@slaw Got me jonesing for some Cars - Heartbeat City.
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@mammothguy54, I recently did a shootout of The Cars "S/T" with my RCA Music Club version and the MFSL. For me, it was easy to hear the winner. I put the MFSL up on ebay, sold easily on auction for around $60.00. I just saw where MFSL is bringing it out again. My timing was impeccable. ha ha! Now I need to compare that winner to my 1978 Elektra, no barcode version. |
@bkeske, Just noticed your post on the Record Doctor. I used one for decades. Never gave any trouble. The problem with vacuum cleaners is they introduce static. Maybe the Spin Clean helps alleviate that if used as the last step? I invested in a DeStat III a while back when www.partsconnexion.com had them at $100.00 off and it works very well. I use my VPI 16.5 as the final rinse/dry after the US cleaner just to speed things up. |
@slaw Know which cart you’ll use? I promise not to suggest one. Initially, at this point, probably just use my existing Grado Red. I know what it sounds like, so may be a good benchmark to show the table/arm difference. I’ll take some time thinking about a new cart. On my initial short list are possibly something from Soundsmith, Hana, or perhaps even a higher end wooden Grado. Just not sure. And if I go to a MC cart, then a new phono stage would be needed as well, unless I would go with a higher output. The next cart will be more of an investment, not Just another $200-$400 cart. One step at a time. And slaw, you can suggest anything you want 😉 |
Brian, I totally agree with your thinking on your first paragraph!!! Look forward to reading all of your impressions when the time comes. BTW, does your SOTA have a recess in the platter for a record label? ....................................................................................... Just got in the recent Fleetwood Mac box set and "Goats Head Soup" |
@slaw Just noticed your post on the Record Doctor. I used one for decades. Never gave any trouble. The problem with vacuum cleaners is they introduce static. I have to admit, initially I was a bit underwhelmed. But as I said, I think there is a certain way and pace you have to use it. I thought of getting a Nitty Gritty, or a unit as your VPI, but finally convinced myself I could turn the darn thing by hand. But, I do think I was spinning too fast. Also, when using *a lot* of fluid, and ‘sudsing’ the album, I don’t think the results seemed great simply vacuuming that off, alone. That’s when I used the record cleaner, ‘suds’ the album, vacuum, run it through the Spin Clean, and a final vacuum. That seems to work on never/long non-cleaned albums, or, ones which have only been through my Spin Clean. Those albums were noticeably quieter after that regiment. Static? Yea, always a pain. And it isn’t winter yet. Last year I bought a humidifier. You could be very right about a vacuum creating static, but it doesn’t seem as much as me drying the albums by hand with the Spin Clean cloths. I have a Zerostat, but will keep my eye out on that DESTAT. |
Love that album Uber. Don’t have it on vinyl though, just their CD box set. Back in the day, we Dead Heads looked down on the ‘soper taking’ Zeppelin guys 😁 Ya know, we were into acid. Thus, never ever bought any Zep on vinyl. Would like to have some now though. Come to think of it though, I believe I had #2 on 8-track. |
@slaw, I’m doing some catching up, and here’s some responses to a couple of your posts on this thread: - The Zeta arm. I think of it as the hi-fi equivalent of the Chevy big block V8 engine ;-). Available for under a grand (the last one I got---NM condition---for only $500); spend a couple hundred on a rewire (uninterrupted run from cartridge tags to KLEI RCA plugs), and you have a very nice medium mass arm. For some reason great with Deccas and Londons, which dump a lot of mechanical energy into an arm. - Fleetwood Mac’s Kiln House album. This came out when I worked at my first record store: Discount Records (owned by CBS), the best in San Jose. A full catalog record store in 1970 was a rare thing (Tower had just opened it’s second store, in North Beach in San Francisco), and working there I got exposed to Jazz and Classical for the first time (other than in my Humanities class my Senior year in High School. When Reagan was elected Governor of California, he initiated the elimination of such classes from the curriculum, and the defunding of school orchestras and bands). Anyway, in 1970 I had a bad attitude towards Blues performed by English white guys. Thanks to Bill Graham and my own research, I had become aware of the genre’s creators. Bill started booking the old Blues guys at The Fillmore (I started going to shows there in ’67), and seeing Albert King and others live changed my perspective. I immediately loved Kiln House, probably because it was a rarity at that time (for some reason, I remained unaware of Dave Edmunds and his wonderful Rockpile---the album title, not the group he later formed with Nick Lowe): an English group playing 1950’s-style Rock ’n’ Roll. I love, Love, LOVED Danny Kirwin's phrasing and tone, the best I've ever heard out of a Les Paul. I then heard Kiln Houses predecessor Then Play On, and dismissed it