Cleaning Vinyl Lp's

[william-1]

I have recently bought a couple of Lp's that needed cleaning so I watched this:-

Then made up the hoover wand from a spare one I had,
Drill several holes in the vacuum flat pipe,
Seal the end of the pipe with gaffer tape so that suction only comes from the holes I have drilled,
Now glue the micro fibre cloth to the pipe & leave to dry

I am not using a turntable just lay the LP on a clean towel spray the liquid on the disc playing area & leave for 5 minutes to soak in,
Now Hoover the edge nearest to you then gradually turn the LP until you have removed all the liquid,
Then using a micro fibre cloth remove the excess then hang the LP up over a radiator to dry via a hooked pole.

Results are very good most of the dirt in the grooves is removed via this method & records that were previously unplayable can be enjoyed again

 

[2cvbloke]

I just wash 'em in luke warm water with Fairy Platinum and a decent Microfibre cloth, works pretty well, the next step up is to get something that blasts the records with high pressure (well, not too high, don't want to go all Roy Castle and break the records!!) to get absolutely everything out of the grooves...

 

[Channel Hopper]

Pioneer turntable & Four Score on Vinyl...

 

[Analoguesat]

Nothing could save my old lps - too many years of playing them on worn needles on second or third hand tables.

 

[william-1]

Pioneer turntable & Four Score on Vinyl...

Yes I did see that video pour wood glue over the Lp seems to work as well.

 

[2cvbloke]

Nothing could save my old lps - too many years of playing them on worn needles on second or third hand tables.

Dig out some replacements on discogs then...

http://www.discogs.com/

It's where I've been buying most of my vinyl...

 

[archive10]

Back when CDs where a new thing, I had a key selection of my prized LP collection pass through a "record washing machine" at a jazz enthusiats record store.
They had a field day washing Mark Shreeve / Legion and Tangerine Dream / Le Parc - considering they were more into Bill Evans and that sort of stuff.
Hate to admit - there was little to no difference after bringing them home.
Notwithstanding that they guys might had decided that the washing machine was too god for the material (unlikely), it just showed that the record distro companies didn't give a hoot about quality.
Thankfully CDs with it's linear 16-bit encding made things a lot better.
And thank progress, now we have mp3. Erh. Had. Now we have youtube. And spotify and deezer and whathaveyounot.
Oh dear.

 

[2cvbloke]

Thankfully CDs with it's linear 16-bit encding made things a lot better.

Unless you're an audiophile, or have freakish hearing like me and can actually hear the difference between analogue and digital formats...

 

[Analoguesat]

Dig out some replacements on discogs then...

http://www.discogs.com/

It's where I've been buying most of my vinyl...

Most of the decent stuff has been replaced by cd - good old Amazon

(Before anyone comments on Amazon for some reason just remember we are 35 miles and horrendous parking charges in the city centre from the nearest decent record shop!)

 

[2cvbloke]

Most of the decent stuff has been replaced by cd - good old Amazon

And if Laserdiscs are anything to go by, the CD will fall apart in about a decade...

 

[Analoguesat]

CDs dont like getting damp - lifespan of the compilation discs in the car is a 2-3 years. (Although they last better than the tapes that got wet!)

The ones kept at a constant temp in the house last at least a decade.

 

[2cvbloke]

Vinyl on the other hand, it lasts forever (after all it's just scratches in plastic!!), and even if it goes all wrinkly from bad storage, it can be flattened out again with the use of a couple of sheets of glass and a very low oven...

 

[archive10]

Unless you're an audiophile, or have freakish hearing like me and can actually hear the difference between analogue and digital formats...

Well, I could certainly tell the difference in the innermost track on the LPs (closest to the spindle); which is where the tracking error was greatest and the speed the slowest. Any degradation from multiple pressings would show through. (And they did!)
CD cleaned all that up. (at an artificially set twice-the-price. the cd's were same cost if not cheaper than LPs).

 

[Captain Jack]

Yes, I was quite peed off when I went to copy some data of CDs I burned over 10 years ago to find them flaked....

 

[2cvbloke]

Well, I could certainly tell the difference in the innermost track on the LPs (closest to the spindle); which is where the tracking error was greatest and the speed the slowest.

Yeah, the inner tracks are often the least decent sounding tracks, but they usually put the least popular songs there anyway so no matter...

My friend across the pond has an AudioTechnica AT440MLa cartridge on one of his turntables and has compared tracks from the same records with that and other cartridges, and the AT440MLa does a damned good job at making the inners sound a lot cleaner, so stylus and cartridge choice are a thing to consider...

My AT95e on the other hand isn't as precise as the 440MLa, but compared to the Empire POS cartridge the PL-400 came with, it's a damned good cartridge, the other cartridge I have (Pioneer 3MC, which is on my PL-720) is pretty good but doesn't do as well on the inners as the AT95E...

 

[Captain Jack]

Well, I am pretty deaf (have to make do with a hearing aid!) so it's difficult for me to hear the difference between digital and analogue.

I don't know if it's a placebo effect but I find LPs to be warmer than CDs. More crackly but warmer.

 

[2cvbloke]

I don't know if it's a placebo effect but I find LPs to be warmer than CDs. More crackly but warmer.

A lot of people say that, but for me they sound brighter and cleaner (despite the rice krispies on some worn or dirty records), with my hearing being as freakishly sensitive as it is, I can hear where the digital files are split up and compressed, especially when comparing the analogue versions to the digital copies, didn't used to bother me before I got into vinyl, but, it does now...

 

[Archive-8]

Yes, I was quite peed off when I went to copy some data of CDs I burned over 10 years ago to find them flaked....

I have had the same problem. Disk burnt years ago on a "jungle cd" now do not play at all.

Oh and the stick on labels make the disk wobble.

 

[Archive-8]

A lot of people say that, but for me they sound brighter and cleaner (despite the rice krispies on some worn or dirty records), with my hearing being as freakishly sensitive as it is, I can hear where the digital files are split up and compressed, especially when comparing the analogue versions to the digital copies, didn't used to bother me before I got into vinyl, but, it does now...

When you get a good recorded record it can sound so much better then digital.

 

[2cvbloke]

When you get a good recorded record it can sound so much better then digital.

Indeed it can, it's why I try to buy Mint or Near-mint records on Discogs, get them as new as possible to sound as good as they can...