How do you get past the pops and hiss of LPs?


I have recently got out my dad's old Thorens TT (TD 150 MKII) and listened to some of his old classical LP's. I think that it is a warmer sound than CD but I can't get passed all the noise. I asked my Dad and he said it always sounded that way. Am I doing something wrong? Do you just ignore the hiss and pops? Thanks in advance.

-Kevin
kemp
I'd rather get all of the music and a little hiss from time to time rather than part of the music with a little hiss. Why is it the CDophiles are willing to pay full price for part of the product???

I bought a couple of new LPs this week and was listening to one of them yesterday. There was no hiss at all and only one minor 'pop' during everything I listetned to, but there sure was music. I have this same recording on a SBM CD and it sounds lifeless by direct comparison.

Listening to CD is like having a loved one on lifesupport but consoling ones self with the knowledge that they are still there.
Nrchy, aren't you just discussing which part is missing on which medium? Vinyl, after all, is missing the bottom end and dynamics, while possessing (or at least recreating the "life" and mark my words the life is not being extracted from the grooves but recreated by the motion of the stylus) that poorly recorded CDs are missing.
I don't know why one would want to buy an LP missing low notes and original dynamics.
Perhaps, but not because they are not missing information and the CDs are.

Salut, Bob P.
The best analog master tape recorders used DBX or other kinds of noise suppression, and produced results comparable to digital recorders...no hiss. But digital is a lot easier to work with when it comes to mixdown, so the world has gone digital. If you heard hiss on a CD it must have been a very early (or poor quality) master tape.

By the way, another common source of hiss is vacuum tubes. (Sorry about that).

As to LP's sounding better...I agree that they will sound different, and you may think, better. Mastering of the LP is different from the CD, and the RIAA equalization process, applied to the signal when the record is cut, and to your copy when you play it back is extreem and would be almost impossible to accomplish perfectly. Spectral balance will change. Also, in cutting LPs, it is common for LF signals (subwoofer fodder) to be mixed to monaural, because phono pickups don't do well with very low frequency vertical groove modulation. Of course this will affect the sound, and you may prefer it.