The Vinyl Flat - Is it worth it?

Album: Lump - Lump
So, today's process. Shoot a video of the album before the vinyl flat. So, I started with Track A from side A since this was an edge warp, figuring this would show results a bit better, not to mention the subtlety of this track lent itself well to picking out an “audible” changes.

So here is a video of the before and after, please note that I had cleaned this a few days ago and just dropped it and played it for the PRE section. Once that was done, I did give it a good cleaning on the VPI before it went into the pouch. (Post is at 2:07)

Let’s get to the nitty-gritty. Did the Vinyl Flat do its job? Hell yes, as you can see the LP is flat as a pancake.
For those curious about the process/time:
• Cleaned the LP
• Pre-heated the pouch (My pouch on HI gets to 140° in the middle, meaning the seam where it would fold over and about 8-10° cooler at the open end). NOTE: Putting edge warps towards the seam is recommended.
• Cooked for 1 Hour with a wall timer (Highly recommended)
• Cooled in the pouch for about 1 ½, when I opened the pouch the VF was still a little warm, so I let it continue to cool outside the pouch until it was room temp.

So, did the cooking process effect the sound and or grooves in the record? Again, I’ll state I couldn’t hear any difference…………. BUT, when comparing waves of both the Pre and Post, you can see some slight/minimal changes in the peaks and valleys. Now a few things to take into consideration. The pre wave wasn’t cleaned before playing, you’ll notice a few extra pops and clicks in the beginning of the video. So, the small changes could be do to that. The changes while visible on the wave, in my opinion, are too small to ever hear during playback.

My conclusions:
I think the vinyl flat is well worth the investment if your coming across more than a few albums that are warped. It will pay for itself quickly. There is probably always going to be a little experimenting needed depending on the weight of the vinyl, color and so forth. But keep track of your times and temps and you’ll be fine, keep in mind that you want to change the times, not the temp. always Keep your temp under 150° regardless of the LP, only adjust your time.

Lastly, the sound quality. Like I said, I can’t hear any difference and while there was some difference between wave files it was too minimal, in my opinion and with the possibility of it being “Cleaner” for the Post section, for me to say the Vinyl Flat will affect the sound quality of your albums.

So, thumbs up for me, glad I bought it and it takes one more aggravation out of the hobby. I hope this was helpful