Too music surface noise?

[ikaruga]

My Technics setup is modest at best, so bear with me. Standard, with AT95E, a cork & rubber mat going into a Rega Fono Mini A2D. I listen on headphones only from a headphone amp. I have the Technics on a desk with standard feet on my own custom vibration reduction surface.

I'm convinced there's far too much surface noise. I have the AT at around 1.75g in the standard headshell. Even just touching the arm of the headshell creates noise. It's all aligned by the Vinyl Engine protractors although all done fairly quickly so the alignment in the headshell maybe veeeryyyy slightly out. I've tried a felt mat, but not using the Technics rubber mat (lost in storage somewhere in the 3000 records in there - guess my previous hobby...!).

Below are examples recorded from the Rega Fono. Vinyl noise is from a brand new pressing of the Slowdive album. Have to say the recordings are clearly less obvious than through the headphone amp.

My budget is small, I don't intend on many upgrades. It's modest and I'm happy with it bar this surface noise. Thoughts welcomed.

https://soundcloud.com/uncertifiedmusic/arm-cartridge-noise
https://soundcloud.com/uncertifiedmusic/vinylnoise

[ikaruga]

Also I've tried my only Concord Pro S, tracking at 3g and there is a little more surface noise. Guessing that rules out alignment issues as they cannot be aligned.

[walpurgis]

Adjusting VTA (vertical tracking angle) can help sometimes. Experiment with arm height. The cartridge may not necessarily sound best or track best with the body level.

[ikaruga]

Thanks. I think I've found a bit of a sweet spot around 1.75 - same as the tracking weight and anti skate.

Definitely a little less and turns out the Slowdive album has a pretty noise lead in, whereas other vinyls are far less noisy. Certainly an interesting experiment in any case. I think there's more to come with the setup. Tiny incremental improvements.

Appreciate the response.

[ReggieB]

How do you clean your records?