Highlite23

Sleeve City's Audiophile inner sleeves are exactly the same as the MoFIs except the rice paper backing is thicker, which helps prevent scrunching when returning an LP to the sleeve.  IMO, it's worth the slight hike in price to not have to deal with the sleeves being too thin and easily collapsable.  
 

 
Sleeve City also makes an Ultimate Audiophile version that has rice paper lining on both sides but those are a bit overkill for me.  I have bought both and prefer the simpler 1-rice-paper-side, 1-thin-clear-side look and feel (and price).  If you want a sturdy tank sleeve, it's great though.

http://www.rhino.com/summeroflove
 
Some pretty cool stuff, similar to the rocktober or start your ear off series, all of these are going to be classic albums from 1967 to celebrate the 50th anniversary. Some cool stuff definitely in for dusty in memphis and Love's self titled on mono, might consider grabbing Beau Brummels and Electric Prunes too

Not necessarily a rule of thumb,but the vibrations from the speaker can/will affect playback on the turntable.

I really want to thank all of you who offered up constructive feedback. I'm only about 6 albums into rebuilding my collection, some from ebay, some from a local record shop and a couple from Discogs. So far pleased with all of them, prices were fair, condition was spot on or better....IMO. Since I'm pretty open to new music and artists I also decided to give VMP a go and see what comes of it. 
Hopefully members continue to add their opinions and suggestions to this topic and maybe it will help other noob/lurkers on their search. 
Thanks again

Those speakers are too close to the turntable, is there a nearby shelf they can be put on? Or maybe for the turntable?

don't forget antique malls just found a VG original mono 6 eye miles davis "milestones" for $1 gonna slap $25-30 on that baby at work tomorrow

Definitely look into thrifts. I've managed to acquire close to 1000 near mint over the years at about .50¢ a piece.

Not necessarily advice for you on x vs. y, but if you are looking to snag some older stuff, definitely keep an eye out at thrift stores if it's something you're holding off on due to price. It's certainly not as common as it used to be, but I've managed to grab a whole bunch of nice, older pressings of some of the big 60s/70s bands for pennies on the dollar.

If you are truly seeking out the best available pressing of a certain album (especially 60s-80s) then I suggest you check out www.stevehoffman.tv Without a doubt, they will help you with whatever you are looking for.
 
As far as DSotM goes, it all depends on how much you want to spend. I have 7 different masters of it on vinyl, and I prefer the UK quad played through in stereo, next up I'd probably say would be the original MFSL press, (not the one with italic letters).
I'm not sure how anyone can say most recent presses sound as good as the  original AAA recordings. Not even close, 95% of the time. I'm not saying that's always the case, but almost always I've found that a AAA recording will sound better than digital (YMMV depending what you have for a setup). Also new vinyl is usually pressed with recycled vinyl, which is not superior to the vinyl of the 60s etc. Some of my most quiet records are 70s Dynaflex etc, and they are just 110grams or so. Don't let the marketing reps fool you.
 
The recent PF reissues I can vouch for, all cut by Bernie Grundman. I ended up buying most to compare to the originals (UK, German, US, Quad, etc). The BG issues sound incredible,but there are better available, just not at that cheap of a price. $20 a piece is tough to beat when they sound that good!
 
Most of the others mentioned above  by filthyrich I can vouch for as well.
 
The Tom Petty box sounds AMAZING. Better than I even hoped. Wallflowers and She's the One blow me away, as do the others in the box.
 
 
Also, when reading the hype stickers, they can be worded tricky. "Cut from original master tape" usually means a digital transfer of the original tapes were emailed for mastering. These are not AAA, and they will have digital in the chain, if that's the type of thing you are trying to avoid.
 
 

Fair points, and there are lots of "analog purists" out there.... They'd rather get a 1980s reissue (cut from a substandard master by engineers who don't care and pressed on cheap noisy vinyl) rather than a new reissue (cut by the best guys in the business on premium vinyl) because the 80s version is "analog" and the new reissue is "digitally sourced." Doesn't mean it will sound better though.
To cite a few specifics:
--The best Zeppelin cuts are the original UKs (which will run you $50+ for VG copies) along with the RL of LZII (which will cost you $150 for a non-noisy copy). Or you can try the all-analog Classics (OOP, about $150 apiece). The new reissues are cut from hi-rez digital, but they sound very good and DEAD quiet. (Definitely better than my non-RL US originals from the 70s.) If you don't have a $10,000 system, you probably won't notice the difference.
--The Pink Floyd reissues are also cut from hi-rez digital and, according to audiophiles, come very close to the original UKs (although opinions differ). They will run you less than $20 new. A mint UK of Piper or DSOTM will run you at least $100. Your call. (FYI I did not buy The Wall because I scored a mint US copy years ago for $10, and I have a Japanese Meddle from the 1970s that sounds amazing... although that will now cost you triple what the reissue does).
--The Beatles mono reissues are AAA, sell for $20 apiece, and will blow away any Beatles original press you have, barring the original UKs that now go for $150+. They will definitely smoke the inferior US Capitol pressings. This is really a no-brainer.
--The Hendrix reissues are AAA as well (at least the three studio albums) so again, a no-brainer.
--The Beach Boys reissues on AP are also AAA. The Rhino reissue of Rumours is AAA, cut by Kevin Gray & Hoffman, and sounds amazing too.
--The new Kinks reissues are also AAA.
--The new batch of Tom Petty reissues coming out (box sets but individual titles soon) are also AAA and sound awesome.
 
