Vinyl Revealation

What a night I had! up till nearly midnight pulling LPs out I probably havn't listened to since I was in my teens.

I set up my new TT and toy phono stage early evening. If it sounds THIS good with a worn stylus, dusty records and only entry level kit, what will it sound like when I have upgraded!? I was particularly surprised at the bass presence, not what I was expecting. I even played a 1963 recording of Bach Harpsichord concertos (bought for £1 at a charity shop) - mono recording but mint condition and sounded really quite passable!

On the dusty record front, do I risk damaging or wearing my new cart' out? I have an old Linn Basik in at the moment. I have a record cleaner somewhere. Is record washing something I need to seriously consider?

 

I have found the same thing.
I got upto £2000 CDP's, Benchmark DAC1 etc and found a well repsected DD TT from the 70's, a nice modern cart and decent phono stage is much more fun to use and listen to - it's the musical engagement that is the thing.

I built a record cleaner for peanuts that works on the Keith Monks prinicple. That made a big difference to surface noise and enjoyment too.

 

Dirt/dust won't (I wouldn't have thought) wear the cartridge but you could damage the vinyl if bad and you are in effect grinding it in.

I started with the Disco which can be had for circa £60 IIRC but as I have a lot of records now, I bought a 2nd hand Moth (sell for between £200 and £300 usually) simply as it is quicker to use than the Disco.
Once I have cleaned all my records, I would be happy using the disco in future - just not idea when you have hundreds to do.

 

There's a sex shop near me that sells second hand records, when I went in and asked him

"where the vinyl was?" he gave me a second look!

he said "Ohhh, sorry!... the records you mean!"

a whole new meaning to "dirty records".

 

Well count yourself lucky you got a second look!

 

cleaning your vinyl properly is one the better upgrades you can give to a system. If you can find a moth used, lucky man, if not then something like the Okki is a bit of a must. The machine, and a nice pile of new inners from covers 33, and a few nights of noise, and mind numbing repetitive effort gives wonderous rewards. If charity shop vinyl will be among your purchases then it is even more of a required purchase.

If you don't know the carts history, then it really should be changed.
________
Korean girl live

 

I made a record cleaner out of a oldish Vac. cleaner wet clean the records first then suck all the cleaner off it works fine.You will notice a big difference .Must be better for your stylus
especially if you use older records like i do . Remember though
you cant wash off damage to the groves i trash about half the records i buy good customer at the Salvation Army
Noel W.

 

Record vac / cleaner

Here's my homemade one in action

 

I've got an Okki Nokki cleaning machine which works very well for the price. However I've recently tried two other methods of cleaning very dirty records which both work well and appear not to have damaged my vinyl.

Method 1:

The first is using UPVC glue, I used Evostick wood glue.

1. Place the record on the Okki Nokki and revolve. Then spread a thin (2 - 3mm) layer of wood glue over the surface with something smooth, straight and plastic, i.e. a take away food lid. Take care to leave a nice thick lip of glue at the edge of the record, it make it easier to peel off.

2. Take record off the cleaner and leave to dry, some natural light and room temperature is fine but my glue still took a few hours to dry. When the glue is opaque it is ready to peel.

3. Gently peel the glue from the edge of the record, it should come off in one clean piece and you are left with an impression of your record in PVC with lots of dirt on it and a much cleaner piece of vinyl.

POINTS TO NOTE.

a. Make sure that you spread the glue thickly enough in the first place. If it isn't thick enough then it will stick to the record instead of peeling off in one go.

b. If you have areas which don't peel off properly, either because they are too thin or because the glue wasn't properly dried, then don't despair. Simply apply another, thicker layer of the glue and leave to dry, the stuck bits will peel off with the new layer.

c. Practice on some charity shop records. And look at the hifiwigwam thread on this subject.

d. Give the record a decent wet clean before and after for best results. Take care that small bits of glue don't get attracted to the surface by static and become smeared all over it by your wet cleaner.

Method 2:

Use the LAST stylus brush to clean records:

Some of my records which had some surface noise problems despite appearing to be clean have really benefited from this.

Placing the brush at an angle opposing the flow of the record enables the stiff bristles to get into the grooves and dig up some of the crap. This has removed some deep seated guff that was not removed by a quick Okki Nokki wet clean. It does take a while, require a steady hand and a TT with enough torque to keep on turning while you apply some pressure.

CAUTION: The application of such a stiff brush may (in time) apply more force to the grooves than the vinyl can cope with and damage records. However on my records I haven't noticed it so far and it appears to have worked very very well, reducing surface noise, some persistent clicks and pops as well as improving noise floor and dynamics.

 

there is nothing like the feel and smell of vinyl, then there is the pleasure of the sound of vibes, total pleasure, as for cleaning them is a pain in the rear, i use a moth machine, and i have just about 5000 of the b's love them.
nando.