Anyone See Downside to an Ionizer blowing on Turntable?

Your anti-skate might not like it. Pre-treating should be enough for a single play.

If you have a Zero-stat gun, open the record sleeve and zap the ions onto the record before taking it out. Record won't attract floating dust when taken out of the sleeve.

A two minute session with an ionizer before playing music might be all you need.

Ny experience with ionizers is that they cause dust to precipitate around them.  In other words they cause airborne dust to settle out of the air, I imagine on your LP.

wind across your tonearm will cause more miss tracking than the potential benefit.

pre-treatment does not last a full side.

i have 3 turntables, and three anti-static ionizers that project negative ions on the pressing as it turns. but no air movement. they are not cheap.

dweller - I have a Zero Stat gun.  Good suggestion.  I'll try it.

erik_squires - point well taken.  Still might be worth trying

Mikelavigne - I'm assuming the "fan" is more like a very gentle breeze, but your point is well taken.  What is the name of your anti-static ionizer?  I have a $20K turntable - not cheap to me.  

Look for the source of your static. Are you playing records on carpet with socks- huge cause. Once my records are cleaned, no static charge. I work and play in bare feet. There are ways to discharge static on a record, but my suggestion is to figure out what is causing the charge and address that. It's not something that should normally interfere w/ LP playback. 

By the way, the usual way to teduce static is to use a humidifier. 

@mikelavigne what you say about "blowing" makes a lot of sense. Still from everything I can find there are only 2 units that are simple to use and effective both from Japan. The DS Audio & CS Port units, yes expensive but work as many say they do on WBF. 

Ionizers create ozone. Ozone is not good for rubber things like turntable belts and is harmful to breath.

*******************

I’ve been going nuts on the static/record handling thing for a month now and this is what I have learned; Took me 50 plus years of playing records also......

As we know, static will hold the dirt onto the vinyl causing noisier playback and more damage since it in effect is glued to the surface. The stylus hits it and bad things happen. Without the static the dirt is just pushed away and hopefully up out of the groove and onto the flats of the surface where a roller (or brush) will take them away.

1) It’s essential to actually know how static charged the record is otherwise it’s all guesswork. The easiest way to see this - though seems crude - hang a length of toilet paper down off something. I have it on the back of my speaker. See how much the vinyl attracts the paper.

2) A few passes with the Milty stat gun - while holding the album in hand - neutralizes the static. I remember being a skeptic way back when lol

3) Any brushing of the record surface with anything, including that "anti-stat" grounded brush on the arm, or a velvet pad, or those regular carbon fiber "antistat" brushs, adds static. They all do. They should be called static brushes. The vinyl just eats up the electrons.

4) I like using those silicon rollers as I feel they do not push dirt off the flats and back into the grooves like brushes do and they really grab a lot of stuff. But they add static also.

5) So go ahead and brush or roll with whatever but then hit with the Milty... WITH THE ALBUM IN HAND. For some reason the grounding at the turntable prevents proper de-statting.

6) The stylus adds a slight charge and more if it has even a bit of dust dragging on it.

7) A USB microscope is great to see how quickly a diamond can grab dust. It also could drive one crazy. I have one permanently mounted at the table and move the arm to a holder so the stylus is in focus for examination.

8) There is an art to holding the record in one hand and rolling or brushing it, then blasting it with the Milty, and getting the record onto the platter without dropping the album. Care must be taken at this point especially after having some libations.

9) Use a dust cover. The whole paranoia about resonances is just that. Unless you are cranking 100 dbs at a club or something. Not using a dust cover would drive me nuts. But that’s just me. It’s amazing how quickly dust and stuff gets back onto vinyl. But we do have a dog. :)

10) Humidity helps prevent the person from getting charges from carpet but even with high humidity levels, vinyl is an electron attractor and the records will gain static.    

hope this helps

on my 3 tt's i use -2- CS Port IME1 units, and 1 DS Audio Ion 001. the DS Audio is a bit more effective, but much more difficult to position effectively. it's about how your shelf and plinth are positioned, which one works better.

both of these units are set and forget. meaning during a session i can turn them on and not think about it. the DS Audio unit warns you not to leave it on all the time as the product has a limited time life. my habit is to turn off the units when that tt is not playing.

a humidifier could wreak havoc with circuitry, so use one with discretion. nothing that should be constant. ventilate your room when possible if you do use a humidifier frequently.

https://acaia.co/products/ion-beam

I just bought one of these. I will let you know after I try it. Based on the video it works well reducing the static in coffee grinding. If it doesn't work on records you can always just use it with your coffee grinder.

@jperry,

Does that Ionizer work?

I have a small arm with brush on the end that tracks the record just before the stylus. It has a wire connected to it's base and I have grounded at the other end.

Long story short, it's useless for static. Might even make it worse.

@mr_m there's a response from another user of the Hunt brush somewhere on these forums that confirms it made the static worse! 

I use a Hunt EDA brush, and while it cleans off all the lint and debris,  I agree it does little for static.

ossicle2brain

56 posts

07-12-2023 at 02:52pm 

I threw the Hudson anti stat brush across the room. That’s the second one. What a waste of time. Yes the carbon fibers in it are conductive and with a meter I checked continuity to ground through them.  It's a high resistance but there is a path.

I would love to see a video of them actually working with the toilet paper attraction test or meter test.. Mine added static. Vinyl attracts electrons. A grounded brush is like an infinite supply of them.

So back to just the Milty.

And the problem with the silicon roller is that it also adds static. So if you do it while the record is on the platter you then have to take it off again to blast with the Milty.

So it might be back to the carbon fiber anti stat brush after the album is de-statted and on the platter, or... I’m actually wondering about plain ’ol compressed air. Use the Milty with album in hand. Place on turntable....blow off fibers and the loose stuff with compressed air somehow. Maybe a small compressed air can that can be recharged easily. No need to touch the album after a cleaning. I don’t trust that brushes won’t move crud into the grooves from the flats, making things worse and no need to antistat after the Milty or similar.

@mr_m 

I don't know how well the Acacia Beam deionizer will work on records yet. I just ordered it and expect it to arrive by the end of the month.

I will post an update after I try it.

I’ve had this in my cart for a few months now thinking it might work as well as if not better than some of the MUCH higher-priced options.

Thoughts? And don’t suggest “increase humidity, DERP!”

Increased humidity increases dust mites which increases dust mite “dander” which increases rice crispy vinyl sounds.

Includes 3 Extra Filters - Metro DataVac ESD Safe Electric Duster - Model ED-500 ESD - Great For Dusting Computers And Electronic Equipment - .75 Peak HP - 500 Watts - (Not A Vacuum) https://a.co/d/5lQPqoc

wind across your tonearm will cause more miss tracking than the potential benefits

Any speaker drivers moving in a room, subwoofer drivers moving, the music playing, etc can become an impediment to the pristine spinning of vinyl. The ultra sophisticated vinyl plastic conneiseurs should just throw away all their speakers and listen on headphones....lest they disturb the stupid plastic crap, as it spins around.