PAVILION RECORDS
CDs which have become 'bronzed'

New information as at November 2006

The pressing factory PDO (now EDC) has long acknowledged responsibility for producing some CDs between 1988 and 1993 using lacquer which was not suitable to withstand the corrosive effect of the sulphur content of paper used in the printing of CD booklets and other parts. The problem has been extremely disruptive to collectors and to us and we can only apologise for any alarm ad inconvenience caused.

What was PDO (Philips & Du Pont Optical UK Ltd.) has changed hands a number of times in the intervening years and the current owners are declining to continue to replace 'bronzed' discs after November 2006. You may well feel that after more than 15 years of fulfilling their obligations, the manufacturer is doing no more than falling into line with paperback publishers whom no-one expects to replace books printed on wood pulp which disintegrate after a period.  You may not.  In the latter case we will do our very best to replace 'bronzed' discs (the discs only, not box or booklet) but we regret that we cannot do so if the master is no longer available.

The symptoms of the corrosion are obvious. Audibly it manifests first towards the end of the disc (i.e. the outer edge) and sounds not unlike rhythmic LP surface noise. Visibly it manifests as a coppery-bronze discoloration usually on the edge of the label side of the disc. (NB. It is NOT the overall yellow tint which is common to all PDO pressings. This is due to the addition of a tiny amount of yellow dye which PDO adds to the polycarbonate for cosmetic purposes.)

At the time that PDO were manufacturing the affected CDs for us, they were also pressing for other classical labels and we suggest that you check any discs you have from ASV, Unicorn-Kanchana, Hyperion, DGG, IMP, Decca and Collins.