as just another English white boy imitation of the real thing. So I never bothered to listen to their first album. I did listen to the follow up to Kiln House---Future Games, and didn’t like it at all. Jeremy Spencer had left the group, replaced by American Bob Welch, whom I didn’t and don’t care for. Bare Trees I liked even less, so I wrote off Fleetwood Mac. (I and everyone else in San Jose was surprised when Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham---members of local garage band Fritz in the late 60’s---turned up in Fleetwood Mac. I had last seen Fritz in the Summer of ’68, opening the Santa Clara Folk/Rock Festival, headlined by The Electric Flag and the doors---the lower case their idea, not mine ;-) . Just another local garage band.) That assessment remained unchanged until very recently. I have watched a couple documentaries on Peter Green and early Fleetwood Mac, and found myself wanting to give the first two albums a thorough listening. Those albums should be easy to find, as soon as my LRS reopen! In the intervening years, I did read that B.B. King said Peter Green was the only white guitarist who made him sweat. Sorry Clapton and Beck ;-) . Speaking of them, I saw Clapton with Cream twice, and Beck on his first U.S.A. tour (with Ron Wood on bass and Rod Stewart singing). Loved them both at the time, '67 and '68. As it did for Clapton, The Band changed everything. Kiln House fits well with their brown album. |
Super Session; Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and Steve Stills made one hell of a serious album in that "session". I have an original copy and also bought a reissue from Speakers Corner. Regarding Led Zeppelin, I have most of their albums on vinyl, all original. I recently bought Houses of the Holy, remastered, trusting that Jimmy Page involvement would bring quality to market. What a disappointment! It sounded so digital and strained. I returned it for a refund. I put my original copy through two more rounds of Nitty Gritty vacuum cleaning and that seemed to help reduce more of the noise I was trying to get past by purchasing the reissue. The original sounds so much more pleasing than the reissue, even still with some vinyl noise. I really need to get a US cleaning machine and upgrade my entire cleaning process. By the way, I am glad to take some suggestions and advice on that subject. I am looking at purchasing the Kirmus US machine. That system includes (but I don't think absolutely requires) that you clean your vinyl using their chemical system that removes all mold release compounds and other cleaning liquids you may have used. If I were to use that cleaning chemical first, in the Kirmus US machine, do you guys suggest to then use a final rinse with distilled water and vacuum dry with the Nitty Gritty? Etc... I welcome advice on a better regimen than the Nitty Gritty vacuum system I have. I strongly believe I need to advance to a US machine but I also believe there is probably a total regimen that will do wonders. Please let me know your thoughts. In advance, thank you for your help. |
@mammothguy54, Doing a distilled water rinse is recommended. Air drying is better. I use my VPI for expediency buy would prefer a second VinlylStack just for this purpose. Have you looked into DIY? It's what I use and have had experience with my Audio Desk. The DIY is a better solution and less expensive. If you add a pump and filter system it takes up more room but is a nice upgrade for little money. |
@mammothguy54 Super Session; Mike Bloomfield, Al Kooper, and Steve Stills made one hell of a serious album in that "session". I have an original copy and also bought a reissue from Speakers Corner. Yea! I have the original release of that album as well, purchased back in the 70’s. Really neat release by those three. |
Slaw, I'm not certain how to go about a DIY. That does mean Do It Yourself, correct? I figured that a Kirmus US process, followed with a distilled rinse and vacuum dry or air dry, would be a good regimen. However, that's just my own thoughts and welcome further advice and/or direction. Enlighten me! Thanks man. @unreceivedogma, I am 66 years of age. And proud to say that most people take me for my mid-50s. Good genes and some luck, I guess. Maybe it's all the hiking, skiing, and fishing that I do. Or, maybe most of them have a vision problem. Haha... Enough of the jokes. I went to many, many concerts during the 70s, I saw them all, including Led Zeppelin, Janis Joplin, and Jimi Hendrix. Wonderful memories and I have collected the vinyl all along the way. I play CD in the car, but vinyl has always been my passion for home audio high-fidelity. I got my first real hi-fi system in 1973. Let us know your feelings about the Led Zeppelin reissues. |
@mammothguy54, I usually point people to this thread "Thumbs up for ultrasonic record cleaning" under Analog. Lots of good info there. DIY = do it yourself. Many people here have gone this route and have found it to be superior for much less money. It isn’t a plug + play or a put a record in and play when it’s done unit. I can guarantee a DIY machine will get your lps cleaner than most high dollar units. Look at my systems page for a front view picture of my current DIY set-up. Steve |
