Crackly Pop

[admin_exported]

Hi all,

Some friendly advice required by hi-fi ignoramus, please.

I just got my old Technics SL-DD33 out of the attic and tried some of my vinyl thru Arcam 8/ 8P and MA S1s. All bar 2 LPs crackled horribly. Cleaning offending records with damp cloth and new carbon fibre brush made v little ( if any) difference. New stylus ditto.

I'm now considering getting a Knosti Disco Antistat but will that be any better? Or are my records just beyond repair? Cosmetically they mostly look fine - the two that are relatively crackle-free certainly don't look any different and one of them didn't even have an inner sleeve! It's fair to say that in my student days the records weren't exactly lovingly looked after but I certainly don't remember them sounding so crackly. Could it be the cartridge? Would a new TT make any difference?

One other thing I should mention is that I lost the original earthing wire so have used a bit of speaker cable and phono channel is entirely hum and cracle-free - until the stylus hits the vinyl.

All advice gratefully received. Thanks

 

[John Duncan]

I'm now considering getting a Knosti Disco Antistat but will that be any better?

In my experience, totally.

 

[Anonymous]

I'm now considering getting a Knosti Disco Antistat but will that be any better?

In my experience, totally.

Great, thanks.

 

[lindsayt]

Shining a lamp horizontally across the surface of a record is a good way to see how dirty your black vinyl records are. It doesn't work so well with transparent limited edition records.

I buy a lot of 2nd hand records. A lot of them are filthy. Most of them sound fine after giving them a clean with my steam vacuum cleaner in conjunction with my Okki Nokki.

 

[Anonymous]

You can simply fill a sink with Luke Warm Water with a tiny amount of soapy liquid and a splash of isopropyl if you have it. Dunk the offending lp a few times flipping it over and thenwipe over gently with a soft cotton cloth. A old Cotton t shirt cut up can give you this. Gently shake the lp to get some of the water off ( Do a quick Rolf Harris Impression if it turns you on) dont get the lp label too wet as the colours can run or fade if they get saturated. Then find a soft old towel, or another old t shirt and dab the offending article dry. Wait till its really dry then try playing it. If its just dirty this should shift most of it.

If it doesnt I wouldn bother spending a ton of money having it pro cleaned. Its probebly a gonner!

 

[Anonymous]

I bought a Knosti and it certainly helped but didn't cure the problem. Lots of records were still v crackly and kept distorting.

So I took the TT to Audio Old in Crouch End ( the G fell off as I was walking out of the shop and nearly hit me on the head) where a very nice chap reweighted the tone arm for me for free. As a rather officious label on the TT informed me it had been "precisely adjusted by the factory" at just over 1g. He set it to 3 ( I think - there's no dial on the tonearm) and it now sounds fab.

Only trouble is, I think I'm in danger of succumbing to the evangelical zeal of a vinyl returnee which could prove very expensive.

As a precautionary measure I bought my wife Bridge Over Troubled Water which may go a small way towards easing the path to a new TT and a room full of vinyl.

 

[Anonymous]

Glad your getting sorted. Im not suprised your turntable wasnt delivering. The Tone arm ballance was set far too light. The average cartridge has a recommended tracking weight of 1.75 - 2.00 grams. It wouldnt have been tracking in the groove properly!

The Bad news is though, there is no known cure for Vinyl fever...we just have to learn to live with it! :bigsmile: