Occasional loud pops when playing vinyl on LP12...

Hmmmm... no, I'm not sure it is the cartridge or setup as the deck hasn't moved since it was setup three months ago by a proper LP12 expert.

Putting it in context, at decent volumes (e.g. 10 o'clock on the 82's volume pot) I hear no vinyl noise to speak of (other than these occasional loud pops - and I mean, they're LOUD - much more so than the music).

I'll check, but I doubt it's setup as the sound is completely wonderful, with inky black backgrounds and no discernable distortions, which I'd expect to hear if something wasn't right with the cartridge setup. I'm convinced the problem lies elsewhere, but equally I'm not convinced that it is the dry air in the room.

Still stumped...

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

John

I don't think it's static. More likely mains or RF interference from other appliances. Try switching off your fridge, freezer, central heating and anything else with motors that cut in and out and see if it goes away.

Regards
Steve

Er maybe your LP's are scratched

Nah, vinyl is in perfect nick and I've never heard pops from scratched vinyl _that_ loud before.

In any case, I'm pretty fastidious about keeping my vinyl in good shape, what with a VPI 16.5, nagaokas and so on.

I'll see if it could be RFI - that's a thought, but I never had any problems before, and nothing I can think of has changed - e.g. mashing machines, etc., and the central heating wasn't on at the time (hence the fire was on)

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

I would also try leaving the pre-amp set to phono with the volume up but not actually playing a record. See if the pops still happen, this should show if it's phono stage related rather than LP12 related. If the pops still happen, try doing the same but with the LP12 power supply disconnected, in case it's a fault there which is being picked up by the cartridge.

Thanks, those are good ideas. I'll try that later.

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

I second Kan Man, Tom Alves and Michael Dale's suggestions.
Leave the LP12 motor running too.
David

My fridge causes the deck to Pop, and yes it can be terrifying, espcially if you forget to turn it off phono and the volume down.

For what its worth I never listen to my system with the tumble dryer on. Every time it switches I get a crack through the system.

bob

TC,

check the connections to the cartridge.

i had exactly the same symptoms once and
it turned out to be that the small cables
to the back of the cartridge were knackered.

HTH

TC,

I had the same symptoms too when I got my new LP12 back in 1990.

I ruled out RF by turning off all other appliances and the problem still occured. I also checked the cartridge cables but they seemed OK to my untrained eye.

I returned the LP12 to the dealer who couldn't repeat the problem in his basement (damp?) demo room. However, he changed the cartridge anyway and things have been fine ever since.

So in my case it seemed to be a combination of humidity and duff cartridge (or setup).

Maybe the recent setup you had caused a problem that's only just showing up? Even LP12 experts can make mistakes.

Regards,

Ravvie

I have the same thing, TC. I only started noticing it with my new cartridge (Denon 103), but not straight away, so it may tie in with the central heating going into autumn overdrive, as well as perhaps a more sensitive cartridge.
I have a feeling it's static related - the cracking sound is a lot "faster" than any fridge related noise I've experienced.
One suggestion (that I have yet to try out) was to place a small pot of water with a cotton wool "wick" to draw moisture into the air on the LP12's top plate (obviously with the lid down) - it's own little microclimate, I guess.

[This message was edited by RichardHallman on MONDAY 05 January 2004 at 09:35.]

Top Cat,
I read your post with interest because I suffered from the exact same problem a couple of years ago with my LP12.The very loud pops emanating from the turntable woud make me almost jump out of my seat and ruined any enjoyment I had from playing LP's.It took me quite a while to trace the problem to a second hand LP (Arc of a Diver)that i'd just bought.I think that the problem was caused by the previous owner using a cleaning fluid on the LP and when I played it static was generated which discharged through the speakers.The weird thing was that subsequent Lp's that I'd had for years and knew to be perfect also started to pop loudly.It appeared as if the static charge had transfered to them.I cured the problem by throwing the Arc of a Diver LP in the bin and playing my other LP's until the static went.It took a few plays for this to happen.
An important point to realise,and the reason that it took me so long to identify the Arc of a Diver LP as the culprit is that it played with no pops at all on a dealers LP12 with a cork mat and on my wife's cheapo turntable which had a rubber mat.It appeared to be the felt mat on my LP12 which in some way reacted with the contaminant on the LP which caused the static charge and hence the loud pops,or bangs would be a better description.
I hope that this is of some assistance to you and that you get to the root of the problem.
Regards,
Palium.

on the subject of unexpected pops from your vinyl can I suggest a very strange thing? Check the surface of the vinyl for the presence of a very small foreign body that may be stuck to the surface! I know this sounds like bad LP hygiene but far from it. I read once of a process in vinyl where deposits of mould release agent etc can form small blobs of cak under certain storage conditions. The source of such wisdom is probably long buried but the advice is still sound.

