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Warped Records

I would say about 75% of the new records I have purchased online or in some of the local shops are warped. The outer edge will almost always have a big hump in it, I can't tell if it is really affecting the sound but it is very disappointing.
I got four new records last night all but three were warped & the one that was not warped skips. Also they seem to be very noisy, The new 200g Led Zeppelin's all have some large pops in them. On a earlier date I took back some warped ones to the store & they put it on a turntable & told me it was normal.
ANother time I sent five records back to amusicdirect.com & they exchanged them for five more warped records.
What's the deal? Anyone else seem to have the same trouble?
krellm7
ccryder
45 posts
 
I recently bought a Trinity Sessions - 45 RPM - for $70 and they were all warped. Does the oven method really work? What are the parameters for flattening them? Does anyone know a service in So Cal or a club that has a flattening machine? Thanks....
stltrains
845 posts
 
if you can use the vpi clamp system your warped lps are a thing of the past, they also damp the lps which adds more resolution to the sound, a large improvement to my aries,
jbatlanta
97 posts
 
Yes, the saga continues....just bought several records from Music Direct, and at least two of them were warped on the edge. These are NEW, 200 Gram EXPENSIVE records! I told them about it, and they gave me a return authorization number to ship them back at MY expense so they could use their record flattener on them for me. 0:

Hmmmm.

I just bought the super platter from VPI as well as the outer ring and the 25 lb center weight (From music Direct, no less!)

Hope it helps.

Don't Know what else to do. Who has the time to be sending records back!
eldartford
4,262 posts
 
I haven't been buying LPs lately, but how bad are these warps really? (1/16", 1/8", 1/32" ... ?) Every LP I have could be said to be warped if you look closely enough I do have a few that used to have playability issues with my older turntable and arm. However when I got my Sony PSX800 turntable which has a "biotracing" (servo'd) linear tracking arm even the worst LPs played fine. I thought that high end non-servo'd arms were up to it also.
jbatlanta
97 posts
 
The warp on one especially "Sex Machine" by James Brown, was warped badly enough to bounce my tonearm JMW 12.5 and cause audio distortions to the Lyra Titan-i.

The VPI ring did help tame it immensely (the whole new Super Platter with HRX center weight and outer ring were very worthwhile upgrades to my Aries for audio reasons as well).

Guess it's just the thrill of vinyl. Still, for $50????
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