Starting a Classical Vinyl Music Collection
Don't have much so I'm wondering where to begin.
TIA
What @tablejockey stated is accurate. Buying used can = buying abused. If the disc is not sealed in shrink wrap you can’t blame even the cheapest disc cleaner. 😉 If the disc is sealed in the shrink wrap, could still just as easily be poor pressing QC. |
One other way to get rid of much surface noise is to put WD-40 spray on a non-abrasive cloth, then rub-transfer it onto the records. I’ve seen it work amazingly well. I’ve never used that strategy, however. A hollow cantilever and a cartridge motor seem like a bad combo for spray, but I can’t confirm that. Would be a disastrous approach in a house that particularly dusty or prone to pet hairs. |
+1 for the Deutsche Grammophon LPs. They did a Beethoven Bicentennial Collection around 1970. I think it's 17 boxed sets. You can find the whole set or various pieces for sale used on the internet. They also show up used at half-price book stores. I have the two sets of the string quartets. High level performance and possibly the best sound available. Unbelievable value. You can find lots of fine artists on this label. |
It is an unreasonable expectation that lps of several decades vintage are going to sound pristinely quiet, regardless of cleaning machine. Many of these were manufactured with inferior vinyl in the first place, as the energy crisis and other factors led to vinyl recycling. And when lp was out of favor people stored them in attics, basement, garages, with no climate control. Auditioning for noise before hand usually isn’t feasible, so it’s a crap shoot. New lps? Ridiculously expensive, imho, and many of them use a digital mastering stage. They might sound good but if any digital stage is used, then whatever theoretical advantage that vinyl has by maintaining an analog wave form is lost. Like your virginity, once lost, it can’t be regained. And if you are going to listen to a digital file, why embed it in a slab of petroleum, and then extract with a needle slashing its way through the groove which it degrades with each playing? With even careful maintenance, eventually your new expensive lps will start acquiring surface noise due to groove damage and other factors. If you are going to play a digital file, use digital equipment. If you have a low tolerance for surface noise, analog isn’t for you. I think you would be happier, OP, with a good digital setup. I reserve vinyl for recordings that can’t be obtained digitally, or that were poorly transferred from analog to digital.It is possible to achieve excellent sound either way. The music is what counts most; the technology is a means to an end, and not an end it itself.
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