40th Box Set - genuine?

I really like the sound of the binder box set , Horizon sounds wonderful to me. If the SHM version of that album sounds better than that I’d be amazed.

I have an Audiolab 8000CDM and Audiolab 8000 Dac , oldies but goodies.
 
I know it’s of little consolation, but it is great that other members notice these minor obvious faults which gives other members a warning about buying these things at the no doubt high price the bootleg sellers charge, as has previously been mentioned by Carpenters Collector it would have been very upsetting to pay over the odds for it!. I once paid £100 for a similar Pink Floyd Discography which was a copy. They are so good at faking them I only realized when a track started having silences were music should have been like “dropouts” , that I’ve noticed on CDR recordings in the past.
 
That's a shame this has happened again and why this forum could have helped prior to purchase. In addition, look for the words SHM on the actual Cd it's on the inner circle of the CD may have to turn it over to see it. Do you see it?

This box looks counterfeit.

I'll take a look at my box tonight, not sure about those catalog #s on the spine books.
 
That's a shame this has happened again and why this forum could have helped prior to purchase. In addition, look for the words SHM on the actual Cd it's on the inner circle of the CD may have to turn it over to see it. Do you see it?

This box looks counterfeit.

Agreed , just to add though that they even can do the SHMCD on the inner circle now!. I’ve got a fake box set which in fact has this on all the discs were the matrix number is. The fakers have even got that one down to a fine Art now.
 
just to add though that they even can do the SHMCD on the inner circle now!

That fake Alpert CD I posted above had very authentic-looking machine-printed catalog numbers around the center hub. It was the other things that tipped me off - fonts, missing logos, wrong logos, misspelled words, etc.
 
Oh, and about SHM-CDs. The only thing different about them is the plastic outer coating made of a higher quality poly-carbonate material. There is absolutely zero difference in the digits encoded in the metal between a regular CD and the SHM-CDs. The selling point, if there is one, is that your CD player would have fewer errors in reading the disc. All CD players have an error-correction facility that works as the disc is spinning at high speeds. Errors are inherent in CD reading, but the correction factor adjusts so that a human supposedly won't hear the errors. An SHM-CD's material is supposed to be clearer, making your laser have fewer errors in reading the disc, which they say will improve the sound slightly.

All of that depends on your machine, your error-correction ability while playing the SHM-CD in your player.

Once you "rip" the songs on an SHM-CD, all bets are off. The rips of an SHM-CD and a regular CD will be digit-identical.
 
So in effect do I understand that if you have a CD player with good error correction ( no matter what the cost of the player ), then the SHMCD could be deemed irrelevant perhaps?. Interesting read above thanks Harry!.
 
If anyone is interested in how accurate they do these fakes here is the led zeppelin SHMCD box I purchased which shows the central copy which is quite common - as you can see incredibly hard to spot which is the real deal!.

Japanese Paper Sleeve Mini Vinyl LP Replica CD - Led Zeppelin - WPCR-13142 (fake) - Fake Led Zeppelin - 40th Anniversary Definitive Collection (Zoso Box) - Image of III Silver Side - fake on top - unusual in that they have bothered to fake th catalogue number but different (CC) ifpi (25476)
 
I hope this might help the OP or anyone else thinking of getting this set.
I have uploaded a couple photos of my Close To You CD from the Japan 40th Box Set.
If you look closely at the inner circle you will see the SHM 4 times and in between the SHM is the SHM logo.
There is also another watermark that I tried to capture on camera and on the mirrored inner circle are 4 Universal logos.
They are present on both the front and back of the CD when you hold it against lighting.
One side they are upside down and the other side of the CD they are correct.
I would imagine that would be hard to counterfeit?

[Photos removed by poster.]
 
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Is there a rule for listing the year of release along with the original year of release on the product? Or, with Universal now owning these change the rules?

I am grateful for those who have helped me purchase reputable products online. Rick-an Ordinary Fool has been a great help to me when deciding upon vendors.

I enjoy the best of Fidelity, but I also want it to be a legal transaction and legal product and I have been thankful for the guides posted by members in the open forum and in private discussion. Sometimes, artificial materials can mean non-naturally boosted Sonics in reproduction. The error correction system of a piece of equipment and digital to analog an converter still need the proper source to sound as intended. I can get lost in high fidelity stores, and in the early days I once worked in one!

Once upon a time, we went to Tower records and let them discover the legal venues, but now, as we know, the world is sometimes upside down with options at every corner, so our super-hero members help keep me clean! Thank you for all these lessons that are posted!
 
