Thanks for the post ... I was getting ready to give up. I picked up a vintage Denon DP 62L in mint shape, a brand new Grado Gold cart and a ARC PH3 SE. I bought 6-7 new albums and the sound is not good. Clicks, pops, noise - I was very dissapointed. I cant seem to find the vinyl sweet spot. I cant believe it but my digital front end sounds much better. I was getting ready to go down the "NOS tube" road and I'm looking at a Sumiko Blackbird as I was told it's a good match. I am not willing to do this if I cant get a reliable source. It kills me that with all the advances in technology since the 70's we cant get albums at the same or better quality. It's not like there isnt a market ... I just noticed vinyl for sale in my local Fred Meyers store which is basically a Wallmart. I am now looking at Mofi releases at $30 which is do-able but I am hoping the quality is there. I guess I need to upgrade the old D4 cleaning system for a more intense system? I am running out of room for "stuff" but I'm too far down the road to give up. It's nice to know I am not the only one experiencing this quality problem. I too am not too concerned with an occational click or pop but the level of noise and the lack of dynamics has me wondering if I will get where I am going.
Vinyl reissues quality
I have purchased 10-12 rock/pop/female vocal vinyl reissues lately and the surface noise on about 30% of them is loud enough to be distracting. The surface noise isn't the occassional click and pop but ranges from a constant crackling to constant low roar almost like tape hiss. Cleaning helps some but does not solve the problem. I have LP's from my college days that are 30 years old and are quieter than the brand new 180 gram virgin vinyl reissues. Am I unlucky or are others experiencing the same?