Help New pops on vinyl.
Doug, and Dan, I have also found that Lloyd's Talisman works incredibly well. I do still use a whole room humidifier in the winter, but when spinning LP's I find that using a Hunt carbon fiber brush first, and then the Walker Talisman has totally relieved me of all pops and crackles in the dry air of winter. Cheers, John |
Hello, thanks for all of the responses. My phono preamp is not tubed, the new preamp is tubed though only a month old (brand new), I guess it could be a tube. I don't think it's an overload issue, because this tube preamp has been playing fine for a month now. Though it sounds like it could be static, as many have suggested. I thought the Talisman from Walker Audio was supposed to cure this, but possibly not. I'll be out of town and unable to play with this until Monday, I will try a humidifier then, and report back. Many thanks, and have a great weekend. John |
As stated in my original post, I live in SE PA (South Eastern Pennysylvania). I'm relatively new to vinyl, only about 5-6 years ago. I knew that I've had more pops in the winter due to low humidity, but I never had it happen anywhere near this loud before. This is the first winter in my 5-6 years back in the hobby that I'm not using a VPI 'table, if that means anything. I'm currently using a Basis 'table. Are they more noted for static problems than VPI? I'll try the humidifier when I get back, but I never needed one before. Maybe the Basis table needs a humidifier, I'll find out. John |
Well thank you all for all of the help. I feel like such a novice. The answer was simply static. A humidifier solved the problem. Though I was aware of problems with low humidity/vinyl before, I'd never experienced it to this level in the 5-6 years I've been enjoying vinyl again. Usually there have been telltale signs of low humidity, like static 'shocks' when touching a amp/preamp/cd player, etc. A shock when taking a sweater/sweatshirt off, or a kiss from the wife. None of these 'signs' were present, and I was using a Talisman, which supposedly eliminates static, so I didn't suspect it to be a static problem, but it was. I'm still wondering if the pops being more noticeable has something to do with the turntable switch. When I switched from my VPI to the Basis, the first thing I noticed was a much lower noise floor. Quiet as I've never heard it before. I didn't even notice the noise on my VPI, until it was gone. I'm wondering if this lower noise floor made the static pops much more noticeable. Possibly the downside of greater resolution??? Thanks again for all of your assistance. Regards, John |
Well it doesn't make the record pop, it makes the stylus pop. Similar to if you walk over to your preamp, on a carpeted floor, in a sweater on a dry day and touch the preamp, you may get a little spark or shock. The stylus riding through the groove builds up some static, normally this isn't an issue. For the most part a de-staticizer like a Zerostat or my Talisman will make it a non issue. In extreme cases, when the air is very dry, this static can build up to the point where it cannot be contained, it will then send a shock in the form of a spike up the cantilever into the cartridge, which will then be played throughout the audio chain and sound like a loud pop. Much louder than any pop you will hear from dirt or mold. I should have recognized this earlier, as after the responses I recalled it happening a couple years ago, to some extent. Static was the culprit then too. Bottom line, if you notice that your vinyl is discharging a very loud pop every 3-5 minutes, and the humidity is very low, static electricity is the number one culprit. A room humidifier can resolve the issue. John |
