[net.audio] Record Preservatives

mabarnstijn@watmath.UUCP (Michael A. Barnstijn) (10/05/83)

Ok, people!  Just what is supposed to be the problem with record preservatives?
I've been using Sound Guard record preservative for three years now and am
very satisfied with what it does for me: it reduces record wear
(records i had for only a year before i started using SG sound much worse
 than the treated albums i've played often in these last 3 years)
AND it reduces static so much that you'd swear they had an anti-static field!
Well, a little bit of hyperbole.  But in all, i'm happy with the apparent
reduction in wear and the definite reduction in static build-up after treatment
(even ~2 years after SG treating, the anti-stat still works).
But now, SG isn't available up here in the Great White North, and i've been
hearing nasty things about record preservatives.  Apparently, though, there's
new stuff out called "LAST".  Anyone heard of it?

So what's wrong with record preservatives?  For those who have used them 
and liked them, what's right?  Let's find out what you think.


Michael A. Barnstijn, Dept. of Comp. Sci., University of Waterloo, Canada
...!{allegra|decvax|utcsgrv|utzoo|sunybcs|...}!watmath!mabarnstijn

wjm@whuxk.UUCP (10/10/83)

I'm somewhat skeptical that any record preservative (LAST, Sound Guard, etc.)
could IMPROVE the sound of a NEW record - at best, it will keep a record sounding
NEW longer.  Certainly everyone is concerned about record wear, and that's one
reason I'm waiting for CD's which will solve this problem.
However, this doesn't solve the problem of preserving your existing LP's.
One solution is to dub them to tape and then play the tape copy, keeping the
record for backup if the tape accidentally gets an 18-min gap in it.
(Note that I'm not advocating tape dubs of records you don't own, which is a
unethical and b) illegal for most newer records).
Another proposed solution is to use record preservatives, but Sheffield says
that doing so will void the warranty on their audiophile LP's and several other
audiophile disk distributers have advised against it.  What effect do these
preservatives have upon the plasticizers in the vinyl ??? Until more is known
about the long term effects of these compounds, I'd be very wary about using
them.
Bill Mitchell
Bell Laboratories
Whippany, NJ  (whuxk!wjm)