I thought this was an interesting read, for what it's worth, I dunno... It was in the "Audio Talk" bboard, under "Buying a turn-table" thread. Interestingly the thread was late 2003. I need to glance over this bboard. They even cover amateur radio stuff
Look's like one of those "toy's for boy's" rooms, and I mean that in a straight way of course.
http://www.allaudio.org/
Karyoker and Keith, you've got to check out this place if you don't already know about it.. (It's the next best thing to traveling back a few years). See you guy's in the past.
btw... Is this for real ??? read this paragraph at least. 2.5 tons per square inch ?
BY: Guest (cleaning a record)
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Don't use a record brush of any kind. None have bristles small enough to
get into the bottom of the grooves, so they push more stuff into the groove
than they remove. Let the stylus clean the record, then properly clean the
stylus: Brushes and liquids are all useless. When playing a record, a mix
of vinyl, metal, and oil are pounded onto the stylus at high heat and at
about 2.5 tons per square inch. It takes something abrasive to get that
off. 30 micron aluminum oxide paper (Linn stylus cleaning paper) is the
best. Very fine emery cloth ("Crocus cloth") or the strike pad from a
matchbook will also work. If a stylus is well used and has never been
cleaned this way, there will be "mod" on the stylus well above that portion
that touches the record. It will be necessary to hold the cleaner
vertically and the stylus all the way up to the cantilever. In order to
access the cleanliness or lack thereof, you need at least 50x magnification.
In order to see the wear, you need 120x and must view the stylus in
silhouette (illuminate a white background).
(regarding buying a table)
Aside from the table itself and a suitable phono stage, the thing to
listen to vinyl with is the same thing you already listen to other
sources on.
A vintage audio setup can have a certain charm of its own, which is
important to some people and "balls and farts" to others. I own a
vintage _style_ system consisting of a homemade clone of a Marantz 7B
preamp, Allen Organ power amps and Altec 604 Mutt speakers (Alnico
magnets and the Mantaray horn) with Doug Sax Mastering Lab x/o in
custom cabs built from a Japanese magazine. I don't represent it as
"the best", it's for my own amazement and I like it.
Notwithstanding the fact that a lot of great music-and other sounds-
are available only on vinyl, that vinyl UNLIKE CD is an archival
medium, and that vinyl has a certain satisfaction of use CDs never
will, The Undisputable Fact is that I find the sound of really good.