Get one of these anti static fans from Amazon. Works really well. Apply to a record each time you play. Problem solved. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DB8F7L41?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
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.
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Hudson has something similar for a tenth of the price. Hudson Hi-Fi Anti-Static Vinyl Cleaning Arm I use one of these on my Sota Sapphire. I think it helps. During cold months, I can literally hear the static when I lift a record off my old JVC direct drive, which doesn't have room for one of these. That doesn't happen when I use the brush on the Sota. Does it make things sound better? Maybe? I can't say that records play any differently on the two tables, other than the sound quality differences between the different table, cartridge, and tonearm. It's not like I hear more noise on the JVC when I play the same record on both tables. |
FWIW - how air will be drawn down and across the record when spinning should follow this example: Laminar Flow Over a Spinning Disk | Ansys Innovation Courses How small particles drop from the air has been studied extensively because of cleanrooms, and this is a good article - CACR25_FINAL_LR.pdf, and let me summarize: 84)“…particle settling rate, the rate of surface accumulation is proportional to the airborne concentration which is differentiated by the particle size, the exposure time, and the orientation of the surface relative to the air flow. Surfaces parallel to the average direction of flow and at right angles to gravity sustain the lowest particle accumulation.". Figure 4 of the article shows the Deposition Velocity for the very small particulate <5 um is very slow, but the large particles >25 um is much faster. Once the record is spinning, the risk for small particles depositing in the groove should be very low. Larger particles that deposit will be on the record, but not in the groove. A published study of static on a record is in the article Phonograph Reproduction 1978, James H. Kogen, Audio Magazine May 1978, Audio-1978-05.pdf. Kogen observed & measured that that static is not uniform, but exists as islands on a record. Additionally, once the static gets high enough to discharge to the cartridge it only reduces to about 4200 volts. A static charge on the record of 4200 volts will not create noise by itself, but it can by electrostatic attractive forces cause a transient increase in cartridge VTF as much as 0.375 grams leading to distortion and premature wear. The use of a grounded conductive (as defined by ESD requirements) brush is unlikely to remove the static charge below deleterious levels: Microsoft Word - SEALEZE_WHITE_PAPER_Final dam.doc. As far as why the PVC and diamond pair in rubbing does not produce static is likely caused by the diamond on the triboelectric scale being close to PVC, meaning it attracts electrons to yield a negative charge the same as PVC, and that is implied in this article: (PDF) Durable and High‐Performance Triboelectric Nanogenerator Based on an Inorganic Triboelectric Pair of Diamond‐Like‐Carbon and Glass. |
Antinn, Many thanks for your last post, especially the last paragraph. For a long time, I assumed that my observation that the stylus tracking vinyl did not induce a charge on the LP surface was due to the fact that both PVC and diamond ought to be similar in a triboelectric table, since they are both fundamentally made of carbon atoms in which the outer shell is occupied in the case of vinyl by sharing with another carbon atom and in the case of diamond by the lattice structure. The problem for me was that diamond is not mentioned in most published triboelectric tables. And then finally I found one source claiming that diamond is a willing electron donor, which again begs the question of why is there no ES charge generated when a diamond stylus tracks a PVC LP. (You can see in one of my earlier posts here that I conceded that diamond can donate negative charge; that statement was based on information to be found in that one source.) Happy to see the reference you cite, which ameliorates the need to explain my findings, at least to my own satisfaction but perhaps not to other’s satisfaction. |
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