Barnes and Noble now carries vinyl. Yes, they have limited stock but you can order any label from them and return it for an exchange if not satisfied. |
There are no propitious winds blowing for new vinyl.A recent purchase of a half dozen Music Matters Blue Note 45 rpm lps found one of the six warped,unacceptable and unplayable.The return process is a well known PITA.Exchange of emails,reason for return,repack and ship back with insurance and return authorization number prominently visible on the box.You really end up like feeling like the criminal,not the victim after dealing with these people.
Here is the best part...three weeks after it arrived back to them I had to contact them AGAIN,and guess what?
I get the "oh that" attitude and they had not even opened the box.The heartbreak of the warped records,and yes,i will be taking my vinyl dollars elsewhere.Schmucks! |
Every medium has it's pluses and minuses. Nothing is perfect. |
I hope quality of new vinyl improves but I would not bet on it.
Maybe there are some labels/sources brands that are less problematic than others, perhaps for more of a premium price.
Most common retail records I bought back in the day had various flaws to some degree as well. I had to have a table good enough to be able to play many well. You could exchange often if you were not satisfied but no guarantee the next one is any better.
Like I said, its a highly flawed format and system. Always has been and not likely to change despite all the nostalgia and romanticism surrounding "vinyl" or records as I used to call 'em. |
Edit above: "Storage, methinks, is not as much of a much." Sorry, proof-reading is not my strongest suit. |
Spot-on, Bdp24. We know better, spend the bucks, know how to be squeaky wheels when quality is poor, so why?
For those interested, I use a Sota Reflex clamp. Works well but ca't fix ripples or a dish. My Graham/DV combo tracks warps superbly, but that doesn't make them disappear. A vacuum table can address some of that stuff, but at price of noise, cube and cost.
Better just to make flat records to begin with. Especially with so-called "audiophile" pressings. Also helps newbies acquire the addiction. I'm fairly sure that warp largely starts at the manufacturing end, too. Otherwise, how could so many used records ranging from played-out junk to still-sealed Holy Grails be perfectly flat?
Case in point: A NOS RCA reissue copy of a Broadway play originally recorded in 1964 and pressed in 1974, wafer thin and flexible, purchased from Georgia and delivered to Ohio during the deepest of February's deep-freezes, flat. Still had the original price sticker from whatever out-of-business retailer and has gone through who-knows-how-many hands.
Storage, methinks, is as much of a much. Especially considering the Hampton pressing I mentioned before. Owned at one point by a frat guy according to the hand-written note on the back cover and was purchased out of a basement vintage shop under a bar in the dead of winter.
I am resolved to squeak more when new vinyl is warped. Right after I get a Vinyl Flat to try and fix the ones that can't be sent back. |
Effischer,
I share your frustration. Bdp24 explained it in a nutshell.
I think the criminal lack of quality control at pressing plants is to a large degree caused by the huge jump in vinyl popularity in recent years and everyone jumping on the bandwagon trying to capitalize on it. I know for a fact that RTI can't keep up with with orders so they probably rush the process as Bdp24 explained. And as much as I admire and am grateful to people like Kassem for doing great things for analog enthusiasts, Acoustic Sounds doesn't fare much better in comparison to the rest of the market in my experience, which is inexplicable to me. I had to exchange an AS Norah Jones record, which was not only warped and noisy but also pressed off-center. My Stevie Ray Vaughan 33.3 box has pretty much each of the six records warped to a degree, at least on one side. Fremer is all over AS and how perfect the pressings are, probably to keep those test pressings coming his way. If Kassem can't get it right, the future for new vinyl is rather grim, the amazing resurgence of vinyl in general notwithstanding. |
I think most records are warped, more or less. Take a "non" warped record and observe a reflection of a light on its surface as it turns and you'll see. IMHO we should all use ring weights and center weights when our TT allows. Improves a lot of things. |
Well, I guess they made roller coaster better back in the day. Of course it is a system that is plagued with potential issues.....we all know that....but it is not an excuse for the poor quality control that is being pushed out today when compared with years past.
The biggest frustration is that taking warps, dish issues and at times poor pressings a side today's pressing would sound significantly better than yesterday's records. Sometimes it just takes returning a bad copy over and over again until a clean copy is found.
If consumers are as diligent as I am it won't take long before the pressing plants are force to improve their QC...or else they will be losing money.
My fear is that they will abandon it due profit margins, as well as the consumer due to frustration with bad sound.
BTW.....now is the time to buy used cd s. ...they can be had for a dollar...or so. |
Because records are one of the most inherently flawed yet still loved inventions of all time.
Next time you are on a rollercoaster, pretend the track is the groove and that you are the stylus trying to track it.
See what I mean? :^)
Actually riding a rollercoaster is nothing compared to what a stylus has to do to track a record, especially when the modulations associated with big dynamics and good transients start to hit. And in stereo none the less.
No wonder we love the things. Its amazing that they work as well as they do, warps and all. |
About 50 to 65 percent of the new vinyl I purchase is either warped, dished or has some sort of serious flaw. I buy a lot of vinyl and find it disconcerting at best. This seems to be the trend and increasing of the past 3 years. I've been buying vinyl for over 45 years.
I now only buy from a vendor which accepts returns because of this problem. |
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03-30-15: Zd542
"Many of my "not" Golden-era pressings from the mid-70s through late-80s also lived up to expectations when I got them home. Many more did not, and that's why I ended up jumping on the CD bandwagon with a Sony CDP-101 in 1983."
Me too, back in the late 70's early 80's I would have the record store open the LP and put in on their turntable before it paid. |
New LPs are warped either because they were removed from the LP stamper before they had cooled sufficiently, or because they were not transported and stored properly after they left the pressing plant, or both. But what you are really asking is why, when everyone knows the above is the case, are the measured necessary to prevent warps from developing not taken? Good question. Chad? |
"Many of my "not" Golden-era pressings from the mid-70s through late-80s also lived up to expectations when I got them home. Many more did not, and that's why I ended up jumping on the CD bandwagon with a Sony CDP-101 in 1983."
For me, those are some of the best records I own. Just regular ones that were lightly used, and just sitting on someone shelf and just listed the whole lot on ebay.
Getting back to your original question, the records may not be warped from the factory. It could have been neglect from some point after they left. I don't know what kind of TT you have, but my VPI has a screw on clamp that works very well. If its something you can get for yours, I would say its definitely worth the money. |
After reading this I thought I would try to contact someone really smart for the answer,so I emailed Stephen Hawking.He graciously offered a prompt reply..."If I would not have wasted so much time on all that "black hole" stuff I would have answered this question long ago.All I can surmise is that it is heat that warps records" Well,there you go. |
