Original Factory CDs

Back in the day I bought every Factory release on vinyl. First and foremost because I much prefer the look and size of the product and secondly because with a good Hi-Fi set up (which I have) it sounds far better than it's digital counterpart. But after years of collecting only vinyl releases I have now turned my attention to the missing CD releases in my collection. I have just acquired Low-life - FACD 100. The music is quiet so you have to whack the volume up. PC&L and Substance don't appear to be as quiet....

Q: Anyone else noticed this? I have also noticed that this CD along with Touched By The Hand Of God & Fine Time CD singles have a strange almost sticky quality on the label side which attracts dust and grease but is very difficult to clean without wrecking the surface.,,,?! All manufactured by Nimbus. Anyone got the car carry cases? Never seen them.

The 1st Low-Life CD is such a nightmare. As you said the sound is very low. There's something sticky on the top side like my PCL and Brotherood CDs.

Thanks Rhino for the remasters. At least the white stickers are clean!

Did factory rectify problems with a reissue? My PC&L disc isn't sticky.

http://fac-facts.blogspot.com/2010/08/2facd100.html I have 2 kinds of FACD100. One is made in Japan, another one is made in UK (Mastered by Nimbus).

http://fac-facts.blogspot.com/2010/08/facd75-car-carry-case.html and, I got FACD75 with Car Carry Case last week. This is my first CCC.

I have also noticed that this CD along with Touched By The Hand Of God & Fine Time CD singles have a strange almost sticky quality on the label side which attracts dust and grease but is very difficult to clean without wrecking the surface.,,,?!

I washed sticky CDs with dish detergent.

I love FACDs.

Tokoloshe Man wrote: http://fac-facts.blogspot.com/2010/08/2facd100.html I have 2 kinds of FACD100. One is made in Japan, another one is made in UK (Mastered by Nimbus).

http://fac-facts.blogspot.com/2010/08/facd75-car-carry-case.html and, I got FACD75 with Car Carry Case last week. This is my first CCC.

I have also noticed that this CD along with Touched By The Hand Of God & Fine Time CD singles have a strange almost sticky quality on the label side which attracts dust and grease but is very difficult to clean without wrecking the surface.,,,?!

I washed sticky CDs with dish detergent.

I love FACDs.

Thanks for the info. Love the CCC. I am on the look out for these. Please let me know if you see any for sale.:)

eBay FACD150+CCC

eBay FACD100(Made in Japan version)+CCC

eBay FACD10+CCC

eBay FACD25+CCC

Discogs FACD10+CCC

Another point to note about the 1st gen version of Low Life is that it is one of the few discs I own which has pre-emphasis. From Wikipedia :-

"In processing electronic audio signals, pre-emphasis refers to a system process designed to increase, within a band of frequencies, the magnitude of some (usually higher) frequencies with respect to the magnitude of other (usually lower) frequencies in order to improve the overall signal-to-noise ratio by minimizing the adverse effects of such phenomena as attenuation distortion or saturation of recording media in subsequent parts of the system."

...some of the earlier CD Players actually told you on the display if a disc has pre-emphasis. My 1990s Cambridge Audio Dacmagic DAC has a light that lights up on Low-Life. If your CD player does not decode pre-emphasis the disc will sound poor. IMHO the Low-Life disc is fine - I am happy to crank the volume. What I really dislike are the modern discs like "Singles" which are so brickwalled that there is next to no dynamic range.

BTW I have all the original Factory discs with Car Carry cases. I played PCL yesterday on a good quality Hi-Fi and was amazed at how great it sounded.

Adam Tate wrote: Another point to note about the 1st gen version of Low Life is that it is one of the few discs I own which has pre-emphasis. From Wikipedia :-

"In processing electronic audio signals, pre-emphasis refers to a system process designed to increase, within a band of frequencies, the magnitude of some (usually higher) frequencies with respect to the magnitude of other (usually lower) frequencies in order to improve the overall signal-to-noise ratio by minimizing the adverse effects of such phenomena as attenuation distortion or saturation of recording media in subsequent parts of the system."

