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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,

 

mgrif104
vair68robert
652 posts
 

mgrif104

I tried using a $30 brush that works/looks like a sinny tonearm and it removes static electricity and brushes dust that is attracted while playing , it works.  I have records that have been sent out and double cleaned on ultrasonic cleaners that still has some pops and crackles , the brush virtually eliminated the p's and c's . For the price it's definitely worth trying .     

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,833 posts
 

@mgrif104 that’s not bad. I’m sure they’ll exchange the bad Norah Jones record. 

You reminded me that I have a Scheherazade with Eugine Ormandy on Columbia stereo pressing from 1962 that I bought at a thrift store for around a dollar and change about 3-4 years ago. The record looks mint. Most likely never even removed from its sleeve. I’ve had it sitting around and never played it. So I gave Scheherazade a nice bath of tergikleen followed by a rinse and the thew it into USCM and man it’s really perfect. Sounds incredible. 

mgrif104 OP
548 posts
 

@audphile1 nice find! 

While I’m quite pleased with mine - it wasn’t around a dollar in cost!

I’ve been going through pressings at thrift/antique stores. Most have looked pretty shabby. I’ll be getting a humminguru so maybe I don’t need to be so afraid.

To be fair, not all of the old records look shabby, but I’ve never wanted a copy of the Partridge Family.  “Not that there’s anything wrong with that”. That’s just me.

Best,

mgrif104 OP
548 posts
 

@vair68robert 

Do you know the name of the antistatic brush?  I’m using the AudioQuest one and it seems fairly effective but I’d like to know which one you’re recommending.

Best,

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,833 posts
 

@mgrif104 I think @vair68robert is talking about this 

https://hudsonhifi.com/products/antistaticbrush

I’ve been looking at this as well but 1) not fan of gluing attachments to my turntable and 2) zerostat is pretty effective at removing static. 
I noticed in my system most of the time a regular antistatic record brush is all that’s needed if record is washed and re-sleeved in a fresh rice paper sleeve like MoFi or Hudson HiFi which I bought to try and found to be excellent. 

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