Brand new vinyl - what’s acceptable to you?
I just ordered a dozen new albums - this time all 180 g variants. The Norah Jones had a scratch on it coming out of the paper sleeve the first time. (Separate gripe - why do they package ostensibly “audiophile” albums in crappy sleeves which might actually damage a record?). I’ll return the Norah Jones. But, the Miles Davis album has a noisy spot 1/4 the way through the first track. I’ll try cleaning the record but usually don’t have to for a new album. Or should I as a better practice? (This old dog can learn new habits).
Fortunately, the Pat Metheny is dead quiet - thank you ECM! All my ECM vinyl - even from decades ago are quiet. However, my experience is that ECM is very much an outlier: that most labels will come with some noise.
I’m working my way through all the albums but it made me want to poll the group: How much noise do you accept on a new pressing? Do you have a rule of thumb for what to reject?
Thanks,
Just recently I bought Patricia Barber “Clique” by IMPEX. Noisy vinyl. No scratches just terrible noise floor. It was on final sale at Acoustic Sounds so I guess I’m kind if screwed but I’ll try to reach out. Best new vinyl so far: Rhino catalog mastered by Kevin Gray AAA, quiet and amazing sound MoFi stuff pretty much all solid. Newvelle Records - great quality vinyl, very limited catalog. |
@mylogic 😂 Indeed! Back in the day I had several records that were unlistenable due to being off center. You could see the tonearm pivot a half an inch. I haven’t come across that on a new one - yet - but more often than not, I find I need to relax the spindle hole a bit as many fit very tightly (too tightly) on my clearaudio table such that I’ve had some trouble getting them off safely. @audphile1 I have a number of MoFi I purchased in the 80s including Fleetwood Mac and DSOM which I had treated with LAST back then and they’re still very quiet (and sound great) today with just a brush cleaning. |
Yeah I have a couple of those too. I was thinking to pick this up at some point: https://elusivedisc.com/vinyl-center-hole-reamer/ By the way, speaking of Last….I have and use their record treatment as well. I bought their stylus care duo and am very impressed with it. Lower noise, improved clarity. Worth giving it a try. |
I buy the majority of my LPs in "mint used" condition from either very reliable stores in Tokyo or from a trusted vendor whom I see once a year at the Capitol Audio Fest. Unlike others, I do not wash newly acquired LPs, new or used from those sources. I also do not buy from eBay, unless I desperately want work from a particular artist who is hard to find, where I am willing to cross my fingers and hope that the LP I get will be as advertised. Nor do I ever buy from yard or estate sales or from Goodwill or any other thrift store. If a newly acquired LP has a flaw, I THEN wash it on my VPI HW17. I use Triton X100 and propanol diluted in distilled water in my record cleaning fluid, and I do rinse with plain distilled water which I did find to make a difference. If washing does not help, the LP goes to the trash bin. |
