Sold Date: April 5, 2020
Start Date: March 29, 2020
Final Price: $16.50 (USD)
Bid Count: 2
Seller Feedback: 123
Buyer Feedback: 34

                                                                           The Police
                                                                 Zenyatta Mondatta
                                          Half Speed Mastered Nautilus "SuperDisc" LP 

                                                                       Item Details
                        Recorded: July-August 1980 at Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum Netherlands
       Mastering: By Bruce Leek and Richard Donaldson at International Automated Media, Irvine CA
                                                    Pressing: By KM Records, Burbank, CA
                                                              Original Issue: Oct. 5, 1980
                                                                    This Issue: 1981
                                                            Label: Nautilus Records NR 18
                                                  Runout Deadwax Matrix Numbers:
                   Side 1: (etch:) KM-6093-A1 NR 19 - A1 ⁜  (Stamp:) KM (etch) ⁜ (drawing)
                   Side 2: (etch:) KM-6093-B2 ⁜ (Stamp:) KM (etch) ⁜ ⁜ NR 19 - B2 (drawing)

Half speed mastering allows the cutting head twice as much time to render the groove. 
This means more fine detail on playback (especially in the highs) and less waver on long 
sustained notes. The tracks I thought benefitted most from this audiophile remastering
effort were S1:T1, S1:T5, S2:T1, S2:T2, and S2:T4. If you have a high end system you 
will be very pleased with the definition in bass lines.

Was bought used by this seller many years ago and now offered from his private collection. While 
I had it, was played only a couple of times on an expertly setup high-end audiophile turntable, arm, 
and cartridge. Has never been exposed to heat or tobacco smoke and always stored vertically in a 
specially designed record cabinet (Rackit) to prevent warpage.

Was cleaned on a VPI HW 16 with Audio Intelligent solutions and ultra-pure water rinse 
(50X purer than distilled water) before my pre-sale sound check. I wear nitrile surgical gloves 
100% while cleaning and play testing to avoid any chance of transferring finger oils to the vinyl.

Very sensitive play testing was performed straight off my Ayre P-5xe fully balanced phono preamp 
over Sennheiser HD 600 headphones thru a Schiit Audio Valhalla 2 tube headphone amp fitted with 
Voskhod Soviet matched tubes (see last photo).

Track list
1: Don't Stand So Close To Me, Driven To Tears, When The World Is Running Down, You Make 
    The Best Of What's Still Around, Canary In A Coalmine, Voices Inside My Head, Bombs Away.

2: De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, Behind My Camel, Man In A Suitcase, Shadows In The Rain, 
The Other Way Of Stopping.

I never take "distant" photos nor the so-prevalent type with the LP sticking halfway out of the jacket. 
I take close-ups under photo lamps so you can see nearly everything I describe in the jacket grading. 
It is virtually impossible to know the true vinyl condition from any photograph. That takes very bright 
and close visual inspection AND play testing with thorough coverage on high resolution equipment.

Grading 
Note: record grading by text characters is subjective and does not fully describe quality 
levels. Please see photos and my detailed descriptions below.

Outer Jacket: 
VG 
I was inclined to rate the jacket VG+ at first because it had only a bit of ring wear on the back and there
were no tears or stains. But I as I really looked it over under bright light i discovered too many small flaws
and reduced it to VG. First, there are quite a few fine creases on all four sides with the longest ones in the
upper right corner (more visible on backside). Next, when tilted under bright light I found indentations
caused by writing with a ball pen on paper set over the LP jacket. I would never do this to my own vinyl
and it surely it was from the previous owner as I could see the handwriting was not mine. These are
indentations, not ink,  and don't show up in my photos but you need to know they are there. They are on
both front then on back with the majority on the front. Lastly, the rubbing wear on the bottom edge is
more than moderate but not enough to weaken the edge. It has just removed the surface printing layer.

Vinyl visual inspection:  
NM- to NM Surface visuals were first inspected under high intensity halogen light. I rotated and tilted the 
record in multiple angles with my eyes inches away from the vinyl. Side 1 had no scratches or  "lines" just 
some nano-hairline polishing marks from sleeve insertion and removal. Side 2 looked more "minty" and I
felt it was in NM territory. The record laid flat as a pancake on my TT platter (I do use a record clamp).

Vinyl play testing:
NM
Extensive play testing was performed after cleaning. I listened to the beginning, middle, and end of 
each track for a few minutes on each drop. I heard a little bit of crackle on the edge lead-in grooves
into S1:T1 but once the volume ramped up no noise intruded into the music. All other transition grooves
had a noise floor characteristic of low level random ticks that just vanished once a track's music started.
On all my music listening intervals not one tick or click hit my conscious awareness and that surprised
me. The record had a very fresh and incisive listening quality like a new copy. My own feeling was that
there was nothing getting in the way of musical enjoyment on any track. 

Packaging
Record will be placed outside the jacket to protect against seam splitting.
Original inner sleeve is included separately.
Record has been placed into a new "rice paper" sleeve, as the original, even if plastic lined, 
may be holding onto some dust. This will keep vinyl surface clean during shipping and ultimate 
buyer usage.
Outer jacket is contained in a new clear polyethylene protective sleeve.
Sent in good quality record mailer with cardboard stiffeners.

Shipping
Shipping will be via USPS Media Mail for a flat charge of $3.98 per single album sale.
A combined shipping discount is available on multiple sales completed within 5 business days 
($3.98 plus $0.50 for each additional LP). If you intend to buy more than one LP do not pay immediately
but wait for my all-combined invoice. A discount for the combined items will show on that invoice. 
Then, once payment is received, the items will ship