[Michael Archambault]

Hey, all.

Recently picked up a Beogram 1700 and I’m loving it, but I feel like I may have an issue with excess static. Even if I wet clean a record and put it onto the table right away (after drying, of course), I get quite a bit of static. I noticed it’s worse with some records than with others, but I don’t recall having this issue at all in the past with my Denon.

I’m wondering if it’s the new Sound-Smith cartridge that I just purchased? Things I have tried including wet cleaning noisy records, swapping out the platter for a spare I have, and keeping my anti-static brush on quite a while before playing the record. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Unfortunately, I do not have a spare table to test records on and compare. I also don’t have another one of these expensive B&O carts to try.

Thanks!

[Michael Archambault]

Wanted to add-on a note that this could very just me being hypercritical with a new setup. This problem may have been present on the last system. Another option could be that this Sound-Smith cartridge is more sensitive and picking up more detail (including static and pops) than the 2M Red I had on my Denon.

[Mark-sf]

I am not familiar with SoundDesign B&O cartridges. Could you mean SoundSmith? Record static (that is electrostatic attraction to vinyl) is usually caused by dry environments. A Zerostat can help mitigate it when cleaning the record. If by static, you are instead meaning electrical noise thru your speakers, that is something entirely different and can be confirmed by its random nature. Finally, if you are referring to pops and ticks from your records that occur at the same points during playback, these are either defects or foreign matter in the grooves that may be cleaned using ultrasonic techniques. If you good clarify the above we could help further.

[Michael Archambault]

Thanks, @Mark-sf, fixed my typo; it is Sound-Smith.

It very well could be static and I guess the only way to know would be to pick up a Zerostat gadget and attempt to use it. The fact that the static isn’t the same or intense on every record likely points to it not being a cartridge or table issue. But then again, maybe this cart is over sensitive to static that my old cart would simply not pick up. I thought cleaning the record (I have a Record Doctor machine) then playing it would eliminate the static, but maybe not.

When I say static, I mean the sound coming through my speakers. It sounds like lit bits of static (I guess most would call them pops). The pops aren’t one here and there though, they are multiple and generally chained together. They don’t seem to be consistent or in the same location, which makes me believe it isn’t a defect situation.

I’m wondering if there is a chance that the table is either generating static, or if the record isn’t being discharged on the platter as it should.

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