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Background Noise-In the vinyl or system related?

Hi all,

I've recently started listening to classical on vinyl, and am surprised at the background noise I'm getting on a number of recordings. My tt is a Project Debut w the ortofon omb 5e. I've been listening mostlt to jazz and pop, lots of ecm lp's, and the sound is phenomenal. On the classical records, there just seems to be a higher floor of noise, and I'm unsure whether this is a quality of the vinyl used, or whether the lower volum recordings and greater silences between notes just reveals more noise than I'd noticed before. These are recordings from first-class outfits, like DGG and Philipps, so I'm curious what may be the problem. I haven't cleaned them yet, and many of them have almost no clicks and pops. How much will cleaning w an RCM help? I have a friend who does it for me for a charge, so will eventually take them over there.Are some labels/time periods known for noisy vinyl? Also, the place where I but my used vunyl sometimes cleans them w windex! I've seen them do it, and was wondering how that may affect background noise. Thanks in advance,

GB
gbb

Showing 1 response by islandmandan

islandmandan
1,260 posts
 
One very important factor in lowering the noise floor is getting overhang and cartridge alignment right. I just did my set up once again with my MintLP protractor, and found overhang a bit off. I reset overhang, checked alignment, and was immediately stunned at the reduction in surface noise I was hearing, even on lp's that were practically unlistenable. It pays to re-check your set up occaisionally, it takes very little to make a large difference.

Regards,
Dan
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