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I do hope you review this test record when you resolve the eccentricity issue. I have been using this test disc myself and it is a very useful setup tool. I find this disc less reliant on measuring equipment (my issue with the Analogue Productions test disc) and many of its test tracks can be assessed by ear alone. I would be keen to see the outcomes from others with the cartridge alignment/azimuth test and how much drop in output people see with the mono switch for this track (I’m getting ~ 8 dB reduction switching to mono from stereo). The arm resonance tests are also really cool and an easy way to identify arm/cartridge mismatches. I purchased my copy in 2011 and seems to be centred fine.

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

I’m going to buy another copy I think. This one is also quite noisy even after several ultrasonic cycles. A bad batch it seems. The principals behind the disc are sound. Thanks for your addition to the topic 🎶🎧

Excelent .... i wish i have a LP like this... i'm going to try to find one here in Brazil...thanks my friend...

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for watching!

@VIDEOMAKER-vx7oc

2 ай бұрын

you're welcome !

My step-daughter had spent $350 on a VG+ copy of Taylor Swift's Folklore Long Pond Recordings and, being a Swiftie who had memorized the album from streaming before making this purchase, thought one side sounded odd. She asked me to lend my ears, and from the opening notes of Side C, I could tell something was up. There was a noticeable warble to everything, and weirdly things were spend up by about 1-2%. It was enough to make guitars sound like mandolins, and pianos like toys. Weirdly, the vocals didn't sound affected, until comparing it to a digital track, at which point you realize the song is slower and lower and Taylor's voice is more breathy. Suffice it to say, she took it back to the store where she bought it. They were kind of enough to offer a refund, but she's kind enough to settle for a one-quarter refund because she can still list to three-quarters of the album! This is why indie stores are the best. I have a few albums that are off center myself, may 4 or 5 total (out of close to 1000). I picked up a Neil Young album recently that suffers a bit on one side (can't remember which one off hand, but something from the last 10 years). Plus I have a copy of Godspell that I inherited from my father, that's about the worst thing I've ever heard. That was the album that taught me about off-center pressings. The amount of swing on that arm, I'm surprised it still tracked. It was almost sickening to listen to. Thankfully, it's not really my jam and I really only hang on to it for sentimental reasons. And the occasional party trick.

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing. Glad to hear the record store were helpful on that one. Some of its bad quality control, some of its the nature of the beast to a degree. Happy listening 🎶🎧

There is an eccentricity removal device from DS Audio. Hi Fi Heaven has one on sale but since it's $6K new that doesn't help much. Works similar to the Nakamichi turntable that has an automatic centering feature and you can get the whole turntable for about the same price though it's 40+ years old and supposedly not worth it otherwise. I wonder if the side to side movement could have anything to do with the tonearm bearing. I hope you buy the AP disc and report back. I know Ortofon makse one as well.

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

I just looked up that DS Audio device. Amazing, but very expensive for sure. I'm going to buy the AP disc I think. We shall see! Thanks for your contribution on this. Happy listening!

I have a clutchy Hopkins album that plays very strangely but it’s weird music and I can’t tell if it’s off centre or just unquantised

I remember I had a hard time finding a decent pressing of Joe Walsh's Barnstorm and Warren Zevon's Excitable Boy....I think out of 4000 LPs those were the only ones... I've read where guys would measure and drill a centered hole to compensate...

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

Indeed. Redoing the hole is all you can do; bit of a pain though, ay?

@dasherf17

2 ай бұрын

@@soundmatters A lot of patience, yes...don't slip...

Quite a regrettable state of affairs! The only fix for this would be to drill out the centre hole with an 8mm (or more depending on the severity of the issue) bit and then adjust the position to cancel out tone-arm swing manually: a bit of a faff to say the least... Many transcription decks for restoration feature a removable centre spindle that would allow the engineer to adjust the centre position of the disc for perfect digitisation etc.

