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QC at QRP

Let me start this post by saying that I'm a long-time supporter of Acoustic Sounds/Analog Productions, and think Chad Kassem has done the analog community a huge service by reissuing so many great recordings of the past on high quality vinyl and with beautiful packaging.  That said...

I recently placed a fairly substantial order from AS that included several jazz and classical reissues pressed by QRP.  As the reviews all say, the packaging is beautiful and the recordings from that batch that I've listened to so far have sounded very good.  However, I am a bit disappointed in the quality of some of the QRP pressings.  At least half of the records in this batch are noticeably warped.  I'm not expecting the utmost perfection in terms of record flatness, but some of these are warped to the point where the clamp on my Michell turntable isn't able to get them reasonably flat - and the Michell clamp is the most effective one I've ever used at tightly coupling an LP to the platter.  Without the clamp the records are unacceptably wavy.

I keep asking myself if I'm being unreasonable in my expectations and maybe I am. But these are 'premium' $40+ records from a company with their own pressing plant and that touts the quality of their pressings at every turn - 'Quality' is in their name, after all!  A couple of the records also have spindle holes that are drilled so small that the records can't be placed on the spindle without excessive force.  And, once on, removing the record from the spindle is another adventure.  Not acceptable IMHO.  

I'm tempted to return close to half the records in this order, but I'll probably limit it to the most egregious cases.  If the Michell clamp can reasonably flatten a record then I wont return it. 

Are others experiencing similar QC problems with QRP pressings?   YouTube channels like Scott Wilson's The Pressing Matters and others seem to universally praise the Analog Productions/QRP LPs - I don't think I've ever heard Scott complain about warped LPs from QRP or discuss other pressing anomalies like poorly drilled spindle holes.

Maybe I've just been unlucky, but I'd love to hear the experience of others.

lpluvr
faustuss's avatar
faustuss
822 posts
 

@larsman 

"I thought that there was a problem with Genesis’ ’Nursery Crymes’ as Peter’s voice was buried in the mix of ’The Musical Box’, but that’s how it was..."

Yeah, all the Genesis in that series i.e. Lamb Lies Down, Trick of the Tail, Nursery Crime, Selling England were all originally engineered as if they were trying to be "audiophile" with way too much dynamic range for the genera. Wasn’t until Genesis and Abacab that you could listen to them without grabbing the remote to turn down the louder passages.

Did have a complaint with one warped slab on Close to the Edge on my low numbered subscription which they promptly sent out a new one along with a piece of my mind about a "premium product". They've been just about perfect since. Just waiting for them to fulfill the last remaining titles.

I have a very long purchase history with Acoustic Sounds and on the rare occasions I've had an issue with anything, it is always resolved to my satisfaction. Pretty much the same with any of the vendors I deal with. Music Direct, Elusive Disc, Blue Note Records etc.. They really want your business.

larsman's avatar
larsman
3,151 posts
 

@faustuss - the only one I had problems with, and just on Peter's voice, was 'Nursery Cryme' - the others sound fine to me, especially 'A Trick of the Tale' which is superb. I don't care about how they were engineered or the dynamic range - I care about the end product and how good something sounds to me. You may not be able to, but I most certainly could listen to and have listened to them all happily without grabbing the remote to turn it down. I sure wish they'd release 'Foxtrot', though. They'd have to break up 'Supper's Ready', but there are plenty of places where one section breaks into another that would be relatively unobtrusive. Worked fine on 'Close To The Edge'. 

lpluvr OP
85 posts
 

Glad to see the discussion still going here.  

As a quick follow-up, I received replacements for my returned LPs and am just going through them.  At this point, I've checked out half of them and so far so good.

The customer service I've received has been excellent - the return/replacement process has been straightforward and the rep has been very pleasant throughout. 

I just placed another order for a handful of LPs that should be arriving in the next couple of days.  Hoping all is good with them as well. 

lpluvr OP
85 posts
 

@slaw 

$10K in 30 years?  I'm probably not far off of that myself, when I think about it - which I don't like to do smiley  Same reason I never add up the service receipts for my 'classic' car!

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