The Lifespan of an LP?

Even though it'll soon be of vintage age, one of the reasons I stick with my line contact Lyra cartridge is that, whatever is actually going on, it can play the dreaded inner grooves of 33's & 45's that I'm pretty sure I butchered with misaligned or just plain poor-tracking cartridges 'way back when.  

@artemus_5 

Thanks for drawing my attention to the Goldmine standard. I've now taken a look at the Goldmine site. Extremely helpful!

Thank you for sharing your experience and research. I have discovered that wear is not always evident in a visual inspection. I have purchased records from the sixties and seventies that are stated by the seller to be “NM”. They look really great — shiny, black, no scratches etc.

You have stumbled upon the reality that you cannot see sound quality. The only way to know if a record is good or not is to play it. Then depending on all the little details of how this is done the record may be one and done, or play beautifully long after you are dead and buried.

No one knows anything about how good a record will sound until it is played. A couple months ago while waiting for Tom Port to find me a White Hot Year of the Cat I decided to take a chance on a "good deal" on Discogs. The cover was damaged so it was cheap but the vinyl was supposed to be NM so I took a chance. This copy was Mobile Fidelity and the vinyl did look to be NM, maybe even unplayed. It was dead quiet. Not a tick, not a pop. Not much else, either. Easily one of the worst sounding records I have ever heard! Plus it had a warp, that thanks to my clamping system flattened out enough to play, but was bad enough the seller refunded me and never even asked for this POC back.

It was such a POC that I sent it along to Tom to get a good laugh. Tom makes his living finding records that sound unusually, incredibly, unbelievably good. You cannot tell by looking. He has to play each and every one. This MoFi was such crap, sort of wish I kept it just to show the few who come by just how awful a reissue can be. Even from MoFi.

All the really important information on a record is captured in groove modulations so small they are on the order of the size of a large organic molecule. On this scale even the tiniest barely visible speck of dust is huge and will make a pop or crackle when hit. No way anyone is going to see this. Even with a microscope, you would need an electron microscope to see the sort of damage that can be heard easily.

So just play em. That’s what I do. Play em. And don’t worry. The magic, when it’s there, never really goes away.

Thanks, millercarbon. It's all a lot more complicated than it looks, isn't it? With each incremental improvement in my system over the last few years, the quality of the source has become increasingly important. And as you have observed quality really begins with the quality of the original recording itself and then continues in a chain through mastering and pressing and finally, in the case of vintage records, the last link is how much care previous owners have exercised in handling the record. If there is a single weak link in that chain, the result can be a disappointment. When each link is strong the result is magical -- the listening experience that for me more than justify all the time and money I've been investing. But I have also discovered that as my system has improved, it also seems to draw my attention to any flaws in that chain. I've become a much more critical listener -- for better and for worse.

Many good responses. Take them all and you have an answer.

Except for the most of the not-so-subtle advertisement placed two posts above.