Recently attended a vinyl event at a major “high end” dealer. (Not one of the ones I’ve complimented, like Paragon, where personnel are meticulous).
A record company teamed with an equipment manufacturer to show off how well some old restored tapes had transferred to vinyl.
The format involved setup and private practice run, followed by several public presentations over the course of the evening.
I was present for the private practice run, and I must say that the first cut played was really impressive. The others were good too, but just not quite as real sounding. There were 6 of us in the large room, and I was the only one not affiliated with any of the sponsors.
I took a seat in the first public demo and noticed immediately that the sound had degraded. That first cut was much less real sounding, and the other cuts were sibilant and generally mediocre.
My first reaction was that 35 people in the room vs 6 people in the room had so affected room acoustics that the playback was no longer pleasing.
But after the room cleared out, I went to the TT, got out my inspection light, and saw a 1/8” diameter dust/debris ball shrouding the stylus.
This dealership does not clean their records. The record had been sitting on the platter for much of the day. And it had probably never been cleaned. I pointed it out to one the TT manufacturer’s staff. He ran off to try to find a cleaning tool. I don’t know how he fared as it was time for me to leave.
What was at the root of the unexceptional sound? Probably both the packed room’s acoustics and the dust bunny on the needle. How often do these problems come up at shows? Probably more often than you would think.
A record company teamed with an equipment manufacturer to show off how well some old restored tapes had transferred to vinyl.
The format involved setup and private practice run, followed by several public presentations over the course of the evening.
I was present for the private practice run, and I must say that the first cut played was really impressive. The others were good too, but just not quite as real sounding. There were 6 of us in the large room, and I was the only one not affiliated with any of the sponsors.
I took a seat in the first public demo and noticed immediately that the sound had degraded. That first cut was much less real sounding, and the other cuts were sibilant and generally mediocre.
My first reaction was that 35 people in the room vs 6 people in the room had so affected room acoustics that the playback was no longer pleasing.
But after the room cleared out, I went to the TT, got out my inspection light, and saw a 1/8” diameter dust/debris ball shrouding the stylus.
This dealership does not clean their records. The record had been sitting on the platter for much of the day. And it had probably never been cleaned. I pointed it out to one the TT manufacturer’s staff. He ran off to try to find a cleaning tool. I don’t know how he fared as it was time for me to leave.
What was at the root of the unexceptional sound? Probably both the packed room’s acoustics and the dust bunny on the needle. How often do these problems come up at shows? Probably more often than you would think.
