In my early days of being in the audio business, I was invited to an exclusive seminar, given by a cartridge manufacturer ( it was either Shure, Stanton, or Empire ). We were shown a video of a stylus tracking a record ( recorded microscopically, and blown up on a large screen ). This styus / record " movie " was fascinating, but also frightening. What was frightening, we saw little pieces of the record vinyl being torn away from the record, as the stylus passed over. Like rubber off a tire, but reversed ( the record was the road ). I spent lots of money on my tables and arms, but always kept my cartridges below 1K. Supex, Denon, Monster Cable, Madrigal, Dynavector and several others ( moving coils almost always ). The best tables and arms are designed to eliminate vibrations and resonances beyond those of the record / stylus interaction itself. As my ears got better, and more critical, I became more frustrated, as only a tiny percentage of records in my collection of 5000 sounded noise free. My phono journey became monetarily exuberant, for little enjoyment, so I sold it all about 5 years ago. Analog is great, but, it was no longer for me. YMMV. Enjoy ! MrD.
Is it possible to have vinyl nearly noise free?
I’ve been cleaning my vinyl starting with spin clean then using Orbitrac cleaning then do a vacuum with record dr. And finally putting on gruv glide..and I still hear some ticks and pops. Is it impossible to get it nearly completely quiet? Would like to ask all the analog audiophiles out there. Please share what is the best method and sequence to clean vinyl..thx everyone.