Cleaning Vinyl Lp's

Audio Technica AT91 Moving Magnet Cartridge
by Audio-Technica
£19.99

AUDIO TECHNICA AT440MLA Players Cartridges
by Audio Technica
£156.99

Is the AT440 really 7 x better than the AT95 ?

I am currently using a Dual DMS242E cartridge + DN242 Stylus on the SoundLAB Professional USB Belt Drive Turntable it outperforms the Audio Technica AT91 that came with the turntable.
 
william-1 said:
Is the AT440 really 7 x better than the AT95 ?
Click to expand...

Erm, you used the price of the AT91 (most basic AT cartridge there is), not the AT95... :-rofl2

Plus you can get the AT440MLa a lot cheaper than the prices AT has on their website, the difference is the way the diamond is cut on the stylus, it's not elliptical (AT95e) or conical (AT91) like most styli are, it's a MicroLine cut, which at the size it is, is very hard to accomplish so takes a lot of work to get it accurate, hence it's price...

stylustypes.jpg
 
I do not consider downgrading my Lp's via usb that the SoundLAB Professional USB Belt Drive Turntable came equipped with far better to explore the possibility of storing this higher quality recording medium via FLAC or WAV files,

I am still learning about these new technologies as they offer better recordings than MP3 is capable of achieving.
 
Has anyone got a record deck with a moving coil? And are they really worth the extra money?
 
Chris1979 said:
Has anyone got a record deck with a moving coil? And are they really worth the extra money?
Click to expand...

My Pioneer 3MC cartridge on my PL-720 is a High-Output Moving Coil (HOMC, can be used on Moving Magnet (MM) pre-amps), and it's okay, very loud though so needs attenuating a lot, but really you're not getting anything more than you get with an MM cartridge, just a more expensive replacement stylus... :)
 
william-1 said:
I do not consider downgrading my Lp's via usb that the SoundLAB Professional USB Belt Drive Turntable came equipped with far better to explore the possibility of storing this higher quality recording medium via FLAC or WAV files,

I am still learning about these new technologies as they offer better recordings than MP3 is capable of achieving.
Click to expand...
Flac files seem to be the way forward. But they take a lot more had space.

But worth it. B&W's society of sound offer 24bit 192khz downloads. But you have to subscribe to it.

(Inless you bought a pair of there speakers)

I have also noticed a difference in sound when streaming from my dlink nas drive via twonky server and my net gear modem/hdd.

Modem HDD is by far the best.
 
Chris1979 said:
I use a View attachment 73445

The mixture I use is

Isopropyl alcohol and pure water with a touch of fairy liquid.

70% isopropyl to 30% water.
Click to expand...

Isopropyl alcohol 50% to 50% white vinegar + 2 drops of fairy liquid is the mixture that I use to clean my vinyl records.
 
william-1 said:
SoundLAB Professional USB Belt Drive Turntable
Click to expand...

SoundLAB - Chinese tat purveyors
Professional - Erm, no, pros use quality hardware... :-rofl2
USB - Has a cheap 16-bit sound chip built in that sounds pretty pi$$ poor
Belt Drive - Usually attached to a cheap brushed motor that puts a lot of noise into the recordings...:-doh

If you want to transfer your records to digital, just get a decent quality turntable, a decent pre-amp (Cambridge Audio CA540p for me), a soundcard capable of 24bit recording, and pipe the records into the Line-In port on your computer, use Audacity to record it all, and there you go... :)
 
2cvbloke said:
If you want to transfer your records to digital, just get a decent quality turntable, a decent pre-amp (Cambridge Audio CA540p for me), a soundcard capable of 24bit recording, and pipe the records into the Line-In port on your computer, use Audacity to record it all, and there you go... :)
Click to expand...
Yes, but it takes for-friggin'-ever to transfer all 200 LPs in the collection 8-(
First record A + B side.
Then normalise tracks (to -5% to avoid digital overload - even audacity doesn't do it properly).
Then cut the recording up into tracks.
Then name the resulting snippets properly.
Then run through LAME or similar to get proper FLAC + mp3
Then copy to NAS.

... takes ages!
 
I am only going to record a few favourite Lp's not an entire collection :) yes it can take for ages dead right there:eek:
 
st1 said:
... takes ages!
Click to expand...

Yeah, if you're doing that many... :-rofl2

My entire collection is not that big so would probably be a day or two's work, but it's a labour of love... :)

Still, vinyl's more fun to listen to directly, it's more an experience than something in the background... :)
 
Personally I wouldn't bother digitising any LP where there is already a digital version available - usually from the master tapes (what ARE you thinking of William-1?) or can be ripped from a CD.

The problems come when you have LPs that were never that popular. I have a few like that. Mostly from the late 70s and early 80s. One of these days I'll buckle down and do it...
 
I've just bought my first brand new vinyl album (Blur - The magic whip), and that apparently comes with a code to download a digital copy, but, I want to listen to the vinyl version instead, though considering I've yet to hear any tracks from that album, I'm not sure if I'll like it or not... :confused

Apparently, new vinyl should be cleaned too as they usually have traces of release agent from being pressed, which can guck up the stylus if not removed...
 
Some of the new pressings are covered in all sorts of things.

What cleaning fluid do you use?

As ethanol gets all the dust and cr@p out of the groove, but keeps clogging up my needle.
 
Chris1979 said:
What cleaning fluid do you use?
Click to expand...

Fairy Platinum........... :ph34r:

Can't afford all them fancy chemicals people talk about, fairy does the job, degreases, gets into the grooves, washes stuff out, and rises off nicely... :)

Wouldn't mind a proper record cleaning machine, but, they're pretty pricey too...
 
Back
Top