Technics SL-5110 or Orbit Plus

[soconfg]

So I've had my Technics for about 8 years now and I'm not sure what to do. I clean each record I play and have done the magic eraser cleaning method on the needle, but I still seem to get more popping and cracking than I should be hearing. The Technics runs perfectly so I don't know if I should just replace the cart and needle, and if so can someone point me to a good one because I can't find one. Or should I just start fresh with the Orbit Plus?

[allenh]

I doubt very much the turntable is causing the problem, it's more likely dust on the records or static, yes a new stylus will help if it's worn and an upgrade is nice but it's unlikely to be the cause of pops and crackles.

 

How are you cleaning the records? are you just using a brush? if you are not wet washing and ideally vacuum cleaning then you are just pushing some of the dirt around rather than removing it, the best way to remove it is vacuum cleaning but if that's a bit too much then something like a spinclean is better than just brush cleaning although it does still run the risk of leaving dirt as it's not sucked away as it is with a vacuum cleaner

 

If it's static you can help by having an acrylic plater or for your Technics an acrylic platter mat but the best thing to get rid of static is something like a zero stat and anti static record inner sleeves,

 

In reality it's probably a combination of both