Moving on - upgrading MM to MC, or..?

[Macca]

I just dont get why folks always assume it is an atomatic upgrade path..mm to mc.

I agree I don't think it is as clear cut as some make out. I also don't understand why anyone would drop a couple of grand on a cartridge when they don't own a record cleaning machine or haven't had their records cleaned already elsewhere. I'd rather listen to clean records through a cheaper cartridge than noisy records played by a much better cart.

[jammy395]

Good & Valid point Mr Macca...

[Daniel Quinn]

Gentlemen I respectfully disagree with macca's point , it is analogous to saying I prefer a freshly valeted trabant over a dirty Ferrari

[Macca]

Gentlemen I respectfully disagree with macca's point , it is analogous to saying I prefer a freshly valeted trabant over a dirty Ferrari

No it isn't! The Ferrari will drive just as well no matter how many empty burger boxes are piled in the passenger footwell. Whereas crud-encrusted records sound terrible and wear out your expensive stylus much more quickly

[Daniel Quinn]

Cant say I own many crud encrusted records .

[jammy395]

Cant say I own my crud encrusted records .

Who owns em then...

[Macca]

I do buy a lot of used records and some of them are in shit state having been stored in grimey warehouses and lock ups but a clean almost always restores them to near perfection. Even records I bought from new and have looked after conscientiously sound better once cleaned, as do brand new purchases. I'd always put getting an RCM above upgrading the cartridge if the budget is not there for both.

[Daniel Quinn]

That be silly and unnecessarily prescriptive , you can clean records by hand ,the effect of a record cleaning machine isn't going to be significantly better than by hand . I have a cheap record player to do the job of turning the record it be a direct drive [ all its good for ] , I refuse to believe a vacuum pump can make that much difference .

[jammy395]

Mhhhhhhh....

Looks expensive.....jpg (30.45 KiB) Viewed 1818 times

More like it....jpg (54.1 KiB) Viewed 1818 times

[Macca]

This what you want, Not cheap but a lot less than a fancy MM or MC


The idea of the vacuum is that you first clean the record getting all the crud out of the grooves and then, whilst it is held in suspension, the vacuum hoovers it up. Cleaning by hand you are just wetting the crud, moving it around a bit then letting it dry back into the grooves again. You may get rid of some of it but it is nothing like as an effective a method. Nor as quick and easy.