Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?

In my early days of being in the audio business, I was invited to an exclusive seminar, given by a cartridge manufacturer ( it was either Shure, Stanton, or Empire ). We were shown a video of a stylus tracking a record ( recorded microscopically, and blown up on a large screen ). This styus / record " movie " was fascinating, but also frightening. What was frightening, we saw little pieces of the record vinyl being torn away from the record, as the stylus passed over. Like rubber off a tire, but reversed ( the record was the road ). I spent lots of money on my tables and arms, but always kept my cartridges below 1K. Supex, Denon, Monster Cable, Madrigal, Dynavector and several others ( moving coils almost always ). The best tables and arms are designed to eliminate vibrations and resonances beyond those of the record / stylus interaction itself. As my ears got better, and more critical, I became more frustrated, as only a tiny percentage of records in my collection of 5000 sounded noise free. My phono journey became monetarily exuberant, for little enjoyment, so I sold it all about 5 years ago. Analog is great, but, it was no longer for me. YMMV. Enjoy ! MrD.

Atmasphere, I have never heard a phono stage make tics and pops. I would think that ultrasonic ringing would cause steady state distortion/overload if the unit’s frequency response went that high. Granted my experience with multiple inexpensive phono stages is limited. My first preamp was a Dynaco PAS 3X and I was using a Pickering cartridge. I was listening through AR 2ax speakers which had a horribly muted high end so pops and tics were wonderfully suppressed. If the phono stage were at fault all records would make noise so if you have some very quiet records but others are noisy you can forget about the phono stage. Some cartridges seem quieter than others. It would seem stylus shape would have something to do with this.

With regards to your opening comment my response is ’-that you know of...".


In the case of LOMC, there is a peak caused by the inductance of the cartridge and the capacitance of the tone arm interconnect cable. This peak is often well past the bandwidth of almost any phono preamp, so what happens in the case of the RFI generated by this resonance is that it is rectified by something in the phono input. This is how RFI messes with any audio circuit by the way. Bandwidth has nothing to do with it.


With MM high output cartridges, the resonant peak is much lower in frequency but is still often ultrasonic. However its still often 20db higher than the actual signal and can easily overload many phono stages. Imagine a phono circuit being overloaded by an ultrasonic signal (something you can’t hear)- what do you think it would sound like? Its not that hard to hear the difference- the first time I heard it I was running a Grado cartridge that made 5 mV. It is true that some cartridges are quieter- it might have a different stylus shape but it can also have a different inductance. You might find this interesting:
http://www.hagtech.com/loading.html

"Noise free" records?

When I started buying records again, about three years ago, the constant ticks and pops were driving me crazy - to the point where I was ready to give up...

I went through the various processes - DIY formula and various scrubbing techniques. Got a spin clean, hoping that would help, but no, still noise there.

Picked up an Okki Nokki, least expensive vacuum RCM I could find. After much trial and error, I am finally happy with the state of my records.

Took a while, but got the process figured out so iy works for me. Disc Doctor brushes, distilled water and L'Art du Son fluid. Three brushes, one for wash and two for rinse. I do two wash cycles where I let the cleaner soak for 5 min before doing a "thorough, but light scrub" and then two rinse cycles. Separate wands for wash/clean. I only do one rotation to remove the fluids until the final rinse, when I do two.

Have to say I am super happy w the results. Now, gotta tackle the static issue.

I am curious about the Phono Stage causing ticks and pops. Have read a bit about this and don't quite get how it actually works in practice. The profile of the stylus seems pretty straight forward. The sharper it is, the deeper into the grooves it goes and the less the top part of the groove - the noisiest part - doesn't have as much contact w the stylus.

P

Use a Zero-Stat on the record just before play. Use Static-Guard https://www.walmart.com/ip/Static-Guard-Spray-5-5-Ounces/21092566
Puff a little around (not directly over) the turntable. Waft a little around the phono leads, phono stage, and over all interconnects and speaker cables. Between the conditions in my room and how keen I am on SQ I do this before every side. Its not like it gets real bad and I hear zapping if I don't do it as often. But if I skip a side or two and then spray there is a rather obvious improvement in terms of a little less grain and a lower noise floor. This stuff is cheap, I don't mind the smell, and I never ever hear or see any static zapping or popping anywhere when I do this.

The improvement spraying the cables tells me static isn't just a problem when records pop. Its everywhere. Cable Elevators get them up off the floor and work great. Same for power cords and interconnects. None of this was done because anyone said so. I only do what I myself have tested and proven to be worth doing. This stuff is dirt cheap. So don't take my word for it either. Just try if you want and see for yourself.

Atmasphere...
Can you recommend some stand-alone phono stages that have the design features you describe? Don’t think I’m smart enough to figure that out for myself, but it would be interesting to give one a try. Thanks!