Audiophile vinyl defects: When do you complain?

I figured that...

 

I've returned records locally due to pressing defects, only to find them re-sealed and back on the shelf at full retail the following week!

 

I remember as a teenager taking records back that sounded awful at home but played perfectly at the shop and I still used to argue til the cows come home that they were duds haha And I'm pretty sure I did the trick of pretending it was duff coz I hated it!! Oh the errors of youth eh? Woudn't do that now I might add - no need coz they ARE duff!!!

 

The idea that there is one such policy that is the same regardless of what supplier the retailer obtained the item from is, well...silly.

 

I checked their site and it's not listed. I'm thinking it must be a U.S. label because of the low price ($17.99). I wonder if it was Rhino?

Steve, do you know?

Todd

 

I spent 30 + years of my life exchanging LP's. I remember when Tommy came out in 1969 I was already returning LP's that had surface noise or were warped. The owner of a peninsula record store was able to get the LP a few days early so he asked if I would go to SF and pick it up from a distributor. (for a discount) He knew how bad I wanted to hear it. The first Decca copy's were the worst for surface noise. I was so disappointed. 'Overture and It's a boy' were unlistenable. I exchanged many copies. Finally got a decent copy on Track that was OK but still not great. The local stores hated me when they would see me come back with a bag in my hand. Tower in SF had a good exchange policy. But today there is no excuse for poor vinyl.

 

I just bought John Prines' "Fair and Square" 2 record set. The first three sides
are dead quiet. Side four which has four songs from the sessions not on the cd is very noisy and off center. That record also looks the the trimmer not only trimmed the excess vinyl but took out two chunks off the outer edge. I called Acoustic Sounds (they are great!!) when I told the person I talked to which album I was returning, he asked if I had emailed him. I had not so I'm not the the only one with the same problem.

 

I don't think RTI are very special either, but never mentioned it here because for some reason everybody loves them. I have many RTI titles and all have at least something wrong with them. The good ones are not usually any quieter than a standard Uk pressing IMO. I think many people like these pressings because they are quiet compared to standard US vinyl which is usually appalling.
I agree that audiophile pressings from Europe are great, my copy of Speaker's Corner's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is dead quiet and sounds amazing.

 

Not me. I've gotten scratched CDs, broken CDs, cracked spindle holes, and smashed jewel cases.

 

I recently bought a copy of Horace Silver's 6 Pieces Of Silver 200 gram on Classic-the 1st copy had an audible scratch on For Heaven's Sake, so I exchanged it for a 2nd copy-which has a couple of loud pops at the beginning of Senor Blues. So do I live with copy #2 or try my luck a 3rd time-and go through the hassle of returning another copy. It is very frustrating to pay $30 for an LP and have these kind of defects occur-especially when I bought some used LPs at the FMU record fair last weekend & they all sound great, just regular weight pressings.

 

EXACTLY the same problem I am having with the Zep catalog on Classic....each copy has a different problem so I cant decide which one to live with or whether I should try again!?!?!?!?

 

After starting this thread, I played side one of JB's "Sweet Baby James" a couple more times just to see if this problem stayed the same or got "polished off". It is still there but it sounds like it might be slightly diminished. Since the rest of it sounds SO good, I'm not going to take my chances on a replacement copy. It might have even MORE problems, IYKWIM. It's a little sad to see so many of us are having the same or similar issues. All we want is a quiet, flat pressing of the music we love. That doesn't seem like too much to ask for.

 

I should be receiving, Sweet Baby James, Tres Hombres and Aja today...

Wish me luck.

I haven't bought any "audiophile" vinyl since the 80's. I'm feeling a little bit schizo between reading how great they are on one thread and how bad they are on another.