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the best one I`ve heard so far, is the `GOLD` K2 HDCD. the sound quality on that is simply amazing! I don`t know about you guys, but I still use the old seperates and equalizer for hi-fi, you can`t beat them, I hate these modern all-in-one hi-fi systems, they sound terrible.
I also think the same, the GOLD` K2 HDCD sounds great like the Sweet Memories Set, and I encourage but it shows at a distance that it was false for the cover ...:sad::sad:
A year ago I bought Love Songs and I realized that the internal CD was orange and not white, but it was so well done that I thought it was true and it was false as well ... Greetings:)
 
@Rick-An Ordinary Fool

I`m going to have a good look over the set tomorrow (fri), so I`ll photograph a couple of discs etc, but I`m pretty much 100% certain, there aren't any SHM-CD marks on them!
I think it`s pretty certain now this is a fake set, so I think as mentioned above, if posting any helpful tips to stop anyone else buying them will help. I`ve lost £30 not 300, so it could have been a lot worse. sad really, because when things like this happen, then we have the situation of the vinyl box set, plus a few issues with some albums, it will knocks you back, because people spend a lot of money on this stuff, especially collectors, but I guess it just shows everything is open to the fraudsters!
 
Well...it's not your fault that you were sold a counterfeit set and you still have recourse. I think you have enough evidence to contact ebay and let them know you were sold a counterfeit and you are requesting a refund, enter a claim through ebay. That's stilll $40.00 US funds and that's a lot of money to accept a counterfeit. It's not right and this stuff needs to stop and ebay needs to know about it. I wouldn't lay silent as this only allows the seller to run off more of these to another buyer in the future.

Sorry this stuff gets me upset, all the best to you and I hope you go after that refund. :)
 
While I would agreed with Rick, that this counterfeiting needs to be stopped, and knowing that eBay resolution was very helpful in my case, I tend to give the benefit of the doubt to the seller until I learn differently.

Looking at the stuff that eBayer has sold gives off the impression that counterfeit stuff is sold often, so in this case, they probably knew what they were doing.

Under other circumstances, it could have been a case of them buying it unknowingly and passing it on with another sale. In this case though, I'd contact the seller again and request a refund nicely. Don't accuse - don't abuse. Be friendly, and you might get your money back. I personally made the mistake of accusing my counterfeit seller in perhaps too harsh a tone and it set thing off in a negative direction.

When eBay got involved, the resolution was pretty quick and I was reimbursed for the item, but the situation between myself and the seller was forever antagonistic.

You catch more flies with honey as the saying goes, so try nicely contacting the seller.
 
Oh yes, I agree always try first with the seller and give them the benefit of the doubt, be firm and confirm with them you know after research that what they sold you is not an original from Universal. If they refuse a refund then go to ebay and file a claim.

I probably provided too much information (like always) by uploading pictures providing evidence of what official sets should look in hopes that it might help anyone but most likely it will only help the crooks to make the counterfeits better by looking at how they really should look.
 
It's kind of amusing, in a sad sort of way, that international counterfeiters would omit letters in words and have punctuation errors on their products. Where's the quality control?!:laugh:
 
ok guys, I`ve gone through all these albums and everything looks great to me, I`m starting to struggle with the fact, that the difference between £30 and £500 is down to an apostrophe, because this set is really well put together, the discs look spot on, I can`t see any mis-prints, but there`s an apostrophe missing ............. crazy! :crazy:

although they are a nightmare to photograph, I`ve managed to take a couple of the `offering` cd and the SHMCD logo is there on them all, along with the other markings;

FRONT OF CD;

001.jpg


BACK OF CD;

006.jpg
 
Those look pretty good. (Except even I missed the period instead of hyphen in SHM-CD!)

I have another odd question: does your set have any odd smell to it? There are reports that counterfeit sets have an odd/bad smell due to the inks used and then being sealed up in cellophane.
 
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Those look pretty good.

I have another odd question: does your set have any odd smell to it? There are reports that counterfeit sets have an odd/bad smell due to the inks used and then being sealed up in cellophane.
Sometimes these products do not have to envy anything to the originals, because if we think most of the things are made in China, for example this set of Queen is false and very few realize because it has inserts and no error of the original covers...
The-Queen-40th-Anniversary-30-CD-Box-Set-Booklets-Full-Collection-China-Factory-New-Sealed-Edition.jpg

Another inverse example is the version "22 hits" of Argentina where it seems false but it is original XD
carpenters-twenty-two-hits-of-the-carpenters-D_NQ_NP_944021-MLA20699966848_052016-F.webp

Regards...
 
ok guys, I`ve gone through all these albums and everything looks great to me, I`m starting to struggle with the fact, that the difference between £30 and £500 is down to an apostrophe, because this set is really well put together, the discs look spot on, I can`t see any mis-prints, but there`s an apostrophe missing ............. crazy! :crazy:

although they are a nightmare to photograph, I`ve managed to take a couple of the `offering` cd and the SHMCD logo is there on them all, along with the other markings;

FRONT OF CD;

001.jpg


BACK OF CD;

006.jpg

Here are the differences, mine has SHM-CD not SHM.CD
also the logo in between is doubled, the logo in between almost looks like a large S but mine is doubled and much thinner in design, not thick like it shows on yours. I also don't see any Universal logos, looks like they couldn't do that and ended up using >
 
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