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Options for ridding records of static electricity

I am getting back into vinyl, listening to “garage sale” finds and also new albums that I have been picking up. I have a nice old Linn Sondek LP12 with the felt mat. Every time I go to remove a record from the spindle or flip the record, static electricity grabs the felt mat and it sticks like a magnet. I have to very carefully flip the felt mat at the corner with my finger but one of these times I’m going to slip and smudge or scratch a record. 

I’ve seen the “Milty Zerostat” and seem to remember this product from back in the day. I see that it is still made and there is one eBay vendor that has them for $77. Is this my best bet? I thought Michael Fremor talked about these in one of his videos. 

Are there other products I should look at to reduce static electricity on my records? Thanks for any help you can give.
masi61
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mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,227 posts
 
Lewm, sorry I missed your last post. 1:250 is a huge transformer. The 1:100 Sowter transformer is very large and is +- 3 dB 50 Hz to 18 kHz.
I cross over to subs at 125 Hz which is quite high. 500 Hz is well into the midrange. 256 Hz is about middle C. 
I have not had the chance to open up a Sound Labs interface yet. Can you just wire around the controls to eliminate them from the circuit without modifying the cross over network? I do not like pots in speakers signal path. Bi amping the transformers is an interesting approach. If I do Sound Labs I will try to wire past the controls and use one big amp like an Atma- Sphere MA 2. I will be able to correct any response aberrations with room control.  

usabod1's avatar
usabod1
3 posts
 
Along with the record products I've also used Static Guard for laundry on the carpet in my listening room. It lasts for a couple hours and greatly reduces the static charge when handling my records.
richdirector's avatar
richdirector
266 posts
 
I use a milty zerostat and change the sleeves to an anti static sleeve when I buy vinyl.... I also use a rega RP8 deck and have had no issues with static now. Before the felt mat used to stick when I changed records or sides.... Not anymore
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,227 posts
 
Here is my list of questions which I will start a new thread with. Thoughts?

Please rate your static problem on a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being the worst.

Where do you live? Just the State or Province will do.

Do you know your average relative humidity?

How do you store your records? How many do you have?

Do you use anti static sleeves?

Make of turntable , Tonearm and Cartridge? Type of Cantilever? Type of platter?

Do you use a special Mat?

What do you use to discharge your records?

When is your static worse, when you pull the record out of the jacket or when you put it away? How do you tell?

How do you clean your records? Do you use any vinyl treatments such as Last or Groove Glide?

How often do you think of just sticking to digital:)



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