 

I said it numerous times the QC at RTI is the worst in the business. Everyone is afraid that by complaining labels will stop issuing vinyl. Well if I have to keep being frustrated they matter as well stop.
I'll buy reissues from Japan, Germany and the UK without reservation but when it comes to RTI issues I need to think twice.
It's easy to blame RTI but the fault has to be shared with the issuing labels as well. They know these problems what corrective actions are being taken?

 

Prompted by this thread I wrote to Dr Rhino about my Bee Gees album problem and they wrote back the same day that they'd be sending a replacement. Nice service. I still think that the overall quality should be better but small warps are probably tough to see even if every copy was checked.

 

That's a good point. Records are never play graded before leaving the factory (are they? otherwise they wouldn't be mint...would they?). Obviously some defects should be visible to the person stuffing the disc in the sleeve, but how many sonic imperfections did we find only after listening to an otherwise (visually) acceptable record?
Some audible defects would be on the master and should be caught before the discs are even pressed, but many more probably only turn up after they've come off the presses and been shipped out and returned by disgruntled buyers.
Right?

 

Return it 'til they get it right. Make noise. That's the only way people pay attention.

Ed

 

Unfortuantely - probably nothing for these Fantasy 45 APO series....since the last set will be completed by end of this year. I have already sent back 4 sets - noisy vinyl / defects - all related to the last set.

It will be interesting on how well they will handle the Blue note series. I would hope that Ron Rambauch and Joe Harley have tight a rein on RTI when they press these LP's....

 

I received and played the 3 above mentioned Lps last night. First off I had to swap my OEM rubber mat for a thinner felt mat ro reduce the bass, after that they played great.

The Aja LP had some white streaks on the vinyl but it had no audible effect, this LP easily bested Tres Hombres and Sweet Baby James.

The Kick drum in combo with the Bass on TH really had physical impact, never really experienced this with a record before. The distortion on the runout grooves do start while the note is still resolving but only for a split second. I would have liked a split second of silence after the note finished, but in their defence those are some really long fade outs.

The sweet baby james also has much more bass than I remember. In Fire and rain you can really feel the body of the bowed bass vibrating whereas I had really never noticed it before. I may have to clean it with DD though because after I drybrushed with a Hunt brush I noticed some marks where I wan't getting all the debrise (not a lot, but any on such otherwise quite vinyl is noticble) up and It was creating some noise on the inside tracks.

On a side note I also played a used Tan label UA John Barleycorn I bought last weekend and I'd put that up against the TH and SBJ lp but I think the Aja beats it... but not by much.

 

An update:

I was told by Acoustic Sounds that Groovy (disc 2) is defective (warble piano) and will be re-pressed in the next several months.

1128 - Things Are Getting Better (disc 2) - warble piano defect - Acoustic Sounds missed it on the Test Pressings. Nothing they can do about - no repressings.

Also 9438 - Caravan and 7123 - Traneing In - have noisy vinyl and is audible within the last 30 seconds - they told me that there is nothing they can do about it - no repressings.

Also 7010 - Poll Winners and 2310-737 - Art Tatum - vinyl scratched up. At least this is fixable.

I expect a lot for $50 per title....I am about to purchase the 3rd set which will conclude this Fantasy 45 APO for me - does anyone know of any defects from this set? It would save me a lot time and money on not purchasing it.....

 

the only time i've had to send an LP back was when it was so warped, it would hit the cartridge bumping it entirely out the groove. so it would play the same rotation of that one groove, over and over, for the whole first song on any side, no matter where you put the needle in that song.

mostly, i don't care about a little bit of noise here and there. it's vinyl.

 

I bought the new BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN lp locally. The first copy had a chip out of the side and slighly warped. The replacement sounds good but the cover has a razor knife cut along the left edge under the shrink.

My Sweet Baby James sounds great, but the corner of the jacket has a crease...I guess I shouldn't worry about the jacket and focus on the sound.

My TRES HOMBRES sounds great!

My WHITE STRIPES sounds great!

MY BLUE sounds great!

 

How do they sound?

 

Great point Tom.