What do you think causes the crackle and clicks we hear?

would disagree on static discharges, and some of the other ideas.

Have looked into this for a long time and taken many microphotographs of LP / vinyl groove surfaces.

first you need to understand what is  mixed in with vinyl pellets before the record pressing plants ever sees them. Many think mold releases are used. Have not found that to be the case.

But during PVC pellet processing, Calcium carbonate is added to almost all vinyl formulas during formulation as a processing aid for all the manufacturing steps, from extrusion, to pelletizing to molding.

during the record pressing cycle, the calcium carbonate is still in suspension in the PVC vinyl matrix during the heating cycle. During the cooling cycle, the rapid change in temperature causes the Calcium carbonate to migrate to the the cooler surface, collecting in the bottom of every groove.

As the stylus tracks the groove, the bottom of the stylus is hitting the tops of these larger particles. Want evidence? Take a look at the bottom side of your cartridge. you will likely see some fine dark white to light tan tiny particles clinging everywhere. these are tiny calcium carbonate particles the stylus removed from the bottom of the groove.

Have looked at over 300  records under a microscope and have never found one without the deposits.

Removing the calcium carbonate is the key to removing ticks and pops, and general groove noise. and its tough to do. But one done, its amazing how much better your vinyl will sound.

it can be removed with an ultrasonic machine as well as a vacuum type machine (VPI or nitty gritty).

Both require numerous passes on each side to remove the particles.

But once removed, your records will get amazingly quiet and the resolution and imaging will improve much more than swapping in a new phono cart.

best









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Interesting, John. Thanks for sharing!

MC you really need to go digital. This stuff is getting to your head or whatever you call it:)

Good one. Its just hard sometimes to take this stuff seriously. I mean it is after all records we’re talking about.

Its like the guys on Rennlist asking why do my brakes squeal? Why can’t Porsche make a car the brakes don’t squeal? VW can. Mercedes can. Why not Porsche? What is so hard?

And there’s really only two ways to go. One is a deep dive into brake compounds, calipers, temperature ranges, kinetic energy, on and on. The other is dude, its a Porsche. If you absolutely can’t deal with it go ahead, drive the Beetle.

Its static electricity, dirt, dust, wear- all those and more. If you absolutely can’t deal with it, there’s always the Beetle.

I can’t answer the why. I don’t know what causes the clicks and pops. I do know that a good cleaning helps. I use an RCM and I do a rinse and vac after using a cleaner. I use pure distilled water to rinse even though I’ve been told the water molecules are too big to get in the grooves. All I know is it works. And I will do just a water rinse if there is a lot of static on a record. The moisture kills the static. A Zerostat works well for me if the static isn’t terrible. I’ve noticed some of them work better than others. I think there quality control was never great. And there is a proper way to use it that I see most people get wrong. Youtube has plenty of examples of how to do it right. I still have some LPs with noise I can’t get rid of. I either live with it or I find a better copy.