A record cleaning machine is certainly a first step.
However, although some vinyl fans insist vinyl can be "as quiet as a CD" I have never heard it that way. You should audition a top notch system either at a dealer or one of the several Audiogon members who offer such help. Decide for yourself if the possible surface noise reduction is worth the cost, which by the way can run to several tens of thousands of dollars. I auditioned a rig listing for upwards of sixty grand, and found it to be only marginally better than my system (with respect to surface noise).
I admit to being highly sensitive to surface noise. It is possible to learn to "listen through" the noise, a skill which was highly developed before CDs came along. I was never very successful, but if you can do this you can enjoy the other desirable characteristics of LPs.
Before CDs were introduced surface noise (and rumble) was generally recognized as a problem, and many electronic devices were developed to reduce it. Bob Carver produced a device he called an Autocorrelator which I used, and it was probably the best. It implemented several band-limited filters which were controlled not only by noise in the band but also by analysis of lower musical fundamental frequencies to determine if any program signal "should" exist in the band. It also had a peak unlimiter, and dynamic rumble filter. Very clever, like much of Carver's work. However, it didn't take care of "clicks and pops", but there were other devices to remove these. The only LPs which I found to be "as quiet as a CD" were ones produced by the DBX company. These were only playable using special DBX electronics, which the company stupidly refused to licence for manufacture by others, and CDs killed the format. This was a shame because the processing had other benefits besides the obvious noise reduction.
By all means investigate improvement of your vinyl set up, but your expectations should be realistic.
However, although some vinyl fans insist vinyl can be "as quiet as a CD" I have never heard it that way. You should audition a top notch system either at a dealer or one of the several Audiogon members who offer such help. Decide for yourself if the possible surface noise reduction is worth the cost, which by the way can run to several tens of thousands of dollars. I auditioned a rig listing for upwards of sixty grand, and found it to be only marginally better than my system (with respect to surface noise).
I admit to being highly sensitive to surface noise. It is possible to learn to "listen through" the noise, a skill which was highly developed before CDs came along. I was never very successful, but if you can do this you can enjoy the other desirable characteristics of LPs.
Before CDs were introduced surface noise (and rumble) was generally recognized as a problem, and many electronic devices were developed to reduce it. Bob Carver produced a device he called an Autocorrelator which I used, and it was probably the best. It implemented several band-limited filters which were controlled not only by noise in the band but also by analysis of lower musical fundamental frequencies to determine if any program signal "should" exist in the band. It also had a peak unlimiter, and dynamic rumble filter. Very clever, like much of Carver's work. However, it didn't take care of "clicks and pops", but there were other devices to remove these. The only LPs which I found to be "as quiet as a CD" were ones produced by the DBX company. These were only playable using special DBX electronics, which the company stupidly refused to licence for manufacture by others, and CDs killed the format. This was a shame because the processing had other benefits besides the obvious noise reduction.
By all means investigate improvement of your vinyl set up, but your expectations should be realistic.