Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?

I haven't used a record cleaner in 20 years. No need.

So, I’m a little confused by the remarks by @atmasphere . I clean my records religiously. I think Ralph's "90%" is an overreach.

@slaw You have to hear a stable phono section right beside one that isn't to know what I'm talking about. Scratches- can't do anything about that. I just use a dust brush and that's all that's needed.

@atmasphere ,

All things being equal, are you saying unequivocally, that there is NO need for record cleaning at all?

All things being equal, are you saying unequivocally, that there is NO need for record cleaning at all?

Well I'm not sure what things would be equal; IME in audio its a rare thing where that happens.


But I've not had to clean any LPs in the last 20 years to get them to be silent. OTOH my phono preamp doesn't care if RFI comes into its input (so I don't need to mess with loading resistors) and its very stable so I don't get any ticks and pops unless there's a scratch. ...And cleaning won't do anything about a scratch...

So apparently in my case I don't need a record cleaning machine. I gave mine away after it sat for 20 years unused. As I think I mentioned in one of my prior posts, we have a whole generation of audiophiles that grew up listening to unstable phono sections that generate ticks and pops all on their own, so they think that's normal. It isn't- just poor design.

Your opinion is your own. I happen to strongly disagree. I should have put these (!!!!!!)