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Vinyl foibles

I'd like to make this a space to ask questions about vinyl problems you're having trouble solving. I have a lot of questions, but I think it's better if we ask one at a time, or else I think we could have long lists.

Here is my first question. I have a Degritter album washer. I think it works great. I wash all my albums once, but not before I play them again and again.  Somehow, though, and this includes new albums no one else has ever touched, they pick up ticks and what sounds like scratches. I rewash the album and it sounds like new again. I only touch albums by their edges. How do inner bands become so dirty that sometimes a smudge can last a minute or more?  I've been playing vinyl albums for more years than many of you have lived, and I have learned to be very careful with vinyl. Are there vinyl gremlins haunting my album shelves?

audio-b-dog
audio-b-dog's avatar
audio-b-dog OP
799 posts
 

Another of the endless topics about vinyl, what kinds of interconnects do you folks use from your turtable to your phono preamp? I picked up a pair for a few hundred dollars many years ago. My VPI Fat Boy tone arm is wired with Nordost and I wonder if I'm defeating VPI's purpose by having inexpensive interconnects. Although, I never have blown the budget on interconnects and speaker cables. Mid-level Audioquest is my speed.

tablejockey
4,403 posts
 

"I wonder if I'm defeating VPI's purpose by having inexpensive interconnects.'

If you're satisfied with SQ-No. But you won't hear the difference unless tried. 

You want to be audio neurotic- a used Nordost Frey/Heimdall can be found for "reasonable" cost. That's how I've been able to go  Nordost wall to speaker. Frey on my VPI.

drmuso's avatar
drmuso
251 posts
 

I tried the Nordost Heimdall and had insurmountable poor-grounding hum.  The Heimdall did provide high-frequency response that was comparable to high-quality digital sources.  I borrowed a few cables from the Cable Co. and wound up keeping the moderate-cost DH Labs Silver Sonic.  It didn't match the high-frequency response of digital, but it was quiet.  So now I have the choice of digital sources with the extended high frequencies or analog with a more rolled-off and pleasant sound (and closer to what live music sounds like; microphones and mic techniques used in recording can exaggerate high frequencies beyond what live music sounds like).

audio-b-dog's avatar
audio-b-dog OP
799 posts
 

@billstevenson 

"I feel a little bit foolish to be constantly repeating myself, but setting all the armchair theorizing aside it has been my experience that there is a solution for the static on records problem and it works quite effectively when used as directed.  Furutech Destat III." 

The Frutech Destat III is over $300. I guess if I were to spend that much money I'd want it to affect the sound of my system. It seems as though static doesn't. If I were going to spend $300, I'd probably invest in better interconnects from my phono to preamp.

mylogic
841 posts
 

I remember the days in the 60s and 70s when record manufactures recommended cleaning a record with a barely damp cloth. EMI even recommended using their “EMI-tex” velvet (dry) cloth” to remove dust off the record. 
Both are way out of date ideas in my opinion. A barely damp cloth and permeable dirt would soften and get pushed into the groove. A dry cloth will just increase static and attract more dust. 
 

Hi-fi has come a long way now, and the idea mentioned earlier (in a post) of spaying distilled water onto corduroy, and applying it to the surface of an LP is nightmare stuff to me. I know the idea was a genuine believed honest comment, and l am not intending to victimise the poster on his opinion. 

Am l wrong ?

Is applying water (other than using a professional record cleaner) to the record surface bad practice?

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