Audio signs of record wear.

My original post did not get past the censors. My main point was that it is impossible to unravel surface noise from the music despite what unconditional supporters of the black discs like to claim. The usual argument is that one can disregard the surface noise and just hear the music and that, unlike digital, there is music to be found in analog reproduction even below the noise floor.

I can tell you that once a record surface is affected any number of things can and do occur to the music. The high frequencies are the first to be affected since they are reproduced by the smallest of indentations in the vinyl and are likeliest to be the first victims when the vinyl is deformed.

Face it, a vinyl record is best prior to its first playing and deteriorates thereafter. The speed and effect of such deterioration can be debated ad nauseum but that one fact remains: vinyl is delicate.

That statement you made at the end of your post about vinyl deterioration is not correct.I am reminded of an article in Stereophile by it's editor John Atkinson.He found that the high-frequency info was still present on a worn old record he had made with his band in the 70's.Wear is one thing in terms of physical damage of course,but records do not deteriorate per se and still retain the bulk of their info it seems.

All opinions appreciated. Thanks

Wonder why pbb's first post did not clear the censors?
One of his passions is coming to the analog forum and bashing.

Well pops and most surface noise are only dirt that you are hearing, This can be cleaned to eliminate almost all of the noise. If you have a tick from a scratch this is something you cannot fix. A good analog rig will be a lot quieter than a low budget turntable with a mm cartridge.

I have records that I have played hundreds of times and they still sound great. Santana’s first LP for instance on the Columbia 360 first edition, this LP is still the reference in all formats. As are many lp's. After many plays and 30 plus years they still kick the crap out of any cd version.

The only area where cd beats LP's in signal to noise but IMHO the analog signal is superior and I don't here any noise. Aside from maybe the odd pop from dirt or release agent. I cannot find it to offensive because I rarely clean my LP's and then only by hand. I really need a vacuum LP cleaning machine, and some of Pauls cleaning solutions, for some of those old rare lp's I got off ebay. This will actually make my all LP's sound better.

To answer you?'

Ok, we all know pops, ticks and surface noise are signs of record wear. But does it affect the music itself???? Are the highs dampened???? Is the overall volume lowered?? Dynamic range????

NO

What affects the sound is if you badly mistrack an LP with a bad turntable this will wear the record and you will find that the high's become distorted after many plays.

In this day and age bad turntables are dinosaurs, any modern turntable will play lp's with-out wear, unless your stylus becomes damaged, but you will be able to tell because it will sound like crap from the start.

Hope this helps you out. Let me know if you have any other questions.
Peace
Ron

Clean your records with a 16.5, apply Last record preservative and you won;t have anything to worry about.