value (arstistic) here.

It is interesting on how some people expand their music collection; by looking for deals in music they already know.
Other people on the other hand are always searching for better, for newer music, that they've never heard before and that they weren't even aware of; their music exposition/exploration are more of the discovery type instead of living in (stuck in) the 40s, 50s, 60s, or 70s.

It amazes me sometimes in which category I fit myself. But I'm not surprised that much though when I know where I want to go in life; forward. :b

Trying to sell your music from your lifetime to the right person is harder than to restart a brand new music collection, and 'new' is closer to the present and more in touch with reality. ...Not that there is anything wrong with nostalgia or/and dynasty, but simply more distant to the present.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I'm still waiting for the slightly older guy to say he's downsizing and wants his collection of 50's-60's-70's LP's gone. I like classical music, but I have no interest in going through a substantial collection to pick and choose. I turned down two inquiries this year alone.

 

[astrotoy]

My daughter and son-in-law like classical music very much and even have a small vinyl collection from Amoeba's and my seconds. However, they have no interest in taking over my 15,000 record collection - particularly before they settle permanently into a house. When I retired, my wife suggested that I look at digitizing my collection and that is what I have been doing for the past several years. I am aiming at about 10,000 of the best records (my collection of Decca's, EMI's, RCA, Merc's, Lyrita's, and others as well as my many R2R). At 192-24 and declicked, so far I I am up to over 12TB of rips, about 40% there. A Synology NAS server at RAID 5 equivalent takes up the size of four stacked shoe boxes and will hold my entire collection. For copyright purposes, I need to keep copies of the originals, at least until the records are in public domain. People my daughter's age are very comfortable with the playback software and something like A+ and a Mac Mini with a decent DAC works very nicely for her. It is also a nice legacy for our granddaughter.

Larry

 

[DaveyF]

My daughter and son-in-law like classical music very much and even have a small vinyl collection from Amoeba's and my seconds. However, they have no interest in taking over my 15,000 record collection - particularly before they settle permanently into a house. When I retired, my wife suggested that I look at digitizing my collection and that is what I have been doing for the past several years. I am aiming at about 10,000 of the best records (my collection of Decca's, EMI's, RCA, Merc's, Lyrita's, and others as well as my many R2R). At 192-24 and declicked, so far I I am up to over 12TB of rips, about 40% there. A Synology NAS server at RAID 5 equivalent takes up the size of four stacked shoe boxes and will hold my entire collection. For copyright purposes, I need to keep copies of the originals, at least until the records are in public domain. People my daughter's age are very comfortable with the playback software and something like A+ and a Mac Mini with a decent DAC works very nicely for her. It is also a nice legacy for our granddaughter.

Larry

Larry, my hat's off to you sir. What a GIANT PITA to have to rip 15,000 LP's! Not something I would EVER want to do.