New vinyl warped?

Only been collecting vinyl for around a month and I've yet to receive a perfectly flat new record. I've bought new records from Amazon, HMV, local record shops and all of them have at least a small warp in them. I'd say I've returned over half of my Amazon orders for replacement copies because of bad warps.. Is this normal or is this just bad luck? The excitement of getting a new record is waning slightly as it seems I'm normally shipping them straight back

 

Does your mailman leave them in the sun? You sure have some of the worst luck I've ever heard.

 

No they're usually handed straight to me. I've heard of people having problems with new vinyl being warped but I didn't think it would be this bad. Maybe it's poorly stored in the warehouse? Just fed up of constantly returning records, Ironically the flattest record I own I bought from Discogs and was pressed in the 1970s...

 

Small warps? Yes, fairly common for me.

Bad warps? Imo, no. If it plays back fine and doesn't look like the stylus is riding a roller coaster, I'm OK with it.

 

Warped records are not new, but you do seem to be unlucky.
A slight warp is not a problem if it plays.

 

Keep in mind that old records can be deceiving, if they've been stored correctly. An LP sitting vertically on a shelf packed with other records will actually flatten itself out over time.

 

Small warps are all too common. Not a deal breaker for me if it plays fine.

 

It's normal

 

Are those Amazon purchases all coming from the same warehouse? Might not be air conditioned. Likewise, if the route to get your records to you means they are sitting too long in hot conditions during transit expect problems.

Over here in the U.S., the last city I lived in had some brutal summer temperatures. When I would order records from far away places they would often show up warped. I figured out they were getting warped in transit. One record went from California to the east coast and looked like a taco when I got it. That's before even opening the box. All my mail goes to an air-conditioned office so this wasn't a "mailman leaving packages in the sun" situation either.

Warps in transit might not be common but they do happen.

Similarly, I just dealt with three copies of a 30 year old NOS LP that were all warped the same way. Somewhere along the line over the years those records weren't stored the right way - all came from Amazon via the same cutout distributor. The entire batch is likely warped.

Manufacturing warps are pretty common too. Many plants don't wait for records to properly cool before putting them in jackets and shrinkwrapping them. That means records that have small warps or are dish warped. Often it can be annoying enough where you want to send the record back.

If your luck is really bad, you might be dealing with a mix of warps happening in transit and warps that are straight from the plant.

 

When there were all those complaints from those huge rollouts from Amazon, I thought there may have been something else like that going on. A lot of the pressing plants got unnecessary bad press for those. A lot I am sure was caused by poorly handled warehousing.

 

Probably a bit of both. I rarely do preorders with vinyl anymore or rush out to buy something as soon as it is released. It's the best way to avoid pressing problems that I know of. By pressing problems, I'm including warps, non-fill, off-center, etc.

 

Friends don't let friends buy dodgy digital nu-vinyls.

 

But it's the only way to get the b-side

 

Hello everyone,

First time poster, so thank you in advance for your time and advice.

I've been reading here for weeks on different topics as I am a new collector. The information gained here has been invaluable!!

I've been hanging out in the record stores locally, but being new, I'm too intimidated to make a purchase without being comfortable understanding vinyl condition first.

I have the same issue as Tom Holvey. I've ordered 8 records, 6 have arrived, and the results are not what I expected. They're all brand new and so far, all from Amazon. Prime shipping so I'm assuming all coming from a warehouse in Washington state over the past 2 weeks, so I'll assume heat isn't the issue.

Most of my vinyl is warped for sure, but maybe this amount of warp is common and even acceptable? I am trying to figure out if it's my expectations or my vinyl that's the problem.

If any of you have the time I'd greatly appreciate your opinions on what is keepable and what is return worthy (link below). I've read about flattening vinyl. Is this recommended?

https://photos.app.goo.gl/hl4S5VCZB1FCOM1B2

Thanks again!!

 

I'd say 2,3 and 5 are pretty good, maybe very very slight warp but if you send them back I doubt you'd get a perfectly flat one so not worth the risk. The others are marginal I think, I'd most probably return the 1st one (Red Colombia label), I'm not too sure on the others. I'm a bit OCD with vinyl warps, even though they play perfectly fine just seeing the cartridge bobbing up and down drives me insane and I end up returning it to try and get a flatter copy. I think my expectations were too high at the beginning, now I only return warps that are audible/really really noticeable.

I'm still relatively new to vinyl as well but buying vinyl in stores is a lot better. Obviously with new sealed vinyl you never know if its warped until you take it home (thats why I prefer buying new vinyl on Amazon as returns are super easy, I don't like going to local record stores with slight warps). With used vinyl though I normally check for any bad scratches with my phone light and in my local store you can play the record before you buy so easy to check for warps/groove damage. Funny that most of the records I've bought used (from 70s, 80s) are perfectly flat but when I order a new 180g reissue the cartridge looks like its on a rollercoaster

To sum up I'd say if it plays fine and the cartridge going up and down doesn't drive you nuts, keep it. Also getting a record clamp could help with some warps and they also supposedly improve audio quality (I know of people who use them as part of their normal setup). Also if you want to try and flatten them yourself you could get a VinylFlat. As I live in the UK I don't have one as they're pretty expensive with shipping costs but I've seen good reviews!

 

Thanks for the quick response!

#1 is the saddest one for me as it's the one I spent the most on.

It all sounds fine from what I've had the opportunity to listen to, but I have this crazy idea that when I spend $30+(Canadian) on a brand new record, it should be perfect. Watching the tonearm Bob up and down distracts me from the listening part. I should have recorded those videos with the needle on the vinyl for a more visible representation of what I'm seeing.

I've read a lot of mixed reviews on the newer XL pressings of the Radiohead records you're seeing there, so I knew those would be a toss up. The well reviewed 50th anniversary Sgt Pepper pressing and the well reviewed Record Store Day Kind Of Blue were the 2 that surprised me most. They were not cheap and most people seem to have had good experiences.

Thanks again!

 

I'm sure my Amazon purchases come from the same warehouse as the OP and I haven't returned a record for serious warping since before last Xmas (and that was playable). I've returned quite a few records for other audible pressing flaws however. Many records do tend to have a slight dish which may or may not be noticeable depending on mat/platter design. A deck with a screw down clamp can solve minor issues of dishing/warping.

 

Not sure what turntable you are using but a record clamp will help flatten out those warped records while playing.

 

Thank you all for your thoughts! That video was interesting. I'll look into clamps. Thanks!