How do you get past the pops and hiss of LPs?


I have recently got out my dad's old Thorens TT (TD 150 MKII) and listened to some of his old classical LP's. I think that it is a warmer sound than CD but I can't get passed all the noise. I asked my Dad and he said it always sounded that way. Am I doing something wrong? Do you just ignore the hiss and pops? Thanks in advance.

-Kevin
kemp
Pbb, tlak about the pot calling the kettle black. Yours is a fine example of selective logic. The original poster described noise and ASKED if he was doing something wrong and should he ignore the hiss. He did not mention if these were records that were clean or filthy, they were very old or damaged, or what kind of rig he was using to play them.

I have seen mention here of ignoring the occasional pop or tick, but not that he should ignore all noise. There are many factors that might induce noise. Cleaning the records might be a very good first step. If the records have actual damage, he might replace them with a better copy. If he is using some old record player or a decent TT with a defective or damaged stylus/cartridge, even a very modest upgrade might be of benefit. Who is to say that if he cleans and otherwise dirty record, replaces an otherwise damaged record, or plays it on a decent rig, that he will NOT hear the noise he currently does and find even better sound than the "warmer than CD" sound he also describes?

I would point out that "snap, crackle, pop" and hiss are entirely different issues. Perhaps it is more the former he is hearing and not the latter. The former can be easily addressed in most all cases, using the selective logic approaches mentioned. In my experience, hiss is generally never found as a result of the LP itself unless it is an older recording derived from noisy tape OR there is some kind of RF getting into the electronics chain of events. Nothing unique to vinyl, though. Listen to old Louis Armstrong recordings on CD. Where did all that hiss come from? The CD? Obviously not.

This brings up another point. If your CD deck lens is damaged, the CD has muck and scrapes, or you are using a Walkman as a front end, will those CD's sound great? Would it be valid for someone to post a thread wondering how such CD's sounded bad? And, would suggesting remedies in these areas constitute selective logic or an indictment of CD as a format?

As for the occasional pops and clicks. There are many recordings which I have on LP and CD and I have decent rigs to play both. The LP's nearly always win out over the CD version and, have others have said, a click here or there is outweighed by the improvement in sound. Once in awhile, to be fair, the CD in a re-mastered version will score big. When it does I can enjoy and appreciate its sound. Let us face facts, both mediums have there limitations, not the least of which is the ability of the engineers to record and transfer the masters appropriately. Along these lines, the talk of missing LF on LP's is simply a red herring. For every LP I can toss out there with missing LF, I can throw out a CD that is sterile with no dynamics.

"Making of necessity virtue is wearing thin as an argument."

I am not really sure what this means but, continual and gratuitous bashing of any one medium without objectively looking at the equally onerous shortcomings of another is also wearing very thin.
Motdathird, a very well reasoned response.

I have had many CDP's over the last 20 years and yes I've had nearly as many TT's In my own mind the upgrade was about equal each time I bought a better TT I bought a better CDP also. Right now I have about the same amount of money invested in each. The CDP and the table, arm, and cartridge retail for about $3500 each. In theory they should be of equal sound quality.

I attend concerts and hear live music regularly, and use that as the point of reference. When I listen at home to 'cleaned' records and CDs of which I have the same thing on cd, SACD, or vinyl I have yet to hear a digital recording that sounds as good as vinyl. Is my system so inferior that I cannot detect the differences? Am I just to stupid to notice that CDs really sound better? Or is it that I spent the money to buy what I consider to be a very good (and expensive) CD player, but that I'm still unwilling to give the CDP a fair chance? What am I doing wrong???
I apologize to Kemp. I see that he said he is using the Thorens. That will work!
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This is the same old problem here.
Someone new to analog asks a simple question. Members try to answer it as best as They can.
Then some digivites start to bash analog.

That is were we are once again.

We have been down this road before.
After much debate, digital and analog rigs compared worth 10s of thousands of dollars the verdict is in, lp rules. (check the archives)

The only logical conclusion one can make, if one claims the superiority of digital is that you need to listen to a good analog rig. Believe me, we have been in a place where we once wanted cd to be better, because this medium has a lot going for it. The bottom line for those us that have chosen to abandon digital for critical listening is that lp simply has more music on it, period. Plus a pop or a click once in a while, and maybe some grove noise between tracks. Many lp's play with no noise at all.
The low frequencies are the hardest to trace for the cartridge and track for the arm. It takes a superior combo to dig the information out of those groves. Twl's moded Origin Live silver arm and a Shelter 501 cartridge (Retail is $1,600) with the hi fi mod increases the low end with at least another octave. This is the bass that a cd player cannot match.

You do not have to spend a fortune to get good analog sound, that is mostly free of noise(pops & clicks).
A used Systemdeck and a atcoc9 with a Rega arm will sound fantastic($700 range).
There are many sub 1k rigs that will get you most of the way there.

I hope this clears up some issues.
When you here how great, good analog can sound and if you are willing to put in the effort required in setup,(this can be quite a lot sometimes)it is not plug in and play. You will be rewarded.