I find the better the turntable/ arm/ PU the less the records worry me. If they don't jump I am happy. A Denon 103 is about where this makes most sense. More exspensive than that seems to be a negative move as doubts come in. I am using a LP12 Ekos DL110 at the moment whilst I try to find an arm better than Ekos for my Garrard 401. That might be a homemade Hadcock. The LP12 etc is wonderful for playing records that look totally impossible. The LP12 has been in my loft for years. I have fallen back in love with it, albeit I think it now costs silly money. The arm truely is good and much better than the SME 5 I could borrow.
I use a Marantz CD 67 SE and 20 bit Flying Calf DAC, own design PSU. Haven't heard anything better that I could afford. I have a Naim CDi that needs a DAC, swings and roundabouts on that so haven't bothered to fix it. I have a hunch what I have suits me better. The CD is good enough to make the turntable have to work very hard. The LP always sounds better to me regardless.
I use a Marantz CD 67 SE and 20 bit Flying Calf DAC, own design PSU. Haven't heard anything better that I could afford. I have a Naim CDi that needs a DAC, swings and roundabouts on that so haven't bothered to fix it. I have a hunch what I have suits me better. The CD is good enough to make the turntable have to work very hard. The LP always sounds better to me regardless.
I have done well "just looking at them". I have collected over 1000 in the last 7 years, mostly from various thrift stores at .50 - $1.00. The majority I found at Chicago area Salvation Army thrifts, as a couple Goodwills by me. I quickly got to the point where it needed to look mint for me to buy. However, like others have said, you can find a mint looking one that sounds like crap, and ones that look like crap with surface scratches all over them, but sound great. You just have to trial-and-error learn to pick em, but for fifty cents or a dollar I sometimes wave my mint rule for a great album I don't have (which are getting hard to find). Another thing I have learned is to stay away from mold. If the record has that dusty mold on it then it will most likely never sound good. Either you just can't get it out no matter how much you wash, or it somehow eats/pits the vinyl in the grooves so even if clean there's damage.
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I picked up an album a few weeks ago that I was sure wouldn't sound nice due to mold spots rather thoroughly spread across the surface, but it turned out to play flawlesly. I was rather surprised!
Same last night. Joni Mitchell Blue $1 ( 95c in fact ) from a store in Baltimore, beautiful. My friend thought me mad to waste my money. I spent if I remember $127 on about 100. A Mono Beatles included ( Sgt P ) . Harry Belefonte double LP Returns to Carnegie Hall $8.95 and wonderful. Forgive any spellings.
We've drifted from picking to cleaning ...
I recall circa 1990 hearing a "Hi Fi.Audiophile" radio show - as I recall, the topic at the time was often CDs, but there was one mention of LPs and how a revolutionary new record cleaning machine allowed one to get "amazing detail" from old LPs, more than previously thought possible. I wondered what machine that could be, but later figured out they were likely talking about the Keith Monks or perhaps a Nitty Gritty, but surely a vacuum-based machine regardless.
I built my own machine about 15 years ago, using an old junk idler-wheel turntable and a shop-vac/wet-vac with a self-made "nozzle" made of PVC pipe. One end was sealed up, the other went to the vacuum hose, and the side had a slot cut in it long enough to cover all of an LP's grooves. I put some fluid (Alconox and water) on the record, either lightly brush for a mostly-clean record or go heavy with a toothbrush for a really dirty one, then suck up the fluid with the vac/nozzle, and then pour on distilled water for a rinse and likewise vacuum that up. The water inevitably beads up, suggesting the rinse step isn't needed. It works remarkably well, though the nozzle is a bit overkill, and I have to hold it by hand over the LP. I've tried to "scratch up" a clean-but-not-worth-much LP with the toothbrush just to see what it does, but I noticed little if any damage.
On my DIY list is making a fully automatic, microcontroller-controlled cleaning machine that I can put the LP on and press a "light clean" or "heavy clean" button and come back in a few minutes with the record side ready to play.
I recall circa 1990 hearing a "Hi Fi.Audiophile" radio show - as I recall, the topic at the time was often CDs, but there was one mention of LPs and how a revolutionary new record cleaning machine allowed one to get "amazing detail" from old LPs, more than previously thought possible. I wondered what machine that could be, but later figured out they were likely talking about the Keith Monks or perhaps a Nitty Gritty, but surely a vacuum-based machine regardless.
I built my own machine about 15 years ago, using an old junk idler-wheel turntable and a shop-vac/wet-vac with a self-made "nozzle" made of PVC pipe. One end was sealed up, the other went to the vacuum hose, and the side had a slot cut in it long enough to cover all of an LP's grooves. I put some fluid (Alconox and water) on the record, either lightly brush for a mostly-clean record or go heavy with a toothbrush for a really dirty one, then suck up the fluid with the vac/nozzle, and then pour on distilled water for a rinse and likewise vacuum that up. The water inevitably beads up, suggesting the rinse step isn't needed. It works remarkably well, though the nozzle is a bit overkill, and I have to hold it by hand over the LP. I've tried to "scratch up" a clean-but-not-worth-much LP with the toothbrush just to see what it does, but I noticed little if any damage.
On my DIY list is making a fully automatic, microcontroller-controlled cleaning machine that I can put the LP on and press a "light clean" or "heavy clean" button and come back in a few minutes with the record side ready to play.
Nope not at all......Noise said:
I have found some records that were quite dirty,etc @ salvation army and I took her home,cleaned her and nothing basically!!!!
Excellent play!!
I've had the same experience. A fifty cent Maynard Ferguson. Loaded with dirt - dusty & grimy; moldy, disgusting jacket. Once cleaned sounded superb, wiped jacket with bleach.
You go to the woods. Some days you get the bear; some days the bear gets you.
Yeah i have bought some records that look scuffed or something but play just fine.
I use some surfactant i bought from a chemical lab, distilled water and alcohol to clean records. I used to use a shop vac with an attachment but don't do that much anymore.
I use some surfactant i bought from a chemical lab, distilled water and alcohol to clean records. I used to use a shop vac with an attachment but don't do that much anymore.
I look for spindle marks around the hole and surface scratches. I get to listen before I buy, the local shop has a turntable for that purpose.
If the record looks like it's been played to death and I can't listen to it before buying, I pass.
Dirty records I clean with my RCM.
So far, so good.
Cheers.
If the record looks like it's been played to death and I can't listen to it before buying, I pass.
Dirty records I clean with my RCM.
So far, so good.
Cheers.
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