Warped Records

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!

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.

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????

I purchased a 50.00 double album from Acoustic Sounds that arrived defective in the way of globs of plastic on one of the LP's. I call for an RA number only to be told I would be responsible for the return shipping charges and they would process the return in a few weeks. It did indeed take over 3 weeks for them to ship me a replacement. I don't fault them for the defective record but what kind of customer service is that ? The fellow who issued the RA said " well we ARE going to replace it".

,,,I have the best,and most foolproof solution for repairing warped lp's,STEAM!,using a handheld steamer,I prefer ''living solutions'' steam cleaner available at Walgreens.Place the lp on a flat,and clean surface,than blast thoroughly with steam for about 30 seconds using distilled water only, til heat is distributed on the entire lp.This process will also clean it.
While the vinyl is still warm,and malliable,place weighted objects around the perimeter of the record [4 glass jars are ideal],and keep them there til the vinyl has cooled off completely. And ''Walla'',out comes an impeccably flat record,this beats the oven method,as lp's sandwiched between two plates of glass can cause severe damage to the vinyl by distorting the grooves,
cheers,
Paul