Gone back to vinyl

Bill Baker · « **Reply #20 on:** 5 Apr 2012, 10:30 pm »

I too am getting back into vinyl and starting on rebuilding my vinyl collection after loosing all mine in the flood back in September

I am also custom building a new table using the parts from my Audio Note TT1. I lost my custom Garrard table in the flood as well. Going solid hardwood this time with some new tweaks.

As has already been mentioned, don't rule out your local Good Will or Salvation Army locations. You never know what you will find there. It's like going treasure hunting at times. Also check your local paper for yard/garage sales as there always seems to be a box of vinyl in a corner somewhere at most of these.

ttate90303 · « **Reply #21 on:** 5 Apr 2012, 10:50 pm »

Quote from: Delta Wave on 5 Apr 2012, 08:13 pm

Yeah, I made it there last weekend and oh were they more than happy to lighten my wallet. But I could spend the better part of a day looking through their stuff. Plenty of used, new and tons of variety. I do miss Aron's Records but Amoeba Records will suffice for a local shop - I'll make pilgrimages there from Orange County. But Music Direct has been a great online source - packages have been well shipped/protected.

ttate90303 · « **Reply #22 on:** 7 Apr 2012, 05:06 am »

One quick question on inner lp sleeves - some of the vinyl I've purchased has come with plastic sleeves to contain the record as well as the heavy paper sleeves with lyric/liner notes. Should I replace these plastic sleeves with better quality sleeves (i.e., MoFi sleeves)?

Wayner · « **Reply #23 on:** 7 Apr 2012, 11:41 am »

I use MOFI sleeves on all of my records. Paper sleeves, especially the ones with the center hole in them can actually cause scratches. I throw all the paper sleeves away, unless they are plastic lined.

Wayner

roscoeiii · « **Reply #24 on:** 7 Apr 2012, 04:12 pm »

+1 on sleeves.

Orthobiz put me onto Sleeve City. Their Ultimate Audiophile Inner Sleeves are incredible and not much more than MoFi. They also have a Double Audiophile sleeve that can hold 2 LPs in one sleeve. Since these are 25 sleeves for $13ish, it will save you some cash, since you are storing 50 LPs for less than if each LP went in a single separate sleeve (These audiophile sleeves are all generally $20ish for 50 sleeves).

roscoeiii · « **Reply #25 on:** 7 Apr 2012, 04:14 pm »

Also, has a record washer been mentioned on this thread yet? I would highly recommend a Spin Clean as a great cheap record washer. I wash all of my records, old and new. Ameazing how much this reduces surface noise on old records, and also surprising how much gunk comes of new records. Washing records also prolongs your stylus life, so the Spin Clean is a great investment.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #26 on:** 7 Apr 2012, 05:19 pm »

Oops. Forgot that you'd mentioned a VPI 16.5 is on order.

And as for Sleeve City, check to see if the coupon SPRING12 is still good, 15% off!

ttate90303 · « **Reply #27 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 03:27 pm »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 7 Apr 2012, 04:12 pm

+1 on sleeves.

Orthobiz put me onto Sleeve City. Their Ultimate Audiophile Inner Sleeves are incredible and not much more than MoFi. They also have a Double Audiophile sleeve that can hold 2 LPs in one sleeve. Since these are 25 sleeves for $13ish, it will save you some cash, since you are storing 50 LPs for less than if each LP went in a single separate sleeve (These audiophile sleeves are all generally $20ish for 50 sleeves).

Thanks for the response guys. I've received an order of MoFi sleeves and once the VPI gets here I'll go thru a cleaning session and place every disc in the new sleeves. I'm now set to enjoy this journey of analog audio. Looking forward to snagging some old used classics I grew up on as a kid/teen during the 70's/80's. Plenty of fun music.

cheap-Jack · « **Reply #28 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 04:43 pm »

Hi.

Quote from: ttate90303 on 7 Apr 2012, 05:06 am

Should I replace these plastic sleeves with better quality sleeves (i.e., MoFi sleeves)?

If you always play dry & make sure the disc is perfectly dry after you clean it up, a quality plastic sleeve is OK. Plastic cannot 'breathe', so any residual
cleaner fluid or moisture will be TRAPPED on the disc for ever. A good place for glowing moth on yr discs.

If you read carefully the vendor's text on MoFi master sleeves, it states clearly the "3-ply, anti-static, premium sleeves" is "similar to rice paper". So whatever 'hifi' such platic sleeves were, it is similar to rice paper.

So why spend money on hi-tech plastic sleeves which are made 'similar to rice paper", but still not paper.

FYI, I use only PAPER sleeves which is anti-static by its nature, eliminating static discharge when pulling the record out of its sleeve. It breathes out moisture trapped in the grooves of the discs. Indeed I replace any plastic sleeves that come with the LP & replace it with standard papper sleeves for my many many hundreds of LPs.

c-J

PS: I play wet. So paper sleeves work bigtime in breathing out any residual water after wet play.

Wayner · « **Reply #29 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 05:03 pm »

I have a brand new package of MOFI sleeves and no where does it state "3-ply, anti-static, premium sleeves" is "similar to rice paper". So this is not a fact.

