RCA Dynaflex vinyl - really that bad?

I have been one the most vocal critics of RCA mid 70's vinyl here and lately I am eating my words. I have promo copy (not a white label) of Changesonebowie that sounds unbelievable and a few other RCA dynaflex LP's that sound excellent.

I think Steve said it's because RCA used virgin vinyl much longer than any other US record company did.

 

I was just thinking this to myself the other day as I was listening to 'Nilsson Schmilsson'. It sounds good. Real good. Guess Doug Sax mastered this. The vinyl noise isn't all that bad. But just about every other Dynaflex that I've heard over the years and been noisy. But a great mastered disc will overcome the surface noise.

Jake

 

I've thought for years that 'Dynaflex' had an unfair bad rap. I have a lot of classical Red Seal LPs on floppy Dynaflex that sound superb. I also have plenty of country and early 70s Elvis pressings that are great.

If you get a flat copy, I've found Dynaflex vinyl to be very quiet.

dan c

 

I have several Dynaflex pressings, and never really had a problem with the SQ due to the formulation itself. I've also never had an inherrent problem with warping, but I did lose a copy of The Kinks "Everybodys in Show Biz" after leaving it in a car (my fault, but the rest of the records left with it showed no sign of meltdown).

 

Bowie's Scary Monsters was way past the Dynaflex days, althought RCA's vinyl was still thin for the Tan and Black side Nipper labels.

The Dynaflex pressings from Rockaway, NJ I've had seem to be the thinist, thinner than the ones I've had from Indianapolis, IN. The wow and flutter and tracking on the inner songs is atrocious! I don't think actual Dynaflex was around all that long, maybe a 2-3 years, while RCA continued to use the orange label beyond that, then switched to the Tan label. I find the Tans and the black side nippers to be better pressings.

 

As a Bowie fan, I sort of grew up on Dynaflex! My first Bowie album was "Aladdin Sane" and I can still remember how it felt to hold the cover with the album inside - it seemed empty! When I took the album out it felt almost like a flexidisc.

 

I have a ton of Dynaflexes in my collection.....lotsa Country stuff, mostly. I have Jerry Reed's ALABAMA WILD MAN on DF and it sounds absolutely supurb.

However, if I had the choice of TO FLEX or NOT TO FLEX, I would take sturdy pressings everytime. My copy of JA's VOLUNTEERS is a firm 1969 copy, and it doesn't sound that bad.

 

A friend of mine(a mostly classical guy) used to refer to Dynaflex as "Dynawarp."However,my copy of the first Lou Reed album sounded just fine.

 

Yes, that's an odd thing about Dynaflex. You expect a warped record to give you problems at the outer edge, but Dynaflex pressings would warp near the label! But if you got a record that was well-formed, the vinyl could be quite nice. Another collector pointed out that Dynaflex LPs were on average quieter than their predecessors, the White Dogs and Shaded Dogs, and I think he was right about that. If we had known from record clamps and weights back in those days, we might have tamed some of the warps too.

 

I've noticed that myself. The three Dynaflex titles I've picked up lately (Transformer, Berlin, and Ziggy Stardust) may be pressed on thin vinyl, but it's very glossy, shiny, quiet vinyl.

 

I have a suspicion that the qualities of Dynaflex cannot be adequately appreciated...until the collectors buy up most of them, and their resale price begins to increase...!

 

I have a couple of Elvis Dynaflex discs. Oddly enough, I got them because two of the "standard" discs in a 4-disc boxed set were a bit warped, so I returned them to RCA, who replaced them with two Dynaflex discs. So now I have a 4-disc boxed set with a mix of two-and-two.

Bottom line is: the Dynaflex discs sound fine and they're pretty quiet.

 

They were easy to bend and break without any effort. A good example of this is the "This Is" series in the '70's. I used to have a "This Is" of Eddy Arnold,and Record 2 promptly broke(Along with my heart) before I'd gotten it home Sad things,those Dynaflex Lp's... Michael Boyce

 

...well the John Denver Dyno's suck!
No vinyl edition can compare to any of the Japanese reissue CD's both 20 & 24 bit...

