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Static on turntable

Hello all!

I see there are some very smart people here who can probably give me some advice.

I've been getting into listening to vinyl.  Have a Fluance RT84 with Ortofon 2M Blue cartridge.  I've upgraded to the acrylic platter.  I have also been using one of the Fluance record weights.  My receiver is a Denon AVR X2800h.  

Everything has been sounding quite great until recently.  Recently I listened to the Getz/Gilberto Acoustic Sounds reissue and it was wonderful.  As was the Dave Brubeck Time Out recording.

I had gotten a Rachmaninoff album from Warner Classics.  It was sealed.  I did notice that the record seemed extremely staticky.  I put it on the turntable and played it (after using the Fluance carbon fiber brush on it to remove static).  Very quickly I started noticing some very loud pops (almost electric sounding).  They continued throughout fairly regularly.  When I took the record off the turntable, it seemed the entire platter and turntable were now more statically charged.

Then I tried playing a brand new copy of the Miles Davis Kind of Blue UHQR from Analogue Productions.  Even this record was experiencing these loud pops.

I found that things seemed to improve when I took off the acrylic platter and washed it with a damp microfiber and then cotton cloth.

I then washed this Rachmaninoff album in my Spin Clean and it did sound better initially but soon seemed to recollect static and start popping.

Has anyone experienced such a thing?  Any solutions?  Kind of frustrating!

chille1525
oldaudiophile
291 posts
 

@chille1525 One more basic thing to check = stylus force (i.e.  with a good quality, accurate stylus gauge).

noromance's avatar
noromance
9,636 posts
 

Does the receiver have a ground pin on the mains plug?

lowrider57's avatar
lowrider57
5,406 posts
 

Often overlooked, the record may pick up a static charge after it has finished playing the side. You already experienced this.

I believe static on vinyl after playing is caused by the environment and climate of your room; eg, very dry, low moisture in the air, possibly the mat on the platter, maybe from a dirty stylus.

 

 

dogberry
603 posts
 

While I treat a record with the Destat III before playing, when I go to pick it off the platter to play the other side there is often static attraction that was not there when placed on the platter. It has to be the stylus/vinyl friction that caused it, I think.

lewm
12,704 posts
 

The cause of the (negative) charge on an LP surface is either direct transfer from another charged object, like you, the operator, who got charged up by walking across a carpet wearing leather shoes, or friction, like when you pull the LP out of a paper sleeve.  Low humidity only makes the problem more likely. Numerous experiments have shown, at least to my own satisfaction, that friction of the stylus in the groove is not a cause.  Dogberry, the Shure Corporation showed decades ago, and published in a white paper on static charge, that you may discharge the playing surface, but when you then turn that LP over to play the other side, static charge is accumulated on that side you did not previously discharge. So you have to do it again. Stylus/vinyl friction is not a cause, or certainly not a significant cause.

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