Speakers Corner

No one said or implied that anyone was lying.

Do you believe in dust and dirt? Do you believe that the inside of record sleeves are always 100% clean? Do you believe that when center holes are cut that debris has never ended up on a record? If so, God bless, don't clean your new records. Cheers,
Spencer

I believe in minimal stress the records should have in their entire shelf and playback life.
The dust and dirt and spindle hole debris of a brand new record can be swept with anti-static carbon-fiber brush especially if they’re so minimal.

Anyone washes produce with soap in here?

Do I believe in dust and dirt? What is this? The Interfaith Council on Faith in Reality? I simply reported that Speakers Corner stated that Pallas doesn't use mold release compound, so the necessity of cleaning is obviated for those who would otherwise clean the records after purchasing. The reason that I asked the question to begin with was the because the record sounded so pristine already that I didn't want to do anything further to muck up what I was already experiencing. The company confirmed that. I don't believe Pallas would have any incentive to mislead on this question because it would affect future sales if the records did indeed become affected later. 

I have otherwise been cleaning all of my records. I think the mold release agent is often audible as a kind of haze hanging over the recording. I notice a strong difference after doing so, but I also notice on occasion that the cleaning introduces other sonic artifacts, so I'm not always comfortable with doing so.

Washline- if you go back and read my post, you'll see that I mentioned the fact that the so-called mold release is already in the pellets of PVC compound that are used to make the records. So, the notion that Pallas says they "don't use" mold release compound does not really address whether there are mold release agents, or other ingredients  in the vinyl compound itself that make it easier for a record to be removed from a stamper. There are a number of threads on this. I contributed to a couple, so I'd have to find them and give you links. 
I think the whole "mold release" thing is exaggerated, but it is very hard to get to the bottom of this- I did a fair amount of research on older vinyl compounds and found several papers published by the AES and some information in patents that described what goes into PVC for records. The formulations are often proprietary, so it's hard to pin down exactly what is in a given product, and presumably, a label or plant could order something that is different, from a different supplier, or with a different make up, than another record plant. (I don't know if you remember the whole thing about "Clarity" vinyl toward the end of Classic Records' production, but Mike Hobson claimed that eliminating the carbon black--used for antistatic purposes--improved the sound because it had electro-magnetic properties that interfered with the performance of the cartridge). 

As to cleaning, it seems to be a subject that everyone has a different view of- if your Speakers Corner copies play cleanly out of the sleeve, enjoy them. You might also investigate some of the original pressings that they remastered for their catalog. Although some are expensive, others aren't and if you are interested in what the differences in different masterings, tape sources and the like contribute to the end result, sonically, it is actually a fun process to compare pressings. 

Thanks whart. That's a highly informative post. I don't believe I read anything about Clarity vinyl, but that's also quite interesting and I'm surprised that manufacturers haven't followed up on it. I have to wonder though if a mold release agent is already present in the PVC pellets prior to being pressed would this necessarily affect the release of the record from the mold if it lies buried inside the record during the pressing process? Is it possible to clean this agent from the record if it is present during the entire process? Do thermal stabilizers also affect the sonics of the final product? Are those also removed during normal record cleaning?

In any case, I am going to investigate more of what the label offers in my areas of interest.