Turntable noobie...what advice do you have?
As this forum has corrupted me and I have decided to dive down the rabbit hole of LP's. Usually I stream but I find the tactile experience of records appealing. I have ordered a Pro-ject RPM-3 Carbon with Sumiko Amethyst cartridge and a Mobile Fidelity StudioPhono preamp. Oh, and a record brush. I will be plugging them into my Voyager GAN amp and from there powering my LSA 20 Statement speakers.
I know there is always better equipment to get but I feel this gives a good starting point. I picked up some new records but a half dozen does not a record collection make. So I do plan on making my focus for the near future getting more and expanding my collection. I listen to all kind of music so they will be many different genres. I will be getting new ones but I will undoubtedly get some used ones too.
Okay, so what all would you recommend for someone just getting into this hobby? Especially if I am getting any used records, I should probably look at a record cleaner. What else for equipment or doodads? What about tricks or tips for increasing my collection? In my city there is a record store called Music Millennium that I will be checking out and there of course if Barnes and Noble (where I purchased my other ones). Do you know of places online I should check out? Thanks in advance for your advice.
@bdp24 , And you can get a conductive grounded sweep arm that not only discharges your record but sweeps the incidental dust away from the stylus when playing for.... hold your breath.....$30.00. This video is a little goofy and it neglected to mention that the right pivot to spindle distance is 7 inches. It also tracks better if you have the pivot end 1/4" high.
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I did not say clean records are not important. What I said was new records do not need to be cleaned. They only need the incidental dust swept away. Think about it. The stampers are used over and over again. I think it is something like 1000 records per stamper pair. If there was any contamination on the stampers ridges it would seriously screw up at least the high frequency performance of the record if not worse. There is absolutely nothing in the grooves of a new record just some dust on the surface which can be easily swept away. The cleaning industry had to create this myth to get more of us to buy cleaning equipment. Used record buyers would not be enough of a market. Many new records are noisy, bad pressings. The noise is imbedded in the vinyl. You can not clean it away but, this adds to the myth anyway. |
Clean records are not a "myth." LPs are not pressed in clean rooms and can attract dust after they've been pressed and before they're inserted into a sleeve and jacket. And of course once an LP is placed on a turntable, its static charge immediately attracts dust. @mijostyn you are obviously happy to use a sweep arm to remove "incidental" dust. That doesn't make those who aren't satisfied with that approach mythologists. Some day I hope you'll hear a properly cleaned LP and that your mind will be sufficiently open to recognize the difference between it and that for which you argue so incessantly. Believe me, I didn't want to spend big $$$$ on a Klaudio US cleaner. But I just don't have the patience to use my Nitty-Gritty record cleaner on every LP. The one-button operation of the Klaudio is almost as convenient as your sweep arm. But, it is much, much more effective. |
I have always had a discipline to clean LP's and have even cleaned LP's for others, with what I have come to experience to date using the most recent Manual Cleaning Method, I feel quite sure all previous methods were woefully short of being an ideal practice. I did attempt to change earlier methods and invested in a USM. For the record, I have not invested a substantial outlay for USM Cleaning Ancillaries. I have a machine that will get a warmed solution in the bath, the motor used to rotate the LP/LP's will also be capable to produce a rotation that is satisfactory for a 20 Minute Cleaning Cycle. Where I have little confidence in my USM, is where the Cavitation is produced by the Model, hence I don't feel the cavitation produced from the device is adequate to perform a clean as achieved using the Manual Cleaning Method with correctly produced solutions, applications and methodology. The USM was also destined to use cleaning solution similar to past used solutions, and I am very satisfied not to have adopted this as a method. I have approx' £300 tied up in a USM Set Up that is not being used. The change in direction in cleaning methods is one where I have approx' £90 tied up in Materials to produce a Solution, along with application devices, rinse devices and drying devices. Without adding to the method using filtration and heat applied drying, the method is approx' £00.03 pence or $00.05 Cents per LP for the solution as a guide line. The Applicators and Drying devices will add another small increment to the cost per LP. As said in a previous post, I can complete approx' 10 LP's in an hour, averaging at six minutes per LP. I would need to clean 10 000 LP's to try and achieve a £00.03 pence cost per LP using the USM Set Up I own, and this is not calculating for the solutions to be used over time, and in my case not feeling confident the machine has achieved the standard of the Manual Clean Method. The additional required effort to achieve the Manual Clean might not be attractive to all, but it is tactile and that is one of the alluring attractions for those who are wed to using a LP source material. The following makes references to a LP manufacture process, the information is possibly describing the contamination that was removed when I discovered how improved a New LP can present following the Manual Cleaning and Purification that is produced. The impression that is perceived that a LP in use is ultra clean is undoubtedly present. Additionally it does leave one feeling the Stylus has a very satisfactory interface within the groove, and is producing the best signal that can be achieved. Plasticizer: 1% of a soybean oil epoxide (ESO) provides a lower melt viscosity of the mixture, which reduces the internal friction of the mixture when it is pressed into a record and thereby improves the moldability by filling the groove with less compression force. More than 1% over-saturates the resin thereby producing oily splotches on the surface of the record, and the splotches result in noise on playback. Some of the many forum discussions on removing mold release may be actually be associated with excess plasticizer/modifier. For information, ESO is a yellowish color. So clear records if they use a plasticizer may use something different from ESO. X.1.5 Lubricant: 0.4% of an esterified montan wax. The wax also acts as a mold release. When the record is removed from the press without the lubricating effect of the montan wax ester in the compound, the grooves of the record are sometimes fractured, torn, and deformed by the removal. These faults in the groove produce noise on playback. Montan wax ester at the stated percentage is compatible with the resins and is homogenized into the surface of the record at the normal pressing temperature. If more than the stated amount of the montan wax ester is used, the excess amount is not absorbed into the surface of the record. Its presence results in non-uniformity in the surface of the record, particularly as related to the friction between the stylus and the groove. This non-uniformity produces noise when the record is played. Some of the many forum discussions on removing mold release may actually be associated with excess lubricant.
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