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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

Showing 1 response by dougdeacon

dougdeacon
3,338 posts
 
The number of people complaining of poor QC on new audiophile vinyl has increased quite a bit in the past year or so. It's a constant topic on VA these days and I've heard a few of these problem LP's myself. Careful examination has proven beyond any doubt that there are QC issues with the records.

As has already been said, careful mastering and good quality vinyl are no guarantee of a flaw-free record. Any mis-step during cutting, plating, stamping or cooling can produce a flawed LP, and those mis-steps seem to be happening more frequently.

I agree that 50% is very unlucky however. Such records should be returned for replacement or refund of course. Otherwise the manufacturers will have no idea and no incentive to improve their work processes.

***
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.

Older records may have been damaged of course, but I have hundreds (thousands?) that are just as quiet as any new release. After proper cleaning I have never heard a noisy surface on any (undamaged) post-1970 Harmonia Mundi, French Erato, Telefunken, Archiv Produktion or German EMI, to name a few. Quiet surfaces were not a Y2K development.

Doug
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