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Playing a LP with water on it

post #1 of 15
10/22/02 at 8:42pm
Thread Starter 
I went to a hifi store to check out some cables. Having some conversation with the owner, who's making and selling his own tube amps there, then I saw an old and heavy turntable sit there. He said it is for $65 then put a LP on it. Then, amazingly, he dropped some water on the LP then put the cartridge on the water. I asked him what the hell is going on. He told me that the water could eliminate the noise from LPs and also to reduce the heat from the cartridge so the LP could play for a longer time, rather then 20 times. He said not many people know that.

Has anybody tried that?
Tuberoller??
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post #2 of 15
10/22/02 at 9:00pm
Heard of it but never tried it. (Some people also use the cleaning fluid they favor to play them wet.) I don't want to take the chance that it will contaminate my cartridge.
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post #3 of 15
10/22/02 at 9:05pm
Playing records wet may give good playback results, but it will ruin your vinyl. It extracts the plasticisers that keep the vinyl pliable and causes the groove walls to harden, become brittle and ultimately *increases* surface noise for the next time the record is played.

I wouldn't do it.

Check out some related links pointing out the hazards of playing wet vinyl:

http://www.artsandmedia.com/lpclean.html
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/vin...sages/913.html
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post #4 of 15
10/22/02 at 11:07pm
Thread Starter 
Thanks guys.
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post #5 of 15
10/23/02 at 2:18am
If you have a record that already shot(surface noise,deep scratches,groove damage)then water will indeed help quiet things down and allow that record to be played with some semblance of fidelity.The caveat is that you are absolutely ruining the record further.Do not do this on your best table with your best vinyl,I promise disaster.that guy is wrong,everybody knows about playing vinyl wet.He is also most likely attempting to mask some shortcomings in the playback of the table he was using,be it stylus wear,bearing noise or motor rumble.
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post #6 of 15
10/23/02 at 7:24pm
This was debated extensively in the audio press in the 70s. Apparently wet playing had a bigger following in Europe than the U.S.

Critics said that wet playing can turn the groove dirt into a sludge that will collect and harden on your stylus.

I very much doubt that water "extracts the plasticizers" from records, whatever that means. Cleaning records with water is just fine.


Btw, what kind of turntable was it?
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post #7 of 15
10/23/02 at 9:03pm
My dad has a wet-playback record cleaner thing that he used to fill with a mixture of distilled water and isopropyl alcohol... We don't really use it anymore, for a rather obvious reason. (isopropyl alcohol == not a good idea)
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post #8 of 15
10/23/02 at 10:50pm
Yer not suppose to drink it, Eric.
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post #9 of 15
10/23/02 at 11:11pm
LOL!

I was talking about the effect of the alcohol on the RECORD, not my brain

(besides, I'm a DIYer, if I want booze I'll brew my own thank you )
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post #10 of 15
10/24/02 at 2:56am
Thread Starter 
I think it was a "Realistic" or something like that. Never heard of that brand.

It looks heavy, big and quite well built.
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post #11 of 15
10/24/02 at 12:47pm
There's a bunch of FAQ on wet play on the Van den Hul website. They're against it.
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post #12 of 15
10/24/02 at 1:25pm
Quote:
I think it was a "Realistic" or something like that. Never heard of that brand.
"Realistic" used to be the house brand of Radio Shack back in the early to mid 70s.
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post #13 of 15
10/24/02 at 1:59pm
LOL that sounds bad and now?
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post #14 of 15
10/24/02 at 2:16pm
Now, I believe it's "Optimus." But they also began carrying "branded" goods like RCA.
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post #15 of 15
10/24/02 at 2:31pm
Quote:
Originally posted by JMT
"Realistic" used to be the house brand of Radio Shack back in the early to mid 70s.
And later.

If I recall, many of their turntables were rebranded BSRs. As with Optimus, there was the occassional nice piece (not the turntables), but most was far east junk.

I'm wondering if Optimus is going to phased out. The last time I popped into radio shack, it seemed like just about all the newer products were name brands.
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