Ok, I broke down and bought this. Some thoughts.
I received this set yesterday from importcds. I never knew the original Run Run Run is shorter without the guitar lead fade out.
The box was in good condition. There is no excuse for each record not to have shrink wraps on the covers. Until I did some research I thought I got a repackaged used set.
Mine also has the clicks at the end of both sides of My Generation and the marks on the records which don't appear to affect play (other folks on the Steve Hoffman forum said the same thing).
The Tommy cover is the U.S. version with pictures of the band. The original U.K. did not have those correct?
Going Mobile had a skip but re-cleaning got rid of it even if it sounds a little crackly at that point in the song.
Most of the Quad reissues are like this and do not have some of Pete's original notes for some of the songs. On the original U.S. MCA, he commented that Quadrophenia was "the 4 themes tarted up a bit" or something like that. The Punk and The Godfather was originally The Punk Meets The Godfather with "A mini-opera with real characters and plot" under the title.
Quad is the best sounding album in this set to my ears, even better than the 2012 SHM CD that I really like. I literally got goosebumps listening to it last night. Tommy is second in sound quality.
I would trade Face Dances, It's Hard and Endless Wire for Meaty Beaty Big and Bouncy and Odds and Sods. Or at least a "Past Masters" type record with non-album singles and b-sides.
The pressings are good for the most part, not as bad as the original U.S. Rainbo pressings of the Beatles vinyl set, but not as good as the E.U. set pressed by Optimal. There are some clicks and pops, but these are good overall.
For the money a book would have been nice. I wouldn't expect the quality of the book that came with the Beatles box, but something with an essay and pictures would not be too much to expect.