Hello from Suffolk

Greetings to all fellow members, I’m Ed originally from Bristol (wos bis doin.)then press ganged over to Essex (cor blimey guv) and now hidden away near Beccles (commpooters & church poos).

Been listening to music on many domestic playback systems since early ‘60s - mainly analog from Leak, Quad, Ear, Garrard, Revox, Shure, Denon, Technics, Lowther, Thorens, Nakamichi etc.

I have been down many paths with previous audio forums since the early days of internet groups.

10% of my time listening to playback music is rewarded with coolosity the other 90% is hard work trying to make it work. Out of about 3,000 pieces vinyl music there are roughly 6 that work and wouldn’t be too embarrassing to play to any friends but I listen solo only.

Regards, Ed100

 

Welcome to Stereo2go Ed100

 

Hi Mister X, and no to your first question. Condition wise they are all playable but the so called quality of recording & engineering over several decades I struggle to get turned on with. Every album should be a work of art whether you like the music or not - I’m still very fascinated from the format but I guess my ears are beginning to play up and I should be less critical and stupid.

I use the usual Project Cleaner which can be a bit unpredictable (not sure about their solution, so I use my made up
concoction of distilled water & a few drops of Fairy in a small bottle). This for me doesn’t produce crackle after a wash.

If any of these subjects need to continue any more and need to transfer over elsewhere on the forum let me know.

 

If the records have been abused and not well cared for, then they may be done for. What turntable and cartridge are you using at the moment? Good clean setup can help to minimise the noise, but it will not perform miracles and get rid of the noise completely. To help remove the rest of the noise, you will need something like SweetVinyl SugarCube.

 

There are three turntables on the go - Garrard 401, Thorens TD 160 super, & Technics SL 1200 G.
Cartridges are generally vintage - Shure V15mk.III (E,HE,MR), Ortofon VMS 30 mk.II, Audio Tech VM95ML,
Denon 103. Arms - Technics (1200G type), SME 3009 imp. & SME V.

When buying s/hand vinyl for the past several decades I did select visually well looked after records. Anything else that came my way which looked rough never hit platter. Some which looked well marked play well, scuff marks are usually ok. I don’t suffer from noise after a good clean with most stylus/cartridge combos (that’s with my solution). Projects old concentrate & new type of solutions I find at first creates crackle noise after the first play. Playing several times helps to minimise the effect. My little cheap solution technique is quiet. With some pressings it seems nothing helps to reduce surface noise and they look in excellent condition.

I may have given the wrong impression when I said originally 6 records sound special the rest are supposed to give you a buzz but not so for me. It’s what the recording engineer and pressing companies did during the process of it all. For instance, two groovy records that everyone likes ‘Aja’ & ‘Dark side’ sound flat and lifeless. The drums are dull and sound like cardboard on the skins.

When I listen to a Edgar Varaese recording of ‘Intégrales Pour Petit Orchestre Et Percussion’ I hear drums.

 

It sounds like the problem you are having is more to do with recording, mastering and pressing. With all those players you have, you should get good sound out of at least 1 or 2 if they have been properly setup.

Assuming they are properly setup and the cartridges are not worn out, then I think you need to look at the actual pressings. Have you tried buying records from say Mobile Fidelity, Analogue productions, Acoustic Sounds etc. Those labels sell good recordings, which are pressed onto quiet clarity vinyl.

By the way what phonostage are you using?

 

Yes, I’m quite sure some Record Labels at a certain point in time for Rock etc have some odd recordings- the music is fabulous but the playback can be awful. When I listen to the odd FM radio tape recording from the 70’s to 80’s I get
Some kind of ref. point of sound that I like. That’s with live music in the studio or speech plays especially on reel to reel,
Cassettes are very good from 40 plus years ago. When I go back to radio now (analog FM) with a Leak Troughline there
ain’t that bit of magic anymore. We’ve gone backwards with that one and just hope vintage cassette & tape last out for the future.