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

Hey Michael. I just can't believe a test LP, of all things, could leave a production facility like this. It's quite a noisy LP too, even after multiple spins in the Degritter. I'm yet to go down the centre hole drilling route, but there are a few records in my collection now that could convince me to take the time. Thanks for your additions to the topic

@michaelfidler8218

2 ай бұрын

@@soundmatters unfortunately this sounds like a generally low quality pressing then. Either low quality pressing substrate or stampers themselves (or a combination of everything). It would be nice to see a little 're-press' gadget where you could drill out the hole a bit, add a bit of epoxy onto a silicone fitting, and create a new non-eccentric centre hole. Discs like this have been around forever due to issues with alignment between the stamper and the punches when records are pressed and were generally known as 'swingers' during the first age of vinyl... A quick check on Google reveals this term has been assigned a new meaning today, though.

hi! i was just wondering where you got the blue stand/cabinet for your turntable at?

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

That was a unit similar to IKEA Kallax from a place called Homebase here in the UK that I customized with hairpin legs. Cool color, but I'm actually about to replace it for a larger wooden cabinet that will make product reviews easier and expand record storage.

I use a steel pen to increase the spindle hole. Then manually adjust the record to get it central! A pain but better listening experience! I have about 5 or 6 lp’s which suffer this! Luckily it’s not too often I get one but quality control is not like it was!

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

Thanks for sharing. I just can't believe a test LP of all things made it out of production like this. It's quite noisy too!

Hi Marc, I find that slightly off centre, I can live with depending on the music but I once got a 12” single that was so badly off centre, you could hear the stylus bumping against the groove wall! Needless to say I only played about 5 seconds of it. Unfortunately off centre pressings aren’t a new issue - some of the singles I bought as a kid were noticeably off centre. Atlantic seemed to be the worst culprit!

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

Thanks Andy. For sure, with some records, you can hardly notice it. The worst I’ve got is a 10-inch copy of Brothers in Arms where it stands out terribly because of the long sustained notes and chords. The nature of the beast (within reason) I suppose

i cant stress it out its sooo simple to fix... just elnarge the hole(use a file used for sanding wood or metal) ans position it yourself bit if its a little sway like shown in the video you wont her that in a music only do it if it is more than 2-3mm sway that you will hear if u dont hear the sway you are just about fine i i even struggled to hear it here on the video mby cuz i watched it on tv with tv speakers or am i just not audiophile enought😂🤔

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

Yea indeed. I’m not sure I’ll bother enlarging this one, as I also find the disc to be quite noisy. Something else you don’t want on a test LP! That’s even after a couple of ultrasonic cleans. The sway is subtle. Probably hard to hear on a TV. I’ve got a ten inch copy of Brothers in Arms from 1985 where the off center pressing sounds horrendously obviously. Copyright on here is a pain though, so I won’t upload here. Patreon, maybe. Thanks for watching and contributing 🎶🎧

The AP disc is also well regarded although it's pretty expensive (especially if you're outside of the US). That is a shame that you got an off-centre copy. I got a copy of this record a number of years ago and it is a bit noisy in places but doesn't seem to be off-centre. That said, this may have saved you from doing a video for which you'd have got some blow-back! I don't want to critique a video that you've not made as I don't know what you were going to say nor your conclusion! But I will say that although using those tracks (5-8 on side A and 1, 5 & 8 on side B) for seeing how well your cart/stylus tracks hotly-cut tracks is ok, using them to set anti-skate is generally regarded as flawed, because you'll end up totally overdoing the anti-skate and doing more harm than good. I use good Microline carts which are tracking beasts but even they wouldn't play band 9 (the crazy +18dB track) on Side A without a little buzzing on the right channel. From a tracking point of view, I think if your tonearm/ cart can deal with bands 1, 5 & 8 on side B, you're good. As far as anti-skate is concerned, most people in the know tend to set it to between 1/2 to 2/3 of your VTF whereas if you go trying to pass all those tests on the HiFi News disc you'd probably end up way past the VTF which isn't good. Peter Ledermann at Soundsmith (and I believe Frank Schröder) says that correct antiskate setting will see a tonearm slide very slowly toward the centre when it's playing a blank disc NOT stay in place.

that's D-pressing

@soundmatters

2 ай бұрын

😂🤪

Records suck. I would say 95% of all records I buy (used and new) are offcenter to some degree. I had to just accept that fact because it’s rare to get a precisely centered record. This is issue occurs with high dollar one-steps, analogue productions, UHQRs, and of course with cheaper pressings. Not a single record plant can get it right.