Record-playing Rituals?


I'm curious what everybody's riuals are when listening to albums. How often do you clean the records? Every Time? How often do you clean and lubricate the stylus? Every time?

David
deshapiro
Oh heck, those typos. I have to wait, not to war, ain't a freebootin' poirate, Oi ain't , rahter just patiently waiting. Longplate....I suppose all views from the inside of what will you, are probably disillusioning. I'm a linnetik-heretic too, though I think Tiefenbrun was the first to show, that turntables matter, wasn't he?
Linn doesn't believe in cleaning the stylus, rega doesn't even believe in cleaning the records. I use a stylus cleaner, but not a stylus preservative. Mr Shagano says it's a no-no. Any good stylus cleaner should completely evaporate before you play a record.
Detlof, I think Igor really brought it to everybodys attention with some Barnum % Baileyesqe promoting.But the first LP12 was little more then a refined AR. Realize at one time I had a full blown LP12..Ekos,lingo, but could never warm up to their cartridges. I got rid of the table..won't mention what I'm using now, not being flame proof.What's that Canadian guys name?...there was just a thread about his website. Anyway, he said the LP12 was the most overated product in the history of hifidum. In a post a couple months ago I said Linn was second to only Bose in marketing...I stand by that.
No I'm not kidding about the Putty. It really works! I've used it for years and will continue to do so.

For deep cleaning you can put a pea size on the platter and lower the arm/stylus onto it to sit for a minute.

Linn used to reccomend a super fine plastic emery type "paper". It was made of plastic and came in sheets.

The theory is that the gunk that builds on the stylus is hard to get off and won't come off with the super huge fibers of a brush.
Longplate, I'm with you on the Linn Issue. The fact that they have sold this line of BS through the years is an amazing marketing acomplishment. The only so-so construction and nightmarishly difficult adjustment setup, coupled with the lack of the 45RPM speed is unacceptable, in my view. The table is too lightweight in construction for the asking price. It's fundamental resonance ,if I recall, was too high at around 8 or 9 Hz.
Detlof, your point was also valid about the table sounding better than the mid 70s competition. I remember the shows where they would smoke all the competition (mostly japanese direct drive). It was only $525.00 back then.(They used Kieth Monks flip top tonearms for ease of comparison..marketing geniouses)
Ivor's philosophy has been a radically different one, but its more based on Religion than anything else IMO.........Frank