How many reissued titles from audiophile labels are in your collection?

[Johnny Vinyl]

I don't have that many to be honest....perhaps 100-125 or approximately 7% of my total vinyl collection. The reason for that is tri-fold and they are:

1. If my standard domestic pressing sounds good and I can still get used copies easily, then I'm perfectly happy.
2. If the reviews I read (both pro reviews and user reviews) don't instill a level of confidence in me about their quality.
3. They are becoming increasingly more expensive, so I've been much more selective as a result.

There are some exception to this and they mostly have to do with favourite albums. In those cases I'll buy both reissues and various other pressings (UK, US, Japanese), because I'm looking to acquire the best possible pressing. Of course that is somewhat of a crapshoot as well since we all hear differently and it's rare to find a consensus IMO.

NOTE: This is open to all formats.I used vinyl as that is the only format I really collect.

[mep]

I never counted them Johnny so that means it could be more or less a significant portion than I think it is and I think it's not real high. Sometimes the original pressing sounds much better than a reissue if the original pressing came from a well-mastered tape. There are lots of original pressings that sound great and reissues that don't come close to the original in terms of sound quality. Stick with labels that only cut reissues from the real, I'm not kidding master tape, and chances are you will have something really good. Vinyl formulations and pressing quality are getting better IMO with a concomitant reduction in noise and I think Chad just might be leading the way.

[MylesBAstor]

Mark offers very sage advice!

The numbers are slightly skewed because of the size of collection but I own 100% of the 33 and 45 rpm MMJ, 90% of Chads (mostly not mono), 80% of the Classic releases, 60% of the MOFIs, 90% of the ORGs plus a smattering of Speakers Corner, Pure Pleasure (real hit or miss here), Athena, Alto Edition, Audio Nautes, Alto Edition/Steeplechase, Absolute Analogue, Ref. Rec (yes they did some Vox Turnabouts), Cisco, Boxstarr, TBM and some other small labels. Man now that I started listing them, I'm shocked by how many labels there are/were. Even the 45 rpm Friday Music Yes reissue that is very good. Truth be told, tables would have died out years ago because most people don't have the collections we have, the time to go hunt down records or even the access to stores with records, etc. So Classic in many ways, no matter what you feel about their releases, in many ways saved analog. People could still see vinyl being pressed and thus would buy tables. Not just us old farts.

That said think the question of reissues is a very complicated subject.

Vinyl quality
Quietness of the release
Quality of the pressing (how many times do you read about the crappy quality of LPs pressed at United?) You do still at times get what you pay for. Sure every once in a while Chad or the others have a clunker but they are few and far between. Just think about how many records you had to return in the '70s. Ughhh....
Records gems that you don't know about--and there are a lot of them for at least me. (Elvis, Tony Bennett, Dean Martin, etc.) I'm listening to this gem right now as I type and anyone who doesn't own it should order it tonight! Kevin Gray, my favorite remastering engineer, did a simply incredible job here.




Sound of original vs reissue. That's great to argue about if you own the original. But personally, I'll pay $50 for a 45 rpm Blue Note reissue vs a trashed original that costs $500+.

To be fair, I don't think anyone is gouging the consumer. When one looks into all that goes into licensing fees, fees paid to remaster, press, pay employees and just that you need to maintain a cash flow to reinvest in future tittles, no one is getting rich. Sometimes one has to go through the tape and redo all the edits. That takes time and costs money. Or the time spent just listening to the tape to see if it's worthy of release. Time is money. In Chad's case, he has the overhead of the pressing plant. Also one thing that people seem to forget is that record companies often don't see the money from the record sales for maybe even up to a year. You sell your LP or CD to a middleman or even a store and they may take on average at least three and more likely six months to pay for the albums or return them. So there's overhead there.

Personally I really appreciate everything these guys have done and think they walk on water!!!

[allenh]

Well said, Myles!

[allenh]

My collection is small relative to most on this forum, having just got back in to vinyl a year or so ago. I have maybe 25% reissues, the majority being AP or CR, with a smattering of Speaker Corners and ORG reissues. I think Chad rules, and will not hesitate to buy anything he reissues.

[MylesBAstor]

[Guest]

Maybe 30%. For classical music vinylphiles It's tough finding mint condition RCA Shaded Dogs, Mercury Living Presence and classic Decca LPs from the 50s and 60s. I'm real happy to have quality re-issues regardless what you call them.

[Bill Hart]

Dunno. In many cases, I have multiple copies, including original or early pressings from various countries, plus reissues or remasters that were done along the way (not necessarily the latest and greatest). I do have a fair number of "audiophile" remasters ("AR"), but I still think that's dwarfed by the number of older records I have- if the original or whatever pressing is good, I'm not as inclined to buy the latest AR, but this isn't always a reflection of any judgment that the original pressing is better- it's just whether I care enough about the record to buy multiple different copies. For example, on Kind of Blue, I have enough copies without the latest. On Tea for the Tillerman, I did not buy either Marino cut by Chad. Then, there's the fact that a lot of music i listen to hasn't really been reissued/remastered, or it has been done by outfits that aren't known for quality sound~ but it really is hard to say, other than on a case by case basis, according to my taste and what I'm chasing at the moment. I've been buying older reggae records recently, so that's a whole area where the "original" may or may not be a quality record. With some of the more obscure prog- the originals are often quite costly, so I've gotten some help there.

[Rob]

oops, wrong thread.