[sanjivs]

I have recently been presented with 40 - 50 used western classical albums. Most of them 'look' in very good condition; there are a few with very light scratches. Overall they all 'look' well cared for.

I have slowly started cleaning them a home brew solution of isopropyl alcohol/distilled water/dish-washing soap and am making use of a vacuum cleaner; post cleaning the records look nice & bright.

Unfortunately, most of the 10 odd records that I have cleaned sound crackly in sections, but the music comes through clearly. A couple of them also have very minor groove damage. 

Am I damaging my stylus by playing such crackly albums? Remember, they have been well cleaned! Do I run the risk of damaging my mint/near mint vinyl records by using the same stylus to play both the cleaned crackly albums & perfect/near perfect ones?

Or is it necessary to invest in an old cheap turntable to play these crackly albums?

[raysracing]

This a good question and I too am thinking about using a 2nd turntable for these type of albums. I have recently been gifted 400 albums and have cleaned about 150. Many are in sad shape, but worth the occasional lisen.

Sadly my Denon DP31L is at a consignment shop and the owner is so low tech it is like pulling teeth to get him to "give" my turntable back to me as it has not sold in over a year.


Ray

[thunderbrick]

Just clean the stylus before you play your "upstairs" records.

[simoon]

I can't imagine why it would possibly damage your stylus, as long as the crackles are not caused by grunge that could build up. But since they are cleaned, that's probably not the case.

[simoon]

In addition, I don't see dust or nicks in the groove of a record causing damage to this -