The turntables should cover the range of vinyl variations but they are a pain to tune. My ears and brain are the problem,
and for me getting the grassroots of sound playback right is my priority. Out of three players I think the Thorens may
be a favourite when it’s singing. In the past I heard a friends Linn and it played music, he then moved it and it never sounded the same again. I later had a top spec Linn on home trial from a dealer, it was poor. Going back further in the past to the days when I went to Virgin record shop (Bristol) they used several 401’s through Quad amps and AR speakers. That for me was the best playback no matter what they threw at it. My 401 never reached that musicality.
The Technics I’ve had for just a year so I’m still working on that one

I have a few Mob.Fi, one is a Jazz Don Sebesky dbl. which is good, another is Jefferson’s ‘Crown……. , this has a lot
of top end. I like the three classical Speakers Corner LP’s from the 90’s I bought.

phono = Quad 44 MC/MM or Ear 324. (All vintage cartridges are in good shape & suspensions seem fine).

Amp = Homemade Spud 6c45p

speakers = Hedlund Horns / Lowther DX3’s.

 

Yes the Linn LP12 is very temperamental, my friend even marks the sweet spot on the platter so he puts it back to the same place; since the LP12 has inner and outer platter.
I don’t really know most of your kit, so it’s hard to comment and even if I did, can’t say much unless I listen to your kit in your room. As we all know exact same kit in different rooms, can sound very different due to room and setup.

I have heard many good things about the Leak Trough Line, but I have never seen or heard it in real life.

All my kit are new, the oldest unit is the Nakamichi CR-7

You can post pic’s of your system here.

This is what my system looks like now.

 

Lovely.

tried posting a photo on the link, it may have worked.

 

Think I get what you are saying. I stumbled upon various 24bit 96khz "vinyl rips" of a few old electronic ambients like 1976 Klaus Schulze Moondawn with the side A Floating and side B Mindphaser. Big files and I got em'... upon playback through PC to "old" Headroom Ultra DAC / AMP it was bewilderingly good compared to the later 2005 CD version. The dynamic range and energy feeling was radically different. Like being in a big open space with curtains of transparent shimmering sound falling down around the listener. Just couldn't believe it. I don't know what turntable or pressing it was ripped from. No metadata in the file to indicate. That experience messed me up and still can't get over it. So maybe I can grasp what is possible or should be possible if done right. Apart from those rips I have no idea how to replicate it or go about even getting into vinyl.

Only a handful of music tracks in total are amazing to listen to. The rest are depressingly bad That has been my experience so far.

 

I’m with you Hyperscope.

I don’t do much digital but I believe what you say. When you get hold of a so called official recording of a raw state one
It’s not the same. Those Radio FM broadcast tapes from forty odd years ago are the real thing compared to a lot of freeze dried recordings on vinyl/cd etc. in todays landscape.

I do like some digital music - one being Jaki Liebezeit’s work after Can. That one works for me.

Forgot to say that I download all files onto cassette. It would also be on reel to reel but both my A77’s need service & repair.

 

Old FM radio broadcast tapes... yeah before the "loudness wars". When they increased the mastering volume to the max and everything sounds compressed and dead. Google Loudness Wars and watch / read the videos about what happened.
Maybe what you are describing is just related to the industry techniques of loudness and compression / no dynamic range anymore.

 

Yes, this loudness war. I was so oblivious to this until very recently when I stumbled upon a big debate on other forums.
May have been this one in its earlier days.Then I read the Wiki topic on the phenomenon, and yes I did know about all the changes to FM broadcast these days. For instance our BBC FM analog set up is partially digital (read that on a Vintage audio site. This is old hat and I’m trying to catch up with what went wrong.

 

A unbelievable bargain. I’ll get one if available in the U.K. and Don hasn’t slapped 500% tariff on vinyl accessories.
The Mk.3 Project I use will be spare.

 

Thanks for the info, I did take a look into this machine thinking there would be a lot of feedback but it must be early days. I’ll keep it on the back burner.

One thing seemed to happen a lot with the Project VC after a wash was crackle noise (not every time) when playing the LP to test. This was with their solution so I tried out some home brew mix & I found this much better. On a few occasions if there is some hint of crackle I replay the troublesome track a few times and you can hear the noise level drop. There again some of my cartridges do pick up more noise if I’ve messed with their set up. A pain.