Frustrated with Vinly

Darn it Lewm.
I had managed to resist that from post #1 ..... LMAO.

As far as reissues vs original pressing is concerned it is a crap shoot. Can go either way. 
As far as gunk in the groove of new records is concerned, there isn't any. Nada, nothing. I once played 15 new records in a row under a dust cover using a conductive sweep arm. At the end there was nothing on the stylus under a microscope. Nothing, not even any dust (all on the sweep arm.) 
Yes, you can digitize your record collection. Get Channel D's Pure Vinyl and you can download it to the computer in real time at 192/24. You don't need a reel to reel machine. I have pure Vinyl and have down loaded several records and they do sound fine but I decided not to do it. There is something traditional about playing a record that I like. I have records that have been played many times without any audible wear so I do not feel the need to download them to save the collection. Channel D makes phono amps that have no compensation in them. The RIAA correction is done by the computer. So Pure Vinyl actually plays the record. I have not tried this yet and do not know if I ever will. Some people think it is an improvement. Analog junkies do not like digitizing their music. 
Good rice paper record sleeves that will not hold static are a must but they have to be well made and heavy or they just fold up when you try to put them back in the cover.

There's a audio store in Pasadena, CA, Audio Element, which has record cleaners available to customers. You just need to buy some record cleaning solution to utilize their cleaners as much as you want.
I think I will take a couple of my records that I seem to be having some issues with, clean it there and then also play it there and see how they sound.
They have a bunch of turntables you can check out and play on, so I will probably do a before and after and see how the results are.
Since I do not have a higher end record cleaner and don't know anyone personally who is into this hobby, this will have to be the way to test out the records.

If I like the results, then I might invest in a cleaner.
Thing is, at the moment, I have probably have about 50 or less records.
I also won't be able to buy or keep hundreds of them simply because I do not have the room, so I will need to be very selective of what I want on the LP format.
I hope I can get out there on one of the coming weekends.

Thanks

I will say from experience that the right phono preamp and cartridge has reduced clicks and pops significantly. I switched to a slightly higher output cart and somewhat lower gain from the phono pre. I wasn't really looking for the quieter result but somewhere along the line just noticed the records were quieter, by quite a bit actually.

poko3 posts01-18-2020 6:59pm

Got a spin clean - which drove me crazy and made me want to walk away from records and cut my losses. The SC seemed to make more noise than it took away.  

Had the same issue with my Spin Clean, noisier than before I cleaned the record. Bought a used record Doctor vacuum RC, haven't looked back since.