Symphony no.2 in C minor, op.17 - "Little Russian"
I: Andante sostenuto - Allegro vivo ~ II: Andantino marziale, quasi moderato // III: Scherzo -Allegro molto vivace ~ IV: Moderato assai
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Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
Philips ABL 3015 Original LP - hand-inscribed matrices: AA01130 1L-10 / 2L-4. Recorded: December 1953 - Walthamstow Town Hall.
Far superior to the reissue (GL5636) in realism/bass depth/power. This pressing was physically Pristine, but some 'noise' at start of side 1 prompted a re-wash - and the LP got damaged (the original dub was retained). I am not amused by this: like most of my collection it had never been 'washed' - and otherwise scarcely needed it.
Minimal '1.2' de-click/slight treble added - Sleeve-note >>>
With respect to the Monks machine: I used two of them during my years at KSFR and KKHI in San Francisco; but they were by no means "foolproof". I cannot remember a record that had not been scratched or distorted by a bad stylus coming off worse for the treatment; often the noise was much lower. BUT...
ReplyDeleteIn those frightful days of the 1960s and 70s, an infernal gadget called the Diskwasher (and its matching cleaning fluid) was much acclaimed...and I wondered about the sanity of any who used it. Though the fluid's formula changed over the years, I found that NO MATTER WHAT, and NO MATTER HOW SPARINGLY IT WAS APPLIED, the end result was that the RECORD WAS NOW -- in effect -- UTTERLY RUINED.
Only the Monks machine had a sane chance of removing the crap from the grooves that caused constant swishy garble. What was even worse is that the light-pressure early eliptical styli (such as the V15-I) would clog up with a melange of dried bits of the fluid remnants, mixed with junk from the bottom of the groove, until the sound would become increasingly distorted.
At a small radio station owned by a sound connoisseur, I learned to "wet play" the records that had been wrecked by Diskwasher garbage. But this was fraught with danger, and the liquid would often be sucked up INTO the delicate cartridge!
I later devised a method that seemed to me to be about 98% as good as the Monks treatment. I first washed the record using a Cecil Watts brush, warm water, and perfume free detergent, drying it with distilled H20. It would seem to sound, now, even more crackly...
But, the problem was that the "crap" would have to be brushed away from the side of the groove! I did this by playing the record only ONE time on an old 0.7 mil stereo low compliance cartridge, tracking at 6 gr in a properly balanced ESL arm. ONCE only! This was not enough pressure on the grooves to exacerbate the inner groove distortion--and I made sure that the stylus was always pristine and not worn.
This "silent playing" (which I did not listen to) netted a noise level that was extremely close to a pristine new Lp.
I took old radio station copies that had been Diskwashed and played a few dozen times, seeming to be wrecked and ready for the rubbish bin, and restored them VERY closely to new "quiet" sound this way. Luckily these had been handled carefully and not scratched, and played with good quality professional (but of course old, obsolete) gear; so they had better change of restoration that something from a used-goods emporium. You might try something like this, Frank, if you need to do a transfer and cannot possibly wait for the Monks machine.
Best,
8H Hagggis
The design (Percy Wilson) dates from 60-odd years back and was primarily used by Record Libraries (...) and BBC. I know the results there were good - but the cost of LP's were a smidgeon compared to Needleplay fees - so were disposable (and traced high: min 3.5g).
DeleteI got LP's ruined @ 2 top London dealers 'Audio T' (K.Monks - permanent crackle) & KJ Leisuresound (some Yankee console - 747 take-off dB's! - ditto - plus zillions of scratch lines added).
Have a Diskwasher D3: mainly used to pick-up a 'line' of dust only -the Milty DuoPad is the only one which digs-out 'microdust' - the fine brush C.Watts 'HiFi' Mk.4 can't really do that - and the 'wash brush' part of the 'Manual' Mk.IIa will scratch newer/softer vinyl when used for wet-cleaning....
So my method has been to use the old 'Super Emitex' plush nylon velvet cloth for wet cleaning - but am down to my last one - and the method isn't 100% for older (especially Decca) LP's where disc lubricants 'hold' the detergent/water in the groove instead of being flushed away/instantly dried as the disc is rotated under a luke-warm water tap.... THEN the problem becomes one of Static/dust attraction.
SO am not keen to go on an orgy of cleaning with a Loricraft/KM - and would never use Isopropanol, etc.. The irony is that lovely (and now hugely valuable) LP's that I previously sold to 'collectors' I knew would later be ruined by attempts to get CD-quiet perfection by such methods.
Hence the problem making LP transfers for here - and previously destroying a Stanton CS100/D98S due to wet-play. So, unless I can mostly fund a RCM (a long way from that....and S/H don't turn-up) which I could >safely< utilise; then may as well just do inherently noisy 78's (Shure V15/III - genuine ellipticals @ 1.8g).