Wow I wonder why they stopped that. I live in the Uk for the summer, so it sucks they stopped doing that. Hope US do not follow suit, or I’ll be buying a lot less vinyl.
You get options of return or replace with Gifs of the albums you have in your basket or suggestions based on your searches. Tried putting returned album in basket but it is blocked. In small print says specifically you can't exchange for same item.
Nothing to do with antiscate. Only two discs affected and can see a slight bump / warp in surface. FWIW I also played with antiscate and increased playing weight to no effect as well as trying different cartridges and stylus profiles. Same problem just on these two discs. Pioneer PLX1000 used. If you have to change antiskate for one disc there is something wrong with that pressing. I can only remember this problem on 3 occasions in playing thousands of discs. Might be worth a wet clean to check if anything in groove but can't see anything to cause this. You can see the cantilever jolting sharply at the point of the skip / stick.
If you email customer service via the contact us section, you can still request a replacement and they’ll sort it. A bit more time consuming, but still possible.
I would try another turntable if possible. The pressing may be the reason but not all tables handle it the same. In my case the skip occurred on couple of records, while most played fine. That was with antiskate forgotten at zero during a previous experiment. I was this close to return the records thinking the same: if most play fine then those that skip must be faulty. Then I saw the dial at zero. PLX had reports of bad antiskate. I'd check and compare with a different table.
There is a clear hump! What use is a record that only plays on certain TTs, BTW I have established over 2 years my PLX1000 has pretty accurate antiskate. Certainly not as some claim. No doubt it may track on my Orbe clamped firmly down with expensive arm and I will try and connect it up tomorrow (my lounge is being redecorated). However not wasting £27 on dodgy vinyl. Another on order from different seller to ensure not same part of pressing run. Exchanged with Amazon for one of the new Eurythmics reissues out this week.
Anything you get from GZ just don’t even bother to open it just return it straight away. I’ve been buying vinyl again for the past year and have returned only 3 albums all done by GZ. I have a lot more luck with new vinyl vs used . Don’t even get me started about all the sellers out there rating records mint minus looking for their next sucker.
Funny most of the bad pressings I get come from Optimal. Just played the new Knopfler and it's fine - pressed at GZ. I rarely get a really bad pressing from GZ. You can't tell which plant they are pressed at until you actually open the shrinkwrap and check the deadwax.
Follow up - An SME 309 / AT33EV will track it. ATOC9 II on PLX1000 arm won't. Cartridges have quite different compliances and SME arm 3 times the cost of the Pioneer deck. I suppose this just proves enough investment will track anything - even a severe bump. Already arranged exchange so will wait for replacement next week. Now will try a different (MM) cartridge in the PLX1000! OK tried a different set up with lighter AT100E MM and additional counterweight removed - tracks fine so issue is cartridge / arm / headshell matching at extremes. Still is a slight fault start of side 2. I swapped the 100E out last week when it jumped on the Beatles box set!
Now returned to same set up that bounced on The Beatles (with additional counterweight). Tracks fine and sounds superior with weight closer to pivot. So issues with each disc different. Anyway it's not stylus profile or antiscate.
This isn't about a defective album per se (I didn't even take it out of the jacket) but just to vent some frustration about Amazon and proclaim that I've ordered my last piece of vinyl from them. This time, I ordered a record off the "normal" Amazon (not a Marketplace", so, was expecting a new, sealed record. It came inside a shipping box in one of those rectangular mailers that Amazon uses, but the mailer had already been open and had clearly been resealed by hand using packing tape (tape was all wrinkled as if it had been sealed by hand). Opened the mailer, and the record itself was inside a plastic resealable outer sleeve, but the actual record wasn't sealed in any way. As I say, I didn't even take the record out of the jacket. It could be legit that for this particular label or release, it comes unsealed in a plastic outer sleeve, but I have no way of knowing whether it had been opened or played previously. The fact that the cardboard mailer had clearly been opened and resealed by hand tells me that the most likely explanation is that someone else already ordered it and returned it previously. Why? I have no idea, and I'm not going to find out. Back it goes. I have to be careful... over the last year or so, I've warmed to the idea of buying new vinyl (I usually just buy used), but I have to keep reminding myself that whatever nominal discount Amazon offers just isn't worth the hassle.
Firstly, could you elaborate on the section I bolded? Secondly, did you listen to the record? Is it defective?
Unless it says “Made in the Czech Republic”, like it says on the Knoopfler LP. At least it’s packaged that way in the States. I passed.
Yeah, sorry, I can see how I didn't express myself very well. Rather than being shrinkwrapped, the album was inside one of those resealable record sleeves like you'd put it in yourself after you bought it. I've occasionally bought new records that came in this kind of sleeve, but combined with the mailer that had obviously been opened an re-sealed by hand, it just seemed a little dicey. I didn't listen to it.
I bought vinyl between the late 60's through the early 90's. I never - not once - came across a defective album. And that is out of the many hundreds I bought during that timeframe, both in the US and in Japan. We can get back to that standard of care.
Hmm. Put it back on the porch for the post office to pick up...not much of a hassle. I buy a ton of new vinyl. Amazon by far is the easiest to deal with. You ran into a weird issue with the one album you bought, but I can assure you based on my experience that typically you get brand new vinyl well packaged and as easy to return as humanly possible if need be. I rarely by elsewhere now a days. I hate returning new vinyl to my local store. They can’t return it, so they actually put it back out as used for a couple dollars off, defects and all.
Totally agree and I have had similar experiences with my local store when returning new vinyl. It’s not a hassle, but it usually ends up in the used bin, sometimes with a comment about what wrong with it. I picked up Kamasi Washington’s Heaven and Earth new and it looked worse than some used albums I’ve bought. It’s a wonderful album and a shame that the pressings aren’t better, and the mastering for that matter.
As for the hassle of returning it, maybe it's a regional thing, but the option I was given for home pickup when I processed this return required an adult to be home to give it to the UPS guy (not USPS in my case). Normally that's not convenient, so I have to stop at a UPS store, which may or may not be convenient based on my schedule. With a local shop, the important distinction is that you can see whether the album has been opened before you buy it. Well, as it turns out, it's still in the front hall and it looks like I'm snowed in for a couple of days, so I might just do that.
Unless it’s an audiophile release or a reissue that’s well praised on this forum, I’m finished with buying new vinyl. I’ve had it. The majors like Universal Music Group don’t care about quality. They continue to churn out bad product (digital sources and defective vinyl) at a premium, not caring about the consumer. The pressing plants, including the usual suspects that are lauded in these parts can’t seem to press records that are centered or play without some sort of issue. I’m tired of exchanging faulty pressings or the frustrating feeling of opening a brand new LP to only find that’s it’s another defective record. I have no qualms buying used originals. At least I know the LP will be AAA and not as poorly pressed as what we’re gettting currently. Mr. Fremer can extol the virtues regarding the superiority of vinyl, but if these issues persist, the medium will be phased out again.
Sods law had to send that Eurythmics back. After cleaning loud repetitive pops were heard that I missed on first playback.
It was never phased out but eventually sales will dip again if quality continues to dive. Might be a good thing as pressing plants won't be under pressure to produce just 'product'. I rarely had to return records in the dark days of vinyl sales.