--Stay away from the Queen reissues, which are digitally sourced but actually SOUND that way.
--The Bowie records are mixed. Ziggy is AAA and sounds better than anything but the best UK cuts. The Man Who Sold The World is digital but still beats most originals. The rest will be inferior to the best UK pressings. (But again, you will not be able to find any original UK Bowie in mint condition for under $40 anymore.)
 
 
 
 
 
 

My advice is: if an album was released before 1988 by a larger than life band (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Black Sabbath, The Beatles, etc.) look for nice copies of presses that pre-date 1988. I wouldn't touch any of those bands reissues with a ten foot poll. Zeppelin's are all digitally sourced, The Beatles are mostly digitally sourced except for maybe the mono copies (if I'm remembering correctly) and the Floyd reissues, I don't know how they're sourced but they're so insultingly expensive I refuse to touch them.
 
Do a bit of digging both online and at local resale shops and find really pretty  and reasonably priced copies of those classics that pre-date the 90's unless you're finding the Classic Records label stuff on which prices will be through the roof anyway. I love all my older pressings of all those bands (I have no Beatles) so much and mostly because they sound awesome and I know they were produced correctly from original multitrack tapes and analog stereo masters. I refuse to buy a record that was recorded and mastered in the analog realm that was transferred to digital and recut for vinyl. Makes me sick to think about it.
Thanks for the clarification and the link.

Whatever you do, pleaaae don't go buy the current The Wall reissue for $50 and think that's normal. It's like the most expensive 2xLP in print, I swear. 

Short answer: As you suggested, you'll need to do your homework.

Prices have skyrocketed since you started, many records from the 70s and 80s were on crappy vinyl and there are some damn good quality reissues out there since you are into older stuff:
Beatles - Mono Reissues ($25ish)
Led Zeppelin - recent reissues ($25ish)
Jimi Hendrix - Legacy reissues ($15-40 depends on the release but the albums are all cheap)
Pink Floyd - recent reissues ($25-40)
Black Sabbath - recent colored reissues ($22ish each, avoid vol. 4 they used a crappy tape source)
Sundazed label will cover your 60s needs and they do many of the rare mono mixes and oddball bands for certain things, notable releases include: otis redding, blue cheer, dillard & clark, international submarine band, chocolate watchband, the byrds, bob dylan, and many of the other under the radar garage and psych. They do pretty quality stuff
Fat Possum did a pretty good job with T. Rex, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles and other soul reissues
There is also a new all analog reissue label called intervention they run around $35-40 a release but the quality is incredible, Flying Burrito Bros. "Gilded Palace Of Sin" whoops the pants off the originals it was hard panned stereo, this is properly mixed finally
Anything Analogue Productions does is quality, and they hit some pretty big titles but they are $50 a pop and double 45 rpm
 
so it depends on what your wallet can handle but there is a wealth of great reissues some comprable or even better sounding than original pressings
 

Picking up modern day represses of big albums from the past might be a safe bet. They're usually pressed in large numbers with major label backing and should sound just as good as you remember. I'd be more skeptical of smaller/crazy color runs of records since they usually shoot out 100 copies and call it a day without focusing too much on quality control, but it doesn't sound like you're looking for small indie releases anyways. 

*Or am I better off hanging around Discogs and waiting for a decent quality "Original" to pop up at a acceptable price? *
 
This, in my opinion, for most non-DSOTM things.
 
Its probably pretty easy to identify the best-sounding reissues for the big players (google.com, steve hoffman forums) or at least those that wont be tragic.

Extra special treat: you get to see my dogger hanging out, guarding the goods.

I was lucky enough to get the last Expedit shelves from the supplier I know, (they only do Kallax now) so I have two of these units, plus a smaller 2x2 for when the collection grows bigger. 650 records so far..

I made a few upgrades over the weekend (mcintosh c2500 and mt10 turntable). Couldnt be happier w/ my new setup and sound!
 

 

 

 

I moved my shit around and took out like 50-60 records to sell. I need to cover my walls again.
 

 
My 10"s and 7"s

switched back to the 2x4 kallax

I realize it's not a great setup by any stretch  but my SO and I just moved to a new apartment and I'm really happy to have it all set up again. Please ignore the fact that our collection is around 500 records and we still have an AT-LP60.  We will be upgrading soon. 

The 2x4 is 30"x58" tall. The shelf the turntable sits on is 43". It's perfect height for me to use the turntable. I just place the dust cover over it when I'm not using it, because it won't go up high enough to stay up while it's in the shelf area.
 
You can always do this too, this is how I used to have it. This way you can keep the dustcover on, if that's your thing.