Record Flattening

[The Grand Wazoo]

What did you use in the pre-decimal days when the album was first released Barry?

[Marco]

Hi Biff,

The lack of happy customer testimonials and a youtube video showing actual success really has me skeptical. Maybe there is a user (not manufacturer) submitted video on the web somewhere and I just can't find it.

Good point. However, I suspect that due to the high cost of the unit, not that many will have been sold (certainly in the grand scheme of things), and those who have bought them are perhaps not the type to make testimonials.

I'll certainly post a full review when I buy mine, so you can look forward to that

Marco.

[Marco]

What did you use in the pre-decimal days when the album was first released Barry?

Barry was around when the HMV dog was a puppy!

Marco.

[Barry]

Barry was around when the HMV dog was a puppy!

Marco.

Cheeky Blighter!

To answer Chris's question it was florin; I merely translated for the benefit of our younger reader's.

[The Grand Wazoo]

Cheeky Blighter!

To answer Chris's question it was florin; I merely translated for the benefit of our younger reader's.

.........I thought maybe a groat!

[WOStantonCS100]

Hi Biff,



Good point. However, I suspect that due to the high cost of the unit, not that many will have been sold (certainly in the grand scheme of things), and those who have bought them are perhaps not the type to make testimonials.

I'll certainly post a full review when I buy mine, so you can look forward to that

Marco.

You'll have a captive audience in me, for certain. I really hope it does do the trick. I, myself, have a handful of LP's that I could replace; but, it would certainly be nice to have the option not to. Maybe I'd even be less paranoid about having LP's shipped to the house during the summer months!

[cuddles]

I may even offer a record flattening service to members, and share out (hopefully) the sonic advantages the product gives

It is, after all, an expensive item, and so it won't be for everyone.

Marco.

Form an orderly queue now . The record is playable but incredibly dished - if I had a VPI rim weight it would probably sort it out.

[BTH K10A]

Form an orderly queue now . The record is playable but incredibly dished - if I had a VPI rim weight it would probably sort it out.

I think that could be the right solution.

I had a long discussion on this subject with a serious record collector (25,000+ records) a few years ago.

He was fortunate to be the owner of a Trio L-07D compete with the peripheral stabiliser ring. He said that, together with a big heavy centre stabiliser, was the best solution he had found. He also said that using a dynamically balanced tonearm and a high compliance cartridge helped too.

Andy

[Marco]

Hi Andy,

I do agree, as experience tells me so. A friend of mine uses exactly that combination and I've heard the results! Furthermore, the L-07D remains one of the finest T/Ts I've had the pleasure of listening to.

If you want to hear exactly what's wrong with (low or medium-mass) belt-drive T/Ts, then listen to the utterly rock-stable and highly musical sound of the Kenwood!

However, for those of us who don't own an L-07D, or indeed a rim weight of any description (I think one would look ridiculous on the Techy, anyway), the Furutech record flattener is likely the best option for those of us who demand to have perfectly flat records

Marco.

[Marco]

Hi Biff,

You'll have a captive audience in me, for certain. I really hope it does do the trick. I, myself, have a handful of LP's that I could replace; but, it would certainly be nice to have the option not to.

Thing is, are you really sure that it's only a handful? I'm talking here about ANY record in your collection which isn't absolutely and utterly 100% flat - not even the slightest waver, as it spins round the platter. In effect, as perfectly flat as the platter itself.

You must have more than that, unless you've been extremely lucky!

Quite frankly, the quality control in vinyl pressing plants these days is shocking, and so more often than not (certainly in my experience) brand new records bought are rarely 100% flat. At best, there is usually a slight bowed effect, and at worst a genuine full-blown warp.

Rather ironically, older second-hand records are often better in that respect, and indeed it's my albums from the 1950s (all automatically produced on heavyweight vinyl, such as was expected in those days) which are the flattest, save some modern expensive audiophile pressings from the likes of Pure Pleasure and Mobile Fidelity. I wonder why that is, eh?

And *that* is precisely why the Furutech, if it works as well as I suspect it will, would be such a useful tool - not simply to eradicate warps on records which make them un-playable, but any slight bowed effects too, so that when one is watching records being played, the cartridge and stylus are hardly moving up and down at all, and thus distortion is signifcantly reduced... It's the only way records will sound anything like as good as the original master (which would've been flat)!

From the Needle Doctor site:

Modern vinyl records are thin and flexible and often warped or bowed. As most records do not lie flat on the turntable platter, sound reproduction suffers due to un-damped vinyl resonances caused by the stylus riding on an unsupported record.

Records, which are bowed downwards, contact the platter at the outer edge but not in the middle. Conversely, records that are warped or bowed upwards tend to rock on the platter. In these instances anti-skating compensation is less effective and record wear is increased substantially by the lateral or vertical seesawing motion of the tonearm/cartridge combination.

*That* is exactly what's going on, and why something must be done about it if you have any notions of obtaining 'perfect' vinyl replay.

Another serious bugbear of mine is when recycled vinyl is used on new records and there is what I would call 'skidmarks', or a cloudy staining, on the surface, which no RCM will shift as it's impregnated into the vinyl itself. And when sunlight shines on records, when they're sat on the platter, they look horrible, and as if they're dirty....

Do you know what I mean? That does my tits in!

The perfect records for me are those which are 100% flat, are produced from nice shiny virgin vinyl in mint condition, have 'silent' groove walls, and the recording quality of the music on them (and the music itself) is fantastic - so no, I'm not fussy at all!!

Marco.