[net.audio] Question about cleaning albums

kormeluk@tops32.DEC (04/23/84)

About three weeks ago I bought two Telarc digital albums, Beethoven's
5th by the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Pictures at an Exhibition
by the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. I have a few other digital LP's
from other labels (DG, London, etc) but none from Telarc.

My problem is this: when I play The Beethoven album from the beginning
I can hear distortion coming from the right channel during loud passages
about 3/4 thru the first side of the album.The stylus was cleaned with
a stylus cleaner before play, as was the album. If I clean the stylus
but start playing the record after the end of the first allegro the
distortion mosty vanishes. I first thought the album was defective but
a second has the same problem. I can't hear this problem on the other
Telarc or on any other LP, digital or not) and some have just as loud
passages as the Beethoven.

My question is this: would the album be adversely affected if I tried
cleaning it with a solution of (please no laughing) Ivory liquid and
Kodak Photo-flo ? Maybe my ears are more sensitive to any ticks, pops
or distortion coming from a $16 album than from a less expensive one.
I've checked the tracking force (1.5 gram) and anti-skating of the
turntable (harmon-kardon T35) and I've noticed more mirco-scopic dirt
from the stylus (sonus silver cartridge) after playing this album than
others, which lead me to think of cleaning the album. Anyone have
any suggestions on cleaning an album ?

				/dmetro kormeluk/
				...decvax!decwrl!rhea!tops32!kormeluk

ron@brl-vgr.ARPA (Ron Natalie <ron>) (05/01/84)

Why would you mix Ivory Liquid and Photo-Flo?  The Ivory will overpower
the Photo-Flo.  Photo-Flo is a wetting agent, a very weak solution of
ethelene glycol (the same stuff you put in your radiator).  To point is
to dispell the surface tension of the water so the water wont from drops
and leave spots on the film, while not leaving much residue from the wetting
agent.  Soap is a marvelous wetting agent in itself, but you really don't
want to leave suds all over your negatives.

-Ron