Agreed. I have 45-50 year old LP's that play fine. Not all of them by any means, but all the ones that were properly cared for.
Proper care means a RCM. Don't upgrade your turntable or tonearm before buying one. Don't upgrade your cartridge first either. Yes, a worn stylus can damage vinyl, but any stylus will damage vinyl if the vinyl isn't clean. Only a vacuum RCM can prevent that.
Last night I spun some magnificent 1966 English pressings of Solti's 'Das Rheingold'. I got them from the original owner, who bought them when they first hit these shores nearly 40 years ago. He used the Discwasher "system" regularly but never owned a RCM. He actually advised me not to buy one. "Won't make a difference," was his opinion.
Well, after seven passes on my Loricraft, using RRL, AIVS, Smart Developments and Micro Care Premier, I believe I've removed all the loose grunge that his stupid Disc Washer repeatedly emulsified and then left behind. Unfortunately, nothing will remove the microscopic bits his stylus ground into the groove walls over the years.
These magnificent pressings are now listenable, but they're noisier than they might have been. The original owner's rig wasn't good enough to reveal the damage he was doing, but the damage was still being done. They sound exactly like carefully handled records that were merely Disc-Washered, no big pops but many low level ticks. Those would not be there if he'd cleaned the records properly before playing them.
Buy a RCM if you care about your vinyl. If you don't, and someday upgrade to a more revealing rig, you'll learn the hard way about the damage you were doing but couldn't hear.
