JoetheArachnid
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- May 10, 2010
- Posts
- 702
- Likes
- 42
So just recently I finally bullied my mother into getting our Rega Planar 3 turntable repaired and I've been immersing myself in the glory of the old and for the better part of ten years largely untouched vinyl collection. Beatles albums I never knew existed, Dire Straits, Pink Floyd et al.
The problem is that some of the discs are in less than great condition and so I've been looking into ways of cleaning them that don't involve $500 vacuum cleaning machines - I like vinyl, but not THAT much.
We have some alcohol-free antistatic computer screen wipes in a tub and I read somewhere (not on Head-Fi) that they can be used to clean vinyl... so I tried it. I've cleaned by applying the wipes gently and going in a circular motion with the grooves, making sure not to use the same part of the wipe twice. So far I've only done some 45rpm singles to make sure I don't destroy anything big and thus far I'm unsure of the audio results, though the discs certainly look physically cleaner.
The tracks seem to actually have MORE crackling rather than less (can't be sure about that), and whilst Hendrix's Voodoo Chile seemed to sound slightly cleaner under the static, The Kinks' Lola seemed to become very raspy and sibilant compared to before.
Am I doing it wrong, have I ruined these records? Not that great a loss if I have and I've read about other cleaning methods I can try, but I was just wondering what you guys thought.
(Also no bitching about the Rega, no matter what you think. It's a good old piece of kit.)
The problem is that some of the discs are in less than great condition and so I've been looking into ways of cleaning them that don't involve $500 vacuum cleaning machines - I like vinyl, but not THAT much.
We have some alcohol-free antistatic computer screen wipes in a tub and I read somewhere (not on Head-Fi) that they can be used to clean vinyl... so I tried it. I've cleaned by applying the wipes gently and going in a circular motion with the grooves, making sure not to use the same part of the wipe twice. So far I've only done some 45rpm singles to make sure I don't destroy anything big and thus far I'm unsure of the audio results, though the discs certainly look physically cleaner.
The tracks seem to actually have MORE crackling rather than less (can't be sure about that), and whilst Hendrix's Voodoo Chile seemed to sound slightly cleaner under the static, The Kinks' Lola seemed to become very raspy and sibilant compared to before.
Am I doing it wrong, have I ruined these records? Not that great a loss if I have and I've read about other cleaning methods I can try, but I was just wondering what you guys thought.
(Also no bitching about the Rega, no matter what you think. It's a good old piece of kit.)