...some of the earlier CD Players actually told you on the display if a disc has pre-emphasis. My 1990s Cambridge Audio Dacmagic DAC has a light that lights up on Low-Life. If your CD player does not decode pre-emphasis the disc will sound poor. IMHO the Low-Life disc is fine - I am happy to crank the volume. What I really dislike are the modern discs like "Singles" which are so brickwalled that there is next to no dynamic range.

BTW I have all the original Factory discs with Car Carry cases. I played PCL yesterday on a good quality Hi-Fi and was amazed at how great it sounded.

Yes I mean it sounds fine it's just that I noticed it was quieter. The Cure's Disintegration album was mixed so that the 'music could be played loud'. I suppose you hear more detail before the sound distorts. I played PC&L on Factory CD the other day and also thought it sounded great!

It's always struck me as ironic that a comfortable listening volume for an average modern CD is about a quarter of the potential of the amplifier volume capability. Whereas for the original Low-life you can whack it up to over half. Just proves that the modern CD's get louder but not necessarily better in sound quality.

Tokoloshe Man wrote: eBay FACD150+CCC

eBay FACD100(Made in Japan version)+CCC

eBay FACD10+CCC

eBay FACD25+CCC

Discogs FACD10+CCC

Thanks but these are far too expensive and not in great condition either. I would want mint for these prices. I'm quite happy to continue picking them up for £3 here and there.

Adam Tate wrote: Another point to note about the 1st gen version of Low Life is that it is one of the few discs I own which has pre-emphasis.

Thank you for the Info. I've done "de-emphasis" on my Mac. Now, I can cleary hear the difference.

Adam Tate wrote: Another point to note about the 1st gen version of Low Life is that it is one of the few discs I own which has pre-emphasis. From Wikipedia :-

"In processing electronic audio signals, pre-emphasis refers to a system process designed to increase, within a band of frequencies, the magnitude of some (usually higher) frequencies with respect to the magnitude of other (usually lower) frequencies in order to improve the overall signal-to-noise ratio by minimizing the adverse effects of such phenomena as attenuation distortion or saturation of recording media in subsequent parts of the system."

...some of the earlier CD Players actually told you on the display if a disc has pre-emphasis. My 1990s Cambridge Audio Dacmagic DAC has a light that lights up on Low-Life. If your CD player does not decode pre-emphasis the disc will sound poor. IMHO the Low-Life disc is fine - I am happy to crank the volume. What I really dislike are the modern discs like "Singles" which are so brickwalled that there is next to no dynamic range.

I just got a copy of Low Life, FACD 100, Made In Japan, yet "Exact Audio Copy" doesn't indicate that it has pre-emphasis.

Is it known for sure that the Japan-made FACD 100's have pre-emphasis, and if so, was there are error in the pressings such that no pre-emphasis was flagged on the disc?

(I assume in this case cd players wouldn't be able to handle properly?)

Thanks.

Low-Life has indeed got "pre-emphasis" - as the pre-emphasis light goes on when I play it through my old Cambridge Dacmagic.

Also on my PC Pre-Emphasis is shown in EAC on the far right column "Yes". I suspect your PC may not be detecting the pre-emphasis correctly. Is the disc an original silver disc or a CD-R copy?

Also I found this comment on the Steve Hoffman audio site :-

"In my experience, EAC does NOT reliably detect pre-emphasis. I've verified pre-emphasis myself in two ways. One is to take a disc I believe to have pre-emphasis--say, the original Toshiba-EMI Abbey Road--and do a straight disc copy to CD-R. Then I pop both discs in a CD player. If the copy is noticeably brighter than the original, and I do mean noticeably (I'm not talking about subtle differences some feel can be detected across bit-perfect copies), then I assume the original has pre-emphasis and burn another copy with EAC and the cue sheet set to FLAGS=PRE. Then I compare that copy to the original. If they now match, I have verified that the original has pre-emphasis."

