By WILLIAM ANDERSON
CLEANLINESS IS NEXT TO NOISELESSNESS
JULIAN HIRSCH'S article on the obsolescence of audio equipment this month is a reminder, if I needed one, that the phono disc is also a piece of "equipment" that can wear out. I say "if I needed" because each morning's mail is almost bound to include several "snap, crackle, pop" letters, ranging in tone from the plaintive to the paranoid and describing in detail just how the writer has been had, noise-wise, by another passel of highwaymen got up to look like a record company. The world of discs is far from a paradise, and there is indeed many a slip between stamper and turntable for which the buyer is in no way responsible, but a good number of these letters must nevertheless be taken with a grain of salt, sad experience having taught me that record wear all too often begins with the slitting of the shrink wrap, quite some time before stylus meets vinyl. What it mostly comes down to is a matter of dust being attracted by static electricity; you must keep both away from your discs and turntable as much as you can and get rid of them when you can't.
Storage environment: Low humidity is an enemy of discs because it leads to the generation of static electricity; keep a humidifier in the room you use to store and play your records in-and a dust precipitator is a useful plus. Store your records vertically on shelves that are little higher than the records themselves (13 inches or so) to foil dust-bearing air currents. Vacuum your shelves and record jackets from time to time. One of the principal kinds of record dust is paper "crumbs"; they look (and act) like shaggy logs to the stylus, and they come from the exposed cut edges of record jackets and sleeves as well as from the die-cut circles that expose the record label.
The plastic-lined type of inner sleeve is therefore preferable-but do not discard the unlined kind; half a sleeve is better than none. Insert the sleeved record in the jacket so that the inner-sleeve opening is at the top and not facing out. Avoid fingerprints on the disc surface (finger oils attract and hold dust) in handling, and return discs to their sleeves and jackets immediately after play.
Playing environment: Keep your turntable and its surroundings dust-free with regular vacuuming (I've seen dust bunnies big enough to saddle galloping around some installations). If your turntable doesn't have an anti-static mat, find out whether one is available that will fit. Have your stylus checked, like your teeth, at least once a year; a worn stylus can ruin a record quickly, and the sound will often be miserable even before it has done so. A stylus cannot perform properly with a ball of navel lint wrapped around it, so keep a soft brush handy to remove dust accumulations (do not use the finger-oils again, plus the danger of bending the stylus shank). If you use one (you should), check your Dust Bug's lint level habitually whenever you switch on your player-it may be dirtier than the record you are trying to keep clean. If you use a changer, don't let a pile of records lie around cheek-to-dusty-cheek after playing; separate them and return to their respective jackets. And though it is a nuisance, use a turntable dust cover even while playing.
When, despite all this preposterous care, your records get dirty, as they will, clean them. What you are after is not surface lint and dust, but the ground-in, deep-down dirt the stylus has crammed into the grooves during play. Use a fine-bristle, firmish (not stiff) brush, lukewarm water, and a little Discwasher fluid (many detergents are just too harsh for this purpose). Brush clockwise (it's a small thing, but the dirt was ground in counter-clockwise) with the grooves and rinse at least twice with (prefer ably) distilled water (if a disc is precious, it's precious). Pat dry with a lintless cloth, and then pursue the remaining moisture with a piece of satin or plush (white, if possible, so you'll know when it gets dirty). You will recall that I didn't promise all this would be easy, but if you try it I think you will discover a sudden upsurge in the record industry's quality-control effectiveness. And have you checked your stylus pressure with a separate gauge lately?
Also see:
TECHNICAL TALK--What Is Noise?
AUDIO NEWS--Views and comment on recent developments.
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