I used to get a few surprises from disks including jumping that were solved for me by
gently running a finger over the lp to feel where the blob is and then, er, removing it.

Top suggestions for removal include picking off the big bits and re-listening, and maybe dabbing any remaining with a cotton bud in 10% alc/water.

Finally, this is not a joke, and happy new year to all from Mr Spotty Vinyl.

ha

Gary

I had this pop (big bangs actually) problem with my LP12 into NAC52.
It was the arm earth lead to the 52 which was broken.
I know some on this forum advise running with the turntable earth disconnected, but this can't be done in my system because of the pops. I imagine they are static discharges.

Update: I've not had this problem in the last couple of days, and the only thing that's changed is that I haven't had the fire on in the same room. I'm beginning to suspect that it could well have been the dry, warm atmosphere.

John

TC '..'
"Sun went down in honey. Moon came up in wine. Stars were spinnin' dizzy, Lord, the band kept us so busy we forgot about the time."

Update: After nearly three months of static-free listening pleasure, I added a Prefix K into the deck and the static is back. I'm really quite stumped about this - any other ideas? It's definitely static and not RFI, though I know there's RFI if I turn the gain way up, but other than that I am really a bit bewildered...

John

Update 2: From a reliable source, it seems that this could be due to the Prefix K, the fact that it's less shielded than the internal boards coupled with the fact that the K might be a slight mismatch for my non SL model Helikon.

I guess I'm going to have to either look at alternatives or revert back to the internal boards...

Damn.

Get a plant, keep the soil moist, connect a wire - any small wire will do from one foot of the LP12 to the plant. Problem solved

John

Iknow it not very flat earth but you might want to try to replace the felt mat with one from http://www.extremephono.com/ I had similar static problems and thisseems to have cured it.
I have a spare if you want to try it on loan only cost to you will be postage I f you like what it does you can then order one from extremephono.

Sean

[This message was edited by Sean P on Fri 09 April 2004 at 20:19.]

Top Cat

I used to have a similar problem with my Systemdek until I started playing vinyl with the lid up. The problem then went away.

I found that if I brushed a cloth across the top of the lid, a huge static build up actually lifted the arm up!!

I assume the Lp12 has a perspex lid so it might be worth a try, after all it won't cost you anything.Incidentally the Systemdek also has felt mat so this might be contributing as well.

Ringmat Developments sell a plastic disc called a stat cap which they claim will stop static.
I believe it is quite cheap its sometimes advertised in the hi fi press.

I had the same problem with mains borne cracks and pops and RFI (Radio Free Included?) when using boards in a 52,72,Nait 3 and later a seperate Stageline.

In the end I just gave in and bought a well designed Non Naim phono stage.

Problem solved.

Completely.

P

That sounds like the best plan. As it happens I am abandoning my Prefix aspirations and am now officially on the hunt for a decent phono stage at no more than £500. At the moment it's a shortlist of one: Dynavector P75.

I'm popping up to Bob's to have a listen a week on Monday, and will report back what I think thereafter.

John

Hi Top Cat,
I have a 2nd hand Swiss Physics pre-amp with both mm/mc (I guess the machines is dated ~1990). There is no problem with MM. Occassionally, I get the loud pop when playing MC head (have tried 2 MC heads), after the pop, the pre-amp protect itself and cut all the music. After around 10 seconds, music is back.
I then leave the pre-amp power on for days or hours. The problem seems go away. But it returns later on.

To isolate, I use the same MC head with step-up transformer then mm of pre-amp, everything is fine. After a few days, I leave the pre-amp power on for hours, once I discover the power is gone and found capactiors of pre-amp are damaged. I take it to repair, and the guy says its the damage of voltage stablizer, thus the related capactiros damaged. And the pop from MC previously encountered is properly due to aging of the pre-amp in particular voltage stablizer.

At the moment, my pre-amp is still under repair.

I'm not an electronic but just to share my experience.

Regards,
Eric Tang