I haven’t, Tony. I must give them a ring, actually.

Amplifier synergy plays a significant part. I have a Fyne Audio Ht centre speaker. Sounds good for its modest price.

Yes…you have a point there. She’s that kind of gal, I reckon.

Not yet. I should really hassle.

Oh good gracious no. A bevy is like the final line up at Miss World before the winner is announced. A boat load is like a bunch of vomiting marines approaching the beach under fire. Hope that clarifies things.

@@TheAudiophileMan Very descriptive. But these days a beauty pageant contestant could vey well be one of those marines you speak of, if you get my drift.

No, yes and how do you define “interesting”?

Despite what some fans believe, vinyl doesn’t just consist of PVC but a recipe of 8-12 chemicals. PVC being just one of those. One of those chemicals is an oil-like substance that is designed to sweat out under the heat and pressure of the pressing machine to prevent the record sticking to the machine itself. Thing is, no-one removes this oil afterwards. It sits and hardens in the groove over the days, weeks, months and years. It’s not a protective, it’s a waste material. And it masks detail because your stylus plays it instead of the bare groove.

@@TheAudiophileMan Yes, or so I heard in the past 40 years or so. But still, it's not clear at all what this "oil" is, exactly. It's also hard to get confirmation from the industry. For instance, I've seen many microscope images of grooves over the years, and I have yet to see anything that resembles an oily residue when and where there's plenty of dust. Never "felt" it with my fingers, never saw traces of oil on any inner sleeve (on a "fresh" record, it should go through, don't you think?) or some "gunk" picked-up by the stylus. Therefore, and as I can understand it, it should be something so intricately mixed in the groove that questions arise about whether or not we should try to remove it. Some other professionals say exactly that: no you should not. A colleague says some records sound worse after that kind of treatment. And despite all this, I do hear the difference with some brand new records passed in the Degritter. I find it confusing to say the least. On the other hand, record presses are a hot, steamy, not-so-clean place to be when you try to get an "immaculate" record. Could it be something hanging in the air? I'm planning to visit a pressing plant soon to make a video about the process, I'll be asking about that for sure.

@@disquesettourne-disques This stuff is evenly leached from within the vinyl, not added as a third-party substance. It's not poured or sprayed on. So you won't feel it. It doesn't surprise me that you don't see it. Why should you? It's designed by pellet companies to do just enough. Nothing more. After all, they want to add as little as possible to the recipe, just enough to do the job. Any more is expensive to them. Some of it will be burned off, some of it will evaporate, etc. But it only takes a micro film to cover the groove walls to effect the sound. Which is why pressing plants are not burdened with the (again expensive) job of removing it. Imagine if you could feel the oil? The pressing plant would incur delays and extra staffing costs to get rid of a substance that the general public would complain about :) And if you clean a record and is sounds worse, then you haven't cleaned it properly. As for the 'it's a protective layer'? An uninformed urban myth. And where do I get my info? I've visited two pressing plants (EMI Hayes - when EMI still owned it and it was run by men in white coats - and Music on Vinyl in Holland), interviewed two UK vinyl pellet plants, interviewed the main acetate supplier to Abbey Road, a Canadian chemist contracted to Abbey Road and interviewed the manager of the current owner of EMI Hayes (now The Vinyl Factory; when EMI went bust), plus CEOs of specialist vinyl companies and mastering engineers since 2000. Plus around 10 years of constant and intense A-B, C-D, etc, etc tests. As a HiFi reviewer I am lucky to have access to most, if not all, cleaning tech and liquids. I try to test most if not all. Hope that helps a bit.

​@@TheAudiophileMan I don't mean in any way that a "protective coat" is "sprayed on" or anything like that, and I know about those "additives", just to be clear. My concern is, as far as I can wrap my head around that, more about a residue that seem to be so intricately mixed and hardened with the surface of the groove that it might become undistinguishable from it. Therefore, I can easily imagine that one might remove too much of it and alter the surface. The Degritter doesn't do that, but some other ultrasonic devices seem to do (I won't name names). How much is enough, or too much? You say you spin the records for 6 runs, but who does that? How far do we have to push the envelope? I mean, the Degritter is powerful enough to go through aluminum foil in one single run, so what about it? Sorry, I'm not trying to challenge you, those are only legitimate questions. I work with mastering engineers too, and I can't wait for that pressing plant tour I'm working on!

@@disquesettourne-disques Well, it sounds like the pressing plant visit may provide you with more answers, because you can see all before you. As for the rest? I found the '6' figure by listening. Simple as that. Others might not need such extremes, of course. I have never heard any damage from an ultrasonic. Even home made types. And foil isn't PVC. But look, enjoy your visit get what you can out of it and I;m sure it'll all be good . Let me know how you get on. Good luck.

Thanks Chuck - much appreciated.

“weared”? Do you mean worn? or weird?

@JohnHirstUK I mean old (it says 25/December 2020 in pen). in the meantime I got a Sumiko Pearl elliptical, but I still want to have the AT working: I'm undecided whether to have 2 ellipticals or mount a conical vmn10eb. oh God! it's difficult to talk about technical things in a foreign language 😅

@giulioB__88 Ah, okay, old makes more sense. I’d replace it with the 20EB, but that’s only my opinion, others may differ. And other than making up new English words like ‘weared’, your English seems great to me!

@@GComstock grazie 👍🏻

Ok, you got me. I was only pretending that this was a CD player.

@ Or a smoke detector that plays cd music when there is a fire. Maybe the Beatles (Help!)?