[Maxvla]

Dunno about the upgrade. I went from original 1980s Pioneer cart to this 2M Red and this is also the first time critically listening to a TT at all. The Pioneer cart was worn out and was giving me significant distortion in the upper mids and treble. This Ortofon is crystal clear except after some of the dust built up on the needle it got a bit dull, still better than the Pioneer ever was, but that's a temporary thing as I'll have clean new vinyl to play and look into record cleaning stuff.

 

[grokit]

Quote:

Got my Ortofon 2M Red installed and adjusted tonight. Pressed play, let the mechanism do it's thing, then wow.... MUCH better sound. The downside is I only have a couple records atm and they are both on the dusty side so I only let it play long enough to make sure it worked and I was happy with the improvement in performance. Going to hit up a local shop for some clean new vinyl tomorrow. One thing that bothers me though is the wires that connect the tonearm and the cartridge, the metal tubes that slide on are a bit loose on the Ortofon, but were snug on the Pioneer original cartridge. Is that something I should look at replacing? If so where can I get a set pre-fabbed?
Thanks for the help, Skylab.

Places like needledoctor.com have the wires, but you could try and re-crimp  your existing ones a bit with needlenose pliers. Also there's a used vinyl thread, someone just posted an online source called usedwax.com.

 

[Skylab]

What Grokit said.  Just gently crimp the metal tighter with needle nose pliers, and then put them back on.  I do that all the time.  Standard Operating Procedure.
 
Max I am glad you like the Ortofon - those 2M's are nice pickups.  Now go buy yourself a brand new record, not used and dusty, of a band you really like, and let 'eric rip 

 

[zhenya]

Quote:

Dunno about the upgrade. I went from original 1980s Pioneer cart to this 2M Red and this is also the first time critically listening to a TT at all. The Pioneer cart was worn out and was giving me significant distortion in the upper mids and treble. This Ortofon is crystal clear except after some of the dust built up on the needle it got a bit dull, still better than the Pioneer ever was, but that's a temporary thing as I'll have clean new vinyl to play and look into record cleaning stuff.

 
Don't want to burst your bubble, but my experience is that the vast majority of new vinyl is worse than even slightly above average vintage stuff.  It may not be dusty, but it sure is noisy.
 
All you really need to get your old records clean is some home-ade cleaning solution and a couple of microfiber towels.
 
 

 

[Maxvla]

Well surely it's better than having to brush off the needle every time I flip the record because of dust build up.

 

[AuralRelations]

Quote:

 
Don't want to burst your bubble, but my experience is that the vast majority of new vinyl is worse than even slightly above average vintage stuff.  It may not be dusty, but it sure is noisy.
 
All you really need to get your old records clean is some home-ade cleaning solution and a couple of microfiber towels.
 
 

 
I feel like a lot of new vinyl releases have fallen victim to the loudness wars but I as for surface noise, I feel there's no difference between new releases and well cleaned vintage records. I love Arcade Fire but The Suburbs just sounds so compressed, even on vinyl. The Black Key's Brothers, on the other hand, sounds magnificent. I guess it's really down to the mastering!
 
Also, I'm an avid user of wood glue to clean stubborn records. It really works and sounds as clean as it'll ever be.
 
 

 

[zhenya]

Quote:

Well surely it's better than having to brush off the needle every time I flip the record because of dust build up.

Unless you are in a clean room, you are still going to need to brush the needle pretty regularly.  It's part of my routine; every record gets a sweep with the anti-static brush, the needle gets cleaned with a bit of magic eraser, and then a wipe of stylast.  takes all of 20 seconds per side.
 

 

[zhenya]

Quote:

 
I feel like a lot of new vinyl releases have fallen victim to the loudness wars but I as for surface noise, I feel there's no difference between new releases and well cleaned vintage records. I love Arcade Fire but The Suburbs just sounds so compressed, even on vinyl. The Black Key's Brothers, on the other hand, sounds magnificent. I guess it's really down to the mastering!
 
Also, I'm an avid user of wood glue to clean stubborn records. It really works and sounds as clean as it'll ever be.
 
 

 
Agreed, although the records I own with the least amount of surface noise are always vintage.  I have expensive 180g 'audiophile' modern pressings that are irritatingly noisy, not to mention having received warped copies, damaged copies from pieces of vinyl in the sleeve from the factory, etc.
 
 

 

[AuralRelations]

Quote:

 
Agreed, although the records I own with the least amount of surface noise are always vintage.  I have expensive 180g 'audiophile' modern pressings that are irritatingly noisy, not to mention having received warped copies, damaged copies from pieces of vinyl in the sleeve from the factory, etc.
 
 

Definitely a pain! I know what you mean about getting "audiophile" grade vinyl only to be disappointed. I purchased a 180gram pressing of Ella and Louis and was disppointed that I could hear Armstrong's trumpet play in the right channel BEFORE it was supposed to. Seems that the grooves were cut so close that it contaminated the earlier grooves with noise. Truly irritating! 
 

 

[Skylab]

Hit or miss for me, but once cleaned with my VPI 16.5 wet-vacuum cleaner, the vast majority of my new vinyl is dead quiet.  Of course, so are the vast majority of my older records.  Wet-vacuum cleaning records makes a HUGE difference.

 

[MorbidToaster]

Ahh, but how much does it cost?
 
I know you can get theme cleaned at a shop, but how much does it cost to get one in your home?
 
Quote:

Hit or miss for me, but once cleaned with my VPI 16.5 wet-vacuum cleaner, the vast majority of my new vinyl is dead quiet.  Of course, so are the vast majority of my older records.  Wet-vacuum cleaning records makes a HUGE difference.

 
 

 

[zhenya]

Quote:

Ahh, but how much does it cost?
 
I know you can get theme cleaned at a shop, but how much does it cost to get one in your home?
 


 
 

You can make a decent vacuum system of your own for little cost.  I personally gave it up because I didn't find an appreciable difference between a vacuum and just using microfiber towels and some solution, which is infinitely more convenient.
 

 

[AuralRelations]

Quote:

Ahh, but how much does it cost?
 
I know you can get theme cleaned at a shop, but how much does it cost to get one in your home?

I believe a VPI 16.5 is about $500 new. 

 

 

[MorbidToaster]

That's honestly less than I expected.
 
Quote:

I believe a VPI 16.5 is about $500 new. 

 

 
 

 

[Skylab]

Quote:

You can make a decent vacuum system of your own for little cost.  I personally gave it up because I didn't find an appreciable difference between a vacuum and just using microfiber towels and some solution, which is infinitely more convenient.
 

I don't personally agree with this at all, but it's just my opinion.  My experience is that the wet vacuuming process results in a much quieter record than any other kind of cleaning ever can.