 

I concur.

 

I don't think Dynaflex pressings were subject to breaking easily - I think they were so flexible that many of us (including yours truly) would "bend" them just for the "gee whiz" factor (look at that!).

When the damned thing did break, you realized that the "bend" you just attempted is something you would have never even thought of with any other pressing.

 

my gf found a copy of lou reed's transformer on dynaflex, so I was already wary because of its bad reputation (which may be undeserved)

I was even more disappointed when I looked at the actual vinyl, which at the time seemed to confirm the worst - gashes and literal chunks missing!

decided to give it a spin anyway, figuring that I'd only be missing parts of the last two tracks on that side

that thing never skipped

now I realize that these things are on a case-by-case basis, but dynaflex certainly isn't a dirty word to me any longer

 

I'll bet if it were Metal Machine Music, it wouldn't have made any difference!

I have a photo of me from my college newspaper, where I am bending one of them suckers over halfway...

 

I have Bowie on UK, French and German vinyl, all stomped the
US counterparts - mostly in dynamic range.

As for Dynagroove, it was less destructive than today's digital brickwall
compression, that's why it seems less horrible with 30 years of hindsight.

 

Yes! Bring back Dynaflex! (Classic Records I'm looking at you...)

Over the last few days I've had a chance to play some of the Elvis vinyl I've picked up as I was in the process of selling my home and moving and without a stereo for several months and here is my story...

Got NM orange label copies of Thats the way it is, From Elvis in Memphis, and Elvis Country. TTWIS and From Elvis are on rigid vinyl, Elvis Country is on Dynaflex.

TTWIS was way noisy, pops and ticks everywhere, big disappointment. Otherwise good sound aside from vinyl quality.

From Elvis in Memphis was much quieter (few pops and ticks) but a lot of the vinyl "sound" or "whoosh" or whatever, like tape hiss but just loud vinyl, few pops and ticks, also otherwise good sound.

Elvis Country on Dynaflex (the label does not say Dynaflex, but it is paper thin) DEAD quiet, by far the best sound of all 3, a big shock to me.

I grew up thinking Dynaflex vinyl was a joke and avoided it most of the time, then I read somewhere online about that the point was that they could use better quality vinyl but less of that and it would lay flatter on the table (assuming you have a full size plater) than rigid vinyl, well I'm now a believer, and need to re-find all the thin Elvis pressings I've passed on over the years...

What year did RCA start the Dynaflex thing and were (70's) Elvis pressings on both Dyna and rigid vinyl?

 

Well, it seems a lot of Elvis vinyl from the 70's was first pressed on Dynaflex.... IIRC, this would be everything after Elvis Country through 1976 or so.

However, I do need to chime in and say I have a thick vinyl Elvis Country that sounds amazing. But I will look for a Dynaflex to compare.

 

The orange RCA label came into use about 1970 when RCA LPs were still thick & rigid...almost slate like. Dynaflex came into being about 1971 as I recall... and lasted at most only a few years. Maybe 1973 or so? Then they kind of thickened them a bit again, but not quite like before. I have 1971 era inner sleeves that tout Dynaflex, kind of a kick to read.

I've found that The Youngbloods, Guess Who, and Jefferson Airplane on dynaflex - so long as the stamper #s are low - tend to beat the old slate-like RCA pressings (whether His Masters Voice or orange label) in the sonics. Primarily because they are noticeably quieter.

Occasionally I find a dynaflex with too much whoosh or rumble to it. Not cool. But not very often either.

 

Just looked and I have Elvis Promised Land on Dynaflex - 1975

 

That sounds about right, although the orange label/logo change happened in 1968.

The Airplane's "Crown Of Creation" was one of the last Nipper issues.

 

Hi,

If I can get them warp-free, many DynaFlex LP pressings are quieter than early pressings in low stamper numbers. I was amazed at that after a friend gave me some DynaFlexes. Some of the classical titles are superior sonically to vaunted pressings in real-life listening.