New Vinyl Defects


I'd like a little input from you vinylphiles out there.

My buying recently shifted back to almost exclusively vinyl rather than CD. I'm buying mostly "pre-owned", but recently purchased an armload of new and 180 gram pressings. A recent order of 4 LPs, 2 of them were defective. One is unplayable - it had label glue on the last track, and (this is the really odd part) the grooves were off-center, so much I could see the tonearm oscillating back and forth, and the sound was also oscillating. The other one wasn't so bad, or unusual, the first track had near-constant "scratching" sound for nearly the whole song. I recall this as being pretty common in "my before cd" days, but assumed with 180 gram LP's that the QC may be better.

Here's the questions:
1) is the above unusual? That is, is 50% defective - common, or anomaly?
2) What's the likelyhood that if I send back the second LP (Johnny Cash "American V: A Hundred Highways") for a replacement, that I'll get a good copy? I like it and will tolerate the first track if they're all bad.
bdgregory

Showing 2 responses by jmcgrogan2

I would say it is very unusual for 50% defective rate.
I've purchased roughly 40 new LP's in the last year and have had 1 defective one. The rest all sound terrific. I have a VPI 16.5 and use RRL cleaning fluids, and I don't know how you others clean, but I've never been able to get a used LP to sound as good as a new one. I can definitely get the used ones listenable, but never as totally free of pops and clicks as a new LP. That is just my experiences.

As for returning the LP for another one, I would.
I would say the odds of getting a better copy are better than 90%, IMHO.

I do agree that the full analog LP's sound best. Definitely steer clear of the 'Digital Master' LP's of the late 80's and early 90's.
Note to jmcgrogan2,

IME "pops and clicks" are usually the sign of biological contaminants. These are especially likely on older records and RRL will not remove them. Try Vinyl-Zyme.

Thanks Doug, I will have to try that.

John