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In Reply to: RE: Entry level turntable and phono amp? posted by PAR on May 13, 2017 at 15:11:44
You've got to love this forum. Thank you so much everyone and I'm sure Ill be buying the Orftom MM Blue quite soon. Should the inability to alter capacitive and resistive pressure be a worry to me at my virgin stages of phono?
Follow Ups:
It's not really a big issue at entry level come to think of it. I was just being fussy then I remembered that in common with 99% of audio enthusiasts for my first 30 years in the hobby there were no outboard phono stages and you just lived with whatever the manufacturer of the phono input on your integrated amp provided. I can think of one UK preamp that offered adjustable sensitivity but loading required skills with a soldering iron.
Of course 50 years ago the hobby was more advanced in the USA (or had a slighly different culture)and I expect many US inmates had experience of variable loading even way back then.
My main piece of advice to a vinyl novice is to buy a record cleaning machine a.s.a.p. Once you get one it becomes one of those " if only I had known earlier" moments.
Any recommendations on which cleaning machine? I'd prefer to budget no more than £150 for it thanks.
How good is the Keith Monk's record cleaning machine please? Someone on eBay is advertising a cleaning service at £2 per record.
The Keith Monks machine is good. It was the original thread type of cleaner. All of the thread cleaners ( Monks, Loricraft and others) work on the same principle and achieve similar results. Perhaps more important is the fluid regime employed. I have used many of the types likely to be used and have reservations about some of them. I will PM you.
What are you getting for your 2 quid? Does it include a new inner sleeve, if so, what type? What about post and packing (assuming that the vendor is not local to you)?
OK, you need to aim for something that does the job properly and is not too laborious to use.
The downside is that if you go too cheap you probably get neither ideal and will end up not bothering.
This is going to sound odd but although cleaning real muck off of discs is occasionally needed with used record purchases the real benefit is the improved sound quality that cleaning can give even with brand spanking new discs straight out of the shrink wrap.
I think that the basic manual machines can be effective at removing gross crap but that for the best sound quality you will need a vacuum machine. Of course best of all is an ultrasonic cavitation cleaner but that can be forgotten about due to high cost. The same for thread machines like Keith Monks or Loricraft.
I would go for the cheapest good wet velvet lip vacuum cleaner which currently in the UK is the Oki Noki. Around 400 gbp so out of your budget but I think worthwhile saving up for. In the meantimne you could invest in a Spin Clean or Knosti manual cleaner. Good if you are thinking of purchasing used discs which may not be in the best of condition. But not having a vacuum to remove the crud is a major limitation.
All of the machines use consumables like purified water (order from your pharmacy in 5L jerry cans) , cleaner formulation and new inner sleeves. Use of tap water is not recommended in the UK as generally our water supply contains high levels of minerals. However you might get away with it as you live in God's Own County where water can be softer. However purified water should be first choice especially if you have discs with a wide dynamic range such as occurs with classical music ( death metal tends to drown out surface noise :-)).
There is a a huge range of cleaner formulations to choose from. I was very happy using Disc Doctor Quick Clean (his Miracle cleaner procedure is too laborious to use) until I moved to an ultrasonic cleaner. To use DD you also need the application pads. Apply cleaner then vacuum off then apply a rinse of purified water with another pad and vacuum. However that's for the future if you go for a Spin Clean now. NB: I see that the linked wesite says that customers who bought the Spin Clean also bought L'Art du Son. That is the wrong type of cleaner to use with this device so don't repeat whoever that was' mistake. It is meant for a vacuum machine amd has to be removed before the disc dries. Stick with the Spin Clean fluid methinks.
https://thevinylfactory.com/features/8-easy-and-affordable-ways-to-clean-your-vinyl-records-by-hand/
Please take a look at this link particularly the comments by Daft Fader at the bottom. Possibly worthy of interest.
Yes, well. I did say that it has to be effective and not too laborious or you will end up thinking in the great English way " I can't be arsed".Of the article itself, only one of the products cleans records. All of others except one just remove surface dirt, the other is a static reducer ( I have used one for over 30 years and it doesn't exactly "remove" all static but it is generally effective.
I say that the other products do not clean records in the same way as brushing some crumbs off the front of your shirt is not cleaning it.
The part about alcohol removing some kind of protective film from the surface of the disc is pure fantasy. I have been to record pressing plants and there is nobidy there coating discs with some such stuff.
There is a strong anti-alcohol ( not for consumption :-)) stance in the audiophile community for record cleaning. However I can find no actual evidence to support this stance although I have seen reports of experiments where LPs have been soaked in isopropyl and left for days with nothing untoward happening. I wish I could now find a reference to support this. Nevertherless just for caution I would not recommend using undiluted isopropyl. I have done so for some intransigent debris over a very small area of a record and have no ill effects to report.
Cleaning records usually involves some kind of fluid to free impacted debris from the groove wall. It is then held in suspension in the fluid which has to be removed somehow. Some hand wash methods involve blotting it off with a lint free towel. Machines use vacuums etc. I do not understand Daft Fader's method as there seems to be no removal stage. BTW natural hair artist's brushes can become very expensive if using a large size suitable for this task. For example a single Windsor and Newton size 12 sable brush is 64 gbp.
The one actual cleaning product in the article is the Disco Antistat which is more or less exactly the same as the Spin Clean or the original Knosti. I say original as I bought mine in 1974 or 75.
Edits: 05/15/17
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