Noisier Outer Edges?

Could be the tonearm and turntable may be experiencing movement and/or vibration from the user at the beginning of the record.

If this is a possibilty then the opening grooves are more susceptitle to damage than the balance of the record once the tonearm and table have stabilized.

Just a thought.

I've alwasy assumed this is because the outer edge is always exposed, since most people put the record sleeve in to the cover with the open end lined up with the open end of the cover. More exposure, more dust and dirt. Once cleaned, I always slide the record and sleeve into the cover with the open end up, so that there is no longer any exposure of the record when stored. This is less convenient, since you must remove both the record and sleeve from the cover in order to play it, but it's worth the added effort.

Seems par for the course for vinyl. The old RCA Red Seals although touted as excellent in quality, had a reputation for warpage, non-fill and general surface noise even when new out of the jacket - remember the 'dynaflex'?. I've been impressed with Warner Brothers Labels, and of course audiophile pressings. When buying used vinyl online (especially ebay) its catch as catch can and try your luck. Many of them are lots of records bought at estate sales and the vinyl is stored in damp basements which is bad for the vinyl. Personally, the vinyl I've bought over the years have always been keep in an area where there is good air circulation - at least 1 floor above the basement.

I thought this could also be due to "non-fill" on the outer edge of the record, as Johnnyb53 alludes to...this phenomenon is really bad for me on the new Elvis Costello LP, despite trying 3 different copies.

Thanks for the help, I will try the suggestions... Glad I am not the only one who noticed or having this problem.

I have this problem on some records. You start it out and it sounds like it's going to be a noisy record, and then it settles down a few groove layers in.

I had heard that it had to do with the stamping process, and if it's done a little too fast, the way the vinyl gets squished at the edges creates little fissures that cause this noise.

The stylus doesn't know about rpm: only about inches per second of vinyl passing by. Obviously the vinyl moves faster for the outer grooves, and this may aggrevate surface noise.

Ah, but you say...45 rps disks are quiet. I think that's because 45s are cut with a stronger groove. With an outer track of a LP you have the LP groove modulation with higher than average vinyl speed.

Usually the complaint is about audio quality of inner tracks. Here the vinyl is moving too slow.

Life is all about compromises.

Toufu, I have noticed this on a few of my records. I use a Loricraft string record cleaner and often think it does a poorer job of vacuuming on the extreme outer grooves. I have not, however, been able to doubly clean these outer grooves and remove the problem. And I cannot account for why most records have this problem.

I must say, however, that I use the Walker Preclude system and recently got the new Step 4 final rinse. On one of these noisy outer groove records, it did greatly reduce the noise. I will be doing a final rinse on all my records in the next several months.

I think that your cartridge may not be set up correctly. Records actually cover more territory of vinyl on the outside than on the inside, because the outside is larger. It actually travels faster than the inside. If there are errors in installation..if it is not quite aligned correctly, if the loading is not correct, if the VTA is very off, etc, than the noise will come through "better". You might want to recheck all of that stuff and then have a listen. I think that rechecking would be your best bet to start with.

i find records to be more warped at the edges. you may want to try adjusting antiskate in either direction if you hear noise more in one channel than the other. you may also want to adjust tracking force to be slightly heavier. also check for wear and tear of your cartridge. how old is it/how many hours on it?