Iron Maiden 180g Black Vinyl Reissues

Just received the albums -- I ordered them from EU, because the pressing facility evidently is much better than the U.S. facility. Given the overseas shipping, they took awhile. I didn't buy the singles. My impressions:

The sound is excellent on all of them, with one quibble: the treble is turned way down on Killers, more than I would like. There has been a fair amount written about that elsewhere, and I think that's just what the master tapes sounded like. Whether you think that it sounds "warm" or "flat" is a matter of taste and semantics, but the high end is definitely depressed on that disc compared to the others. I would have preferred an EQ adjustment during mastering, but oh well. If it's a flat transfer from the master tape, that's probably better from a purist perspective, and I can adjust the EQ on my gear.

No pressing issues on SiT. There was a skip in the song "Powerslave" when I first played it, which caused me to gasp in horror, but a quick cleaning of the record solved that problem. In general the vinyl is clean and quiet, thick and heavy. I think this reissue was very well done in terms of sound and pressing quality.

Packaging is another story. The artwork is clearly a scanned version of the original, and the colors look a little different compared to my original vinyls. The Powerslave LP does not have the textured cover like the original, which is too bad, as I always loved that little detail. The size of the EU box is the biggest disappointment. All the albums simply don't fit in the box. I keep the studio albums in the box, and even that is a snug fit, but Live After Death will have to be kept separate. That's a pretty egregious blunder, to sell a box set when the box doesn't hold all the material. I'm hoping they will offer a replacement box at some point, but I've heard nothing about that and I'm not holding my breath.
 
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Yes, I've got the full set of the reissues too. Sound and vinyl pressing quality is really excellent and well - made in terms of pressing standards but the reproduction of illustrations and cover artworks of SsoasS and SiT are too "fuzzy'' and maybe some blurry - off in my terms of visiual quality. But, it's just an impression. I've not ordered the box at all, I keep all the LP's separately in my collection. It works good - so I'm not dissapointed with the size of "red square box" at least :)
 
Currently going through LAD which came in today, playing through Rime of the Ancient Mariner. There as a skip at the beginning of the Trooper and even with cleaning, wouldn't go away and that pissed me off. So much that I pushed down really hard on the needle and eventually subdued the skip, but now that little stretch sounds super distorted. Come on man, I paid nearly $30 for it. Don't really want to go through the hassle of returning it.
 
Yall are right, I shouldn't have to take this. I've issued replacements on both LAD and POM. It's actually not as much a hassle as I thought, except for the fact POM is out of stock. I really don't want to wait that long though. Can anyone compare the original to this 2014 pressing in terms of sound quality? (the ones that were pressed properly)
 
You should return it if it's defective. Where did you buy it? If you got it from Amazon, they are quite good about accepting returns for defective merchandise -- typically you have to pay nothing.
DrRocklml said:
I pushed down really hard on the needle and eventually subdued the skip
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Don't ever, ever do this. Not only is it bad for your records, it's terrible for your needle -- a particular concern for your Audio Technica LP60 turntable, which (I believe) does not have a replaceable cartridge.
 
Cornfed Hick said:
You should return it if it's defective. Where did you buy it? If you got it from Amazon, they are quite good about accepting returns for defective merchandise -- typically you have to pay nothing.
Don't ever, ever do this. Not only is it bad for your records, it's terrible for your needle -- a particular concern for your Audio Technica LP60 turntable, which (I believe) does not have a replaceable cartridge.
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Yes, it was indeed Amazon. And I'm aware of that, but I think most poeple make bad decisions while flustered :/
 
Cornfed Hick said:
Don't ever, ever do this. Not only is it bad for your records, it's terrible for your needle -- a particular concern for your Audio Technica LP60 turntable, which (I believe) does not have a replaceable cartridge.
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I can feel your cringe from here.
 
Ugh. This quality control thing is starting to get a bit rediculous. 3 of my 7'' Amazon singles have problems. Running Free/Burning Ambition has horrible warping and mixing problems, same for Run to the Hills/Total Eclipse, and for the Trooper/Cross Eyed Mary, the B-Side was not pressed properly - it was pressed off center, creating pitch vibration problems.
 
I got a few singles and Killers for Christmas, and I've yet to listen to listen to all of them.

I've listened to Stranger in a Strange Land/That Girl, bearing in my mind I know nothing of audio mixing, nor am I an audiophile, but I think it sounds pretty good!

I'll take a listen to my Aces High and 2MTM singles, and Killers tomorrow!

:)
 
I think it's clearly the American pressing plants that have big time issues. Powerslave, Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son as well as some of the singles have mixing problems of some type (the vocal track or guitar tracks will sort of "sway" on certain sections of songs, instead of staying put the way they're supposed to, that's about as good as I can explain it) or pressing issues (pressing the record slightly off center, causing the needle to move side to side thus pitch vibration) and not to mention flimsy cheap covers. I'm going to seek out the 1980s versions instead and return these.
 
So here's the deal with me: The turntable I use, the Audio Technica AT LP60 is most likely what's causing the channels to screw up. I tested them on my crappy Crosley knockoff (not even a crappy Crosley but a Crosley knockoff!!) and it doesn't seem to be evident. I've already returned them and got my refund. If this is indeed the case that it's my TT, I can just buy them again but they're out of stock right now, so I pose the question for the two albums I might want to get (SIT and SS, the two harder to find ones on vinyl):

Out of strictly the US pressings, which one's better, 2014 or the 1986/88 pressings of Somewhere in Time and Seventh Son? I hear that the 80s pressings have a problem with inner groove distortion, is this true at all, even with a good properly aligned cartridge? And of course is the quality overall better on which? I appreciate any input.
 
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