The following supposes a good, new needle on a decent system.
I have a Moe Bandy album that sounds great overall, but on the higher notes, it gets that certain kind of “crackle”: the sound breaks up and there literally is a kind of crackling noise. Very annoying.
Other albums, most in fact, won’t do this at all. Also, many albums in poor condition don’t do this. Some nice-looking albums do (the vast majority of my albums I bought used, so it’s hard to say whether a new could do this, but I think a few have done so).
Nope, most albums sound fine. And it’s not really high notes, either. Just that, when it happens, it seems to be the higher notes on that album that cause it.
I asked the same question to an old guy who sells the stylus and turntables no one needs anymore.
He told me to check the balance of my tonearm. My turntable has an anti-skating compensator and sub-weight adjustment.
Once I found the perfect balance, I didn’t hear the fuzziness (my word) anymore. In my case, the tonearm was bearing down too much.
Here’s a test to see if this could be your problem. Position the stylus over the lead-in groove, watch as it touches down. If the stylus is driven inward the tone arm has too much forward weight. If its driven outward its too light.
If its too light, you’ll hear crackles as it skates over one or two groves at a time. If its too heavy, it will crackle because,according to the guy, the stylus is digging up the groove. :dubious: Whatever the reason, the noise stopped when I got it right.
Not being an electrical or audio engineer, I will get in deep trouble if I try to provide a correct and complete definition of clipping. Until one of the local experts comes along here’s a definition as it applies to stereo amplifiers and speakers: clipping
The definition doesn’t cover it, but you can get clipping anytime you try to amplify a signal, or record a signal to a nonlinear medium like a record or tape.
If clipping occurs while a performance is being recorded, that distortion will carry through to the final LP or CD. There’s no cure but to get the band back together and re-record the track.
I think it could also be that the grooves were damaged by a previous owner’s poor needle/turntable (you don’t say whether this particular album was bought used). If the grooves are damaged, there may be nothing you can do to fix it. Although I’ll try picunurse’s suggestions on the one album I have (which I bought used) which does what you describe.
Not quite. Wow, often referred to in the same breath as flutter, is more of a speed issue. If the tape deck or mastering lathe isn’t holding a perfect speed, the pitch will change. If it changes slowly, it’s wow. Fast changes are flutter.