Bin dug noisy records. Does it diminish your enjoyment?

I have actually had more scratches and "smears" on new LPs only 2 of the old records had scratches. Another reason I am not overly thrilled with Album buying from Amazon. But yes I need to fire up the Spin Disk, and clean them all.

For too long I brought home "pristine" looking used LPs only to find them nearly unplayable.  You can't fix visible scratches but you can dramatically improve the performance of used and new LPs with a good cleaning machine.

I tried various cleaning solutions, technics and brushes but nothing gave me the results I was seeking until I bought the Pro-Ject VC-S2.  Various machines can get pricey but I feel the Pro-Ject was worth every penny as it greatly enhanced the listening experience of my entire LP collection.

Even new sound better after a quick cleaning; pops and clicks are almost non existent now.  Do some research, make sure you get vacuum capability and follow the cleaning solution directions carefully, and your problem is solved.

Some might say for the price of a good cleaner you can just get new LPs or two LPs from BetterRecords.com, but some items are no longer available and some new are not pressed very cleanly. I consider it one my most essential audio investments.

Even new records may have some dust and mold release agent depending on the pressing plant.  The static cling of the vinyl begins the moment the record is removed from the stamper.

Generally, I've been first dunking the records in the Spin Clean and using a few drops (I'll leave it to the reader to find just how many drops to use) of Tergikleen in the bath water.  After 10 spins each way in the Spin Clean, the record then gets two trips through the Degritter, first a long clean with X-100 in the water (again, you're on your own to figure how much to add to the distilled water), then a short clean rinse with plain distilled water.

After much fiddling and listening, I've found this long and drawn out method to yield an enjoyable listen from bargain records up to the overpriced 180g records.  Thicker, heavier vinyl records=more static cling.  That was one of the reasons RCA developed the ridiculously thin "Dynaflex" records.  It partially tamed the static cling problem.  But the records warped much easier.  Trade one evil for another.

And as a side benefit, after going through the 3 step vinyl initiation, the "static cling" seems to stay away for nearly a month.  This in a hot, dry climate which wreaks havoc on vinyl records for static buildup.

Plus 1 Russ69.

Switched to CDs from the 90s. LPS are just too high maintenance. I realize that some folks like the routine, but I just want to get straight to the music. Ripped my CD collection to FLAC which I stream via Roon and its audio nirvana!