Vinyl Junkies …

Oh and on a more positive note I did in fact buy the 2017 remaster version of Sgt. Pepper's, and gotta say this is nicely done (gatefold, inserts, extra sleeves etc.) and it sounds super good (both the remaster, as well as the pressing itself, right out of the box, without needing to fucking clean it first I mean) 🙂
Seriously, a real joy.

Brushing, playing, brushing the stylus ... Generally after twice it's alright. A wet clean with a microfiber cloth does help though, particularly with the static.

I use a Project RCM which is basically a turntable and hoover. It's worthwhile but a pain, takes up space and is noisy, expensive and the motor bearings are a liability.

There are better RCM's but they're more money.

I have a spinclean which is good, but fairly labour intensive. I borrowed an ultrasonic cleaner once and it was bloody amazing. I got a bunch of 60/70s/80s records from a deceased estate and they came up good as new.
The machine was mad pricey though, but hopefully some cheaper ones will come on the market.

Thank you for your replies!

Yeah I did do a quick search in this thread and saw you use one of those big machines @Airhead - this is way overkill / too expensive etc. for me though.
Saw you recommended the Spinclean one a month ago @timmah! and was wondering if others use this as well or whether anybody would recommend one of the similar systems like the more expensive Knosti. Also, I do realise now there's the SpinCLEAN and there's the SpinCARE ..which seems to be the cheapest of all but gets fairly good reviews..

Anyways - I'm really wondering if it would be worthwhile for me to get any one of those at all (or whether some kind of "manual method" would actually be preferable)..
..for me, it's mainly about cleaning newly bought records - and occasional "cleaning" between plays to help get rid of static (although I'm finding this doesn't really help that much, frankly).

Techmoan reviewed a cheap ultrasonic cleaner, and it wasn't great for him, so probs the more you spend the better it'll be.

it's mainly about cleaning newly bought records - and occasional "cleaning" between plays to help get rid of static

That's what the Project does for me. Of course it depends how many you're buying if it's worth the outlay. They do work for static because water defeats the static charge. What you then find is pressing faults and there are a lot of them around at the moment.

Brushing, playing, brushing the stylus ... Generally after twice it's alright. A wet clean with a microfiber cloth does help though, particularly with the static.

Yeah, that's what I do for new records. Play it, and clean off any paper/plastic gunk that get's stuck to the needle. As you say, it's normally fine after a couple of plays.

Used records get a spray of water/isopropyl alcohol (with a tiny squirt of washing up liquid), scrub with a soft nailbrush, and rinse under a tap.

Used records get a spray of water/isopropyl alcohol (with a tiny squirt of washing up liquid), scrub with a soft nailbrush, and rinse under a tap.

This method is fine. I do something not too dissimilar. I make my own solution (based on previous recommendation by @Airhead ) and use a soft-bristle paint pad to get my solution into the groove.
However I only use distilled water (mixed with rubbing alcohol). London water being so hard I wouldn't rinse a record with it.

Thoughts on https://www.discogs.com/seller/DubStoreUK/profile ?

New seller, have dumped 250k records onto Discogs. They say takes 3-6 days to ship; I presume they're importing them from Japan before onwards shipping within in the UK? Discogs lists them as having 11 copies of one of the albums I'm after!

I wonder if they do actually have 250k records, or if they're just buying them from other shops in Japan as needed.

I’ve noticed them in my morning want list emails and wondered what the deal is with them

I’m tempted to give them a go, they have 12 positive reviews from what look like genuine accounts.

PayPal’s got your back if it goes tits up

What's the consensus with tube pre-amps?

As in: how much does one need to spend to make it worthwile?
What's good both for the MM catridge I have now, as well as for MC's, some time down the line?

Also are there actually some that come in "full" size (like, to stack them on top of your amp, under the turntable or whatver) - or are they all these little boxy kind of things that you awkwardly have to put on the side and connect a bunch of cables to?

They use a lot more energy and create 'harmonic' distortion which some people enjoy but mostly it's just hifi obsession. Each to their own, give it a try and see if you like it.

Some people just love to have an exotic hifi chain to recant whenever they get bored listening to the music!

If you want to learn more about pre amps and generally all electronics for vinyl playback there's a good book available. You're in luck because it's available as a free download. The paperback must be out of print because prices are silly.

https://engineeringbookspdf.com/electronics-for-vinyl-by-douglas-self-pdf-free-download/3083/

Essentially what you want is decent power supply, low noise and distortion, accurate riaa reversal. Valves don't do the riaa bit, what they do is distortion, some might say pleasant musical distortion.

If you build a preamp from scratch you can 'roll' op amps or tubes to suit your taste.

Personally I built a couple of diy ones

https://forum.psaudio.com/t/the-cnc-phono-stage-diy/3613

and tried a few op-amps until I reached a point where I liked it.

Thank you for the elaborate reply!
Looked into that book, gotta admit that's way over my head though 😅
Loved that he prefaced it with To Julie, with all my love

Frankly I'm not willing to go that deep / build my own etc. -
I just kinda / roughly know what character tubes would bring to my setup (I'm familiar with tube guitar & bass amps for what it's worth), and I'm interested in having that / trying to figure out how much it would cost and whether it would work with both MM and MC.

Other opinions are available but I think guitar amps are a good application for tubes and phono pre amps are not.

NAD do a decent basic one with MC and MM. Cambridge Audio do a few that are rated for sensible money.

I wouldn't bother looking at MC unless your total budget including a cartridge is around £1k.

MC works the same as MM once you've used a transformer to increase output from the first stage. The tube part of a pre will be after the initial amplification in the case of MM, then RIAA adjustment, then amplification to line level is where the tube will be.

Beyond the NAD and Cambridge audio level it's minimal gains in measurable electrical terms. In hi-fi terms who knows. Blacker blacks, wider soundstage etc. etc.

Thank you for boiling it down for me like that - this is very helpful 🙏 🙂

You're welcome. I went pretty deep down the rabbit hole myself. There's no right answers in hi-fi though. It's personal taste after all.

What's the consensus with tube pre-amps?

As airhead said, you need to spend quite a lot on valve gear before it becomes quiet enough to be worthwhile. And even then you've got the ongoing faff of valves failing.
Also valve phono pres generally just do MM levels, and need (or have one builtin) a step up transformer.
I'd stick with the usual rega, project, Nad phono pres. And yeah, stick with mm carts until you're getting the money gun out.

Can anyone help this vinyl noob out, inherited my dads Rega Planar 3 a few years ago. It was playing perfectly until recently, bought a new belt but obviously that’s not the issue. Frightened to open the thing up until I know what I’m replacing/the fuck I’m tinkering with.

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looks like either something has come loose in the motor assembly or the bearing is fooked.

I'm not an expert though.

Not had mine long enough to know what you might be facing there but it does look like motor bearing might be gone.

Depending on how much cash you can spend there's a 24v motor upgrade kit for £150.

Not sure if this video might help you :-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCoTshKJuwk

Thanks for your feedback as well @timmah! I appreciate it ✌️

I'd say that a decent phono stage can make a difference. Depends on priorities and the rest of the system but analogue replay is an area where things make a bit of a difference.

Worth keeping an eye out on eBay. I have a Trichord Dino which I like. I've had it for a long time, replaced the wall wart psu with the Trichord one at some point and felt that was worthwhile too.

I briefly had a hugely complex valve pre and power amp which would make a pop every time the fridge compressor kicked in. Sent it back next day.