Wayner

smargo · « **Reply #30 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 05:22 pm »

Quote from: ttate90303 on 29 Mar 2012, 06:27 pm

After many years of dealing with CD's, avoiding compressed music (MP3 & such), enjoying a bit of lossless computer audio, I've come back vinyl.

does that mean you are not listening to cd's anymore? I have found that that there are incredible sounding cd's and lousy sounding lp's - so i have both - im enjoying cd's more than ever - im also enjoying lp's more than ever

my listening sessions include cd's and lp's - sometimes all cd's - sometimes all lp's - sometimes mixed

jtwrace · « **Reply #31 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 05:23 pm »

Quote from: Wayner on 9 Apr 2012, 05:03 pm

I have a brand new package of MOFI sleeves and no where does it state "3-ply, anti-static, premium sleeves" is "similar to rice paper". So this is not a fact.

Wayner

Say's it on the front page of the MoFi site...

cheap-Jack · « **Reply #32 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 05:25 pm »

Hi.

Quote from: Wayner on 9 Apr 2012, 05:03 pm

I have a brand new package of MOFI sleeves and no where does it state "3-ply, anti-static, premium sleeves" is "similar to rice paper". So this is not a fact.

Wayner

Please check up Sleeve City on its MoFi master sleeves commercial texts.

c-J

cheap-Jack · « **Reply #33 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 05:41 pm »

Hi.

Quote from: smargo on 9 Apr 2012, 05:22 pm

does that mean you are not listening to cd's anymore? I have found that that there are incredible sounding cd's and lousy sounding lp's - so i have both - im enjoying cd's more than ever - im also enjoying lp's more than ever

my listening sessions include cd's and lp's - sometimes all cd's - sometimes all lp's - sometimes mixed

Good for you, being digital-analogue 'hybrid'.

For me, I listen for years CDs & followed by DVD-audios (24bit-192KHz) which sonically blow away any CDs.

Yet I find LPs sounds better than any above digital media MUSICALLY & sonically - more engaging, more emotional & more being-there which any digital medium still lacks.

Now I am virtually giving up digital for over a year for LPs only.

c-J

roscoeiii · « **Reply #34 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 06:02 pm »

c-J,

You make a great point about letting vinyl dry before putting it in a MoFi-type sleeve. Get a cheap dish drying rack and let those babies air dry even after vacuuming or wiping them down.

Got a link to more info on playing wet?

ttate90303 · « **Reply #35 on:** 9 Apr 2012, 06:33 pm »

Quote from: smargo on 9 Apr 2012, 05:22 pm

does that mean you are not listening to cd's anymore? I have found that that there are incredible sounding cd's and lousy sounding lp's - so i have both - im enjoying cd's more than ever - im also enjoying lp's more than ever

my listening sessions include cd's and lp's - sometimes all cd's - sometimes all lp's - sometimes mixed

Actually my system includes a digital playback setup using a Mac Mini (mid-2009) with a Pure Music front routed to a Rega DAC. I also have an old Denon 2200 SACD/DVD-Audio player. But it's used for music that I don't currently own on LP. LP is mainly for some music that I want to own/collect for my playback enjoyment. I've found most of the LP's I've acquired have brought back fond memories of when I used to listen to LP's back home as a kid. And they tend to offer a bit more than the ripped CD's I own. All in all, for me it's enjoying music. If I want to skip around or cook up a playlist of various tunes then the digital playback route is what I choose. But if I want to listen to an album from side to side, on the Rega it goes. Hence the current hybrid system using the NAD pre/amp setup. I may simplify someday but for now it's all paid for and enjoyable.

As for playing "wet" don't know about that. Figured I'd just clean them, let them fully dry in an old dishrack and then store them in MoFi's.

Scottdazzle · « **Reply #36 on:** 10 Apr 2012, 12:29 am »

Quote from: ttate90303 on 7 Apr 2012, 05:06 am

One quick question on inner lp sleeves - some of the vinyl I've purchased has come with plastic sleeves to contain the record as well as the heavy paper sleeves with lyric/liner notes. Should I replace these plastic sleeves with better quality sleeves (i.e., MoFi sleeves)?

Yes, you should replace plastic sleeves with mofi or similar sleeves. I had several records ruined by plastic sleeves somehow meltling or otherwise bonding to the vinyl. Even paper sleeves are safer than plastic.

midfi · « **Reply #37 on:** 15 Apr 2012, 09:22 pm »

Quote from: Scottdazzle on 10 Apr 2012, 12:29 am

Yes, you should replace plastic sleeves with mofi or similar sleeves. I had several records ruined by plastic sleeves somehow meltling or otherwise bonding to the vinyl. Even paper sleeves are safer than plastic.

agreed...

Wayner · « **Reply #38 on:** 15 Apr 2012, 09:34 pm »

Quote from: jtwrace on 9 Apr 2012, 05:23 pm

Say's it on the front page of the MoFi site...

It doesn't say one word. If you want me to take a picture, I can.

It says: "MoFi Original Master Sleeves help to preserve your most prize recordings. These custom-designed inner sleeves protect against scratching, static build-up and contamination; all common problems associated with regular sleeves of all types. Your records are irreplaceable. These sleeves will guarantee they last a lifetime."

This is right off the front cover.

roscoeiii · « **Reply #39 on:** 15 Apr 2012, 09:42 pm »

Wayner,

It is unclear what you are reading from. What jtwrace posted is from MoFi's own webpage (link below). It may not say this elsewhere, but on the company's official site, it is clear as day.

http://www.mofi.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=27&idcategory=0