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 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. |
Yes the Hudson HiFi , you don't glue it you use a double sided tape , I have it about 180 degrees from the cartridge , The anti static brush and zero stat remove electric charges before you play , the is removing the static electric as it's generated while playing the record . I used a static removing brush that was supposed to remove the charge thru your body , it didn't seem to work well in the winter .
|
I think if you are listening to the noise instead of the music, return it. I invested in a Kirmuss, which is time consuming but has rendered some miracles with older records, and an Orb flattener. So, I am picky. If the record is new and easy to find, I return it if its noisy and I try to rescue it if its old or rare. Also, I found that microline and shibata styli eliminated some surface noise for me over elliptical. |
The newer AQ carbon fiber brush is OK. The old ones, which were endlessly rebranded everywhere, are terrible. But I prefer a mix of carbon/conductive fibers and something more rigid to actually knock off the more stuck-on particles. I like AcousTech Big Brush for that. And yes, once a wet clean and new anti-static HDPE sleeve is applied (MoFi’s are OK but other alternatives are to be had that are either better or cheaper), the record is very easy to maintain with a quick brushing per play. |
