Dealing with Static on LP palyback
Anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with static build up on LPs as I play them? Just playing one side is something enough to cause an arc when I pick up the album. Most of the time I hear tiny, consistent crackles that sound just like static.
All the things I tried that claim to reduce static does not. I must have four record mats and a camel hair tone arm brush, all of which claim to reduce static but have no effect that I can see.
From my own experiences, “old audiophiles” know best. I honestly believe most oldies are covers down opinionated. There’s just no substitute for experience. 20 minutes open to dust is 20 (or more) minutes too long for me. Dust is the “enemy” of vinyl (as oldaudiophile already stated) I am with you on cover down. I personally would never want to put a record with 20 minutes of dust exposure back into a clean lined anti-static inner sleeve. |
On this topic, I beg to disagree with almost everything you say except the bit I bolded above! However, you do not need to modify any cartridge to perform your experiment - DS Audio's optical cartridges meet your requirement exactly! There are no electromagnetic generator parts. Moreover there is a wide choice of stylus / cantilever materials, from diamond / aluminium to a single diamond stylus / cantilever. My diamond / aluminium one should arrive in the next month ... |
@oldaudiophile To answer your questions - everything is grounded via 18g lamp cord. I realize one doesn't need 18g wire but I got sick and tired of the tiny ground wires always breaking and the 18G fixes that problem! All records are stored in several brands of good quality sleeves. Over the years, good quality sleeves got better, so I have several brands of "good quality" sleeves now. TT sits on a 2x4 Finland Birch plywood, over a thick carpet, sitting on a large heavy dresser-table. Other than the TT motor, there is nothing nearby to generate EMI or induce static. Unfortunately, this TT is big, it covers about half of that plywood, and no dust cover is made for it. It is on my to-do list to make one in the near future. Some folks have had resonance problems with a dust cover, some have not. With TT's in my past, I had dust covers but never had a problem. I did have a serious resonance problem when I put this TT in a cabinet with a top raising lid. It was horrible and worse with the lid down. So, it went back on top of the cabinet. I now have a different cabinet, which is just about as solid. |
@lewm You do make a good point - I didn't think about pulling the record out of the sleeve and causing static. I don't use paper sleeves, but I suppose the plastic lined sleeves, rice paper sleeves, and the recent Mo-Fi sleeves can cause static when sliding the record out of the sleeve. I'll look for the Shure paper. If that data is correct, then Mo-Fi makes a handheld tonearm brush that is conductive - I can try it and see if there is any residual static post playing. @willy-t I will check out the mats. I did notice that on Amazon, everyone and their flea seems to have a record mat to sell, and they all claim they reduce static in some way. Some claims are physically impossible to reduce static, given the material they are made from, others should reduce static but have negative reviews indicating they leave lots of broken fibers behind. One tonearm brush I purchased claims to reduce static, but is entirely non-conductive. Another tonearm brush is conductive but unfortunately is too short and too small for the TT. |
PS: I forgot to mention, I have an ultrasonic record cleaning machine. All the new records are cleaned at least once and older ones are cleaned two or three times. The records are amazing quiet until I get one with static, then it is constant background noise. I have some ancient ones I got at a second hand store, some of those are pretty bad, but cleaned up nicely with two cleanings. Still, they have battle damage from years of hard use. |