Adam Tate wrote: Low-Life has indeed got "pre-emphasis" - as the pre-emphasis light goes on when I play it through my old Cambridge Dacmagic.

Also on my PC Pre-Emphasis is shown in EAC on the far right column "Yes". I suspect your PC may not be detecting the pre-emphasis correctly. Is the disc an original silver disc or a CD-R copy?

I have the original made in Japan silver disc. The matrix is c38-7413 1A2-59.

Do you have a UK disc or Japan disc?

Also I found this comment on the Steve Hoffman audio site :-

"In my experience, EAC does NOT reliably detect pre-emphasis. I've verified pre-emphasis myself in two ways. One is to take a disc I believe to have pre-emphasis--say, the original Toshiba-EMI Abbey Road--and do a straight disc copy to CD-R. Then I pop both discs in a CD player. If the copy is noticeably brighter than the original, and I do mean noticeably (I'm not talking about subtle differences some feel can be detected across bit-perfect copies), then I assume the original has pre-emphasis and burn another copy with EAC and the cue sheet set to FLAGS=PRE. Then I compare that copy to the original. If they now match, I have verified that the original has pre-emphasis."

Strange. EAC does detect for some other discs I have. Also, ITUNES will detect pre-emphasis and remove for ripping, but not with this disc.

EDIT: I've been doing some more reading and learned there are two ways to indicate pre-emphasis. One is in the CD "Table of Contents", and the other is with "Sub-Codes". Both may be set, but if only the latter is set, EAC may not detect (and ITUNES too it seems).

I have the 'Made in UK' disc. Is this with or without pre emphasis?

greeneyes1 wrote:

I have the original made in Japan silver disc. The matrix is c38-7413 1A2-59.

Do you have a UK disc or Japan disc?

...I have a disc bought on release in the UK in 1986 (it is stamped Made in Japan) matrix is c38-7413 1B3-58. This disc certainly has pre-emphasis. It is this one - it came with a Car Carry case :-

http://www.discogs.com/New-Order-Low-life/release/2066374

Just acquired Unknown Pleasures Factory CD with car carry case. The booklet inserts are textured card but the back insert is smooth and shiny. Anyone shed light on this? Was this universal or has this been switched for a later release insert? I know Factory released a smooth version on vinyl as a re-press.

The Paradise Man wrote: Just acquired Unknown Pleasures Factory CD with car carry case. The booklet inserts are textured card but the back insert is smooth and shiny. Anyone shed light on this? Was this universal or has this been switched for a later release insert? I know Factory released a smooth version on vinyl as a re-press.

I am assuming you're referring to the back tray inlay, correct? This was smooth non-textured paper for all pressings by Factory UK. Factory didn't bother with textured paper for this, since it's meant to always remain behind the CD tray (i.e. it wasn't intended to removed from behind the tray regularly for handling).

-Mike

steinomite wrote:

The Paradise Man wrote: Just acquired Unknown Pleasures Factory CD with car carry case. The booklet inserts are textured card but the back insert is smooth and shiny. Anyone shed light on this? Was this universal or has this been switched for a later release insert? I know Factory released a smooth version on vinyl as a re-press.

I am assuming you're referring to the back tray inlay, correct? This was smooth non-textured paper for all pressings by Factory UK. Factory didn't bother with textured paper for this, since it's meant to always remain behind the CD tray (i.e. it wasn't intended to removed from behind the tray regularly for handling).

-Mike

Thanks for the reply, yes I was refering to the back tray inlay. Smooth yes but Shiny also?

Well I'm relieved that my copy is indeed meant to be, but also disappointed at the same time. They could have at least made the back tray inlay matt finish, like Closer and Substance, (although I suppose the booklet on Unknown Pleasures does have a slight sheen to it).

I'm surprised at the lack of attention to detail which Factory were famous for. :\ohwell: