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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
albertporter's avatar
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albertporter
4,949 posts
 
I've purchased about 100 LP's this year and a recent newcomer to my weekly music night music sessions (last Tuesday) thought I had the "most amazing" sounding CD player he had ever heard.

It's true the display on my CD was showing a disc in play, but the tonearm was also tracking a new 180-Gram release on LP, which was what was making music at that moment.

When I told him it was the LP (and proved it by cueing up) he was dumbstruck. Comments followed like "I didn't think LP's could be as quiet as CD" (and similar). This continued all night, we played LP's from the '60's through new single sided 45 RPM bought last week.

It ALL DEPENDS on the turntable, arm, cartridge and set up. The phono stage is critical too. The trouble you mention is totally outside my experience range. You either got a really terrible collection of vinyl or your system is in need of tune up.

By the way, I agree with Hdm that you can find great vinyl at $1.00. I have hundreds of LP's bought used from Half Price Books (a local hang out with used LP's too).

I hope this gets resolved before you despair and give up on the idea. It just kills me to hear others with this problem.
vegasears
1,173 posts
 
I bought 4 new Lp’s and a TT /w pre. Of the four albums, three were full of pops and clicks. The quality control of new vinyl bites.
jmcgrogan2's avatar
jmcgrogan2
6,346 posts
 
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.
bdgregory OP
1,720 posts
 
thanks for the input guys - I'm feeling better.

regarding some of the "provisional" points made above - a little background:

My turntable is a Pink Triangle Anniversary with a OL Modded Rega arm. I believe it's well tuned - most of the LP's I play are stunning - better than CDs on my Meridian 508.24 CD player.

I have a VPI 16.5 RCM and have have been buying used LP's by the armful during the last 2 months especially, but also during the last 2 years sporadically. I also had a collection of about 400 LPs I bought in the 70's. The defective albums were cleaned - but no use. Most of the used LP's I've bought cleaned up and sound great, except of course those that I don't really expect to be "pop free" (ie cheap/worn LPs I bought cause I wanted them cheap. net-net - I'm having good luck with used LPs and expect most of my purchases will be used . . . just thought it'd be nice to pick up some new ones too - especially those not available used.
hdm
1,063 posts
 
Upon further reflection, the 50% rate does seem extreme. And even the the records that I've bought with what I consider to be pretty awful quality control issues play reasonably well. It's just that it's super irritating to me when I buy the bulk of my vinyl for next to nothing and I pay $20 to $30 for a new record and it comes out of the jacket with scuffs, smeared label glue, plays noisy in spots, etc. At heart, I guess I am just a cheapskate. And Albert's point about the phono stage is also dead on and one that is not made very often. I'm in the process of upgrading my phono pre right now and cannot believe the reduction in surface noise/imperfections that it provides.
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