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Q: What exactly is "Hand Select" vinyl from TheMusic.com?

A: "Hand Select" is borne out of the desire to deliver the highest quality LP products to our consumers. To that end, TheMusic.com has desided to increase our level of customer service and deliver to our customers new LP's that are hand inspected for visual defects, label tears, and flatness.

Further, these "Hand Select" LP's are professionally cleaned and repackaged in deluxe outer sleeves to protect the jacket and record. All of this extra care comes at no additional charge on audiophile pressings and at a nominal charge on all other LP's sold by TheMusic.com. You can now rest assured that the new record you receive from TheMusic.com will provide the highest level of sound quality and longevity from having all the impurities left over from the pressing process washed and vacuumed clean. "Hand Select" vinyl - another innovation in the pursuit of audio excellence brought to you exclusively by TheMusic.com - insist on it.

How the Hand-Select process works:

1. Hand selection of an early pressing. TheMusic.com has arranged to receive early pressings from the first pressing run of all Classic Records titles from this point forward. Those LPs will be used for customers who purchase Classic Records and choose to receive this Hand-Select process, although all vinyl sold through TheMusic.com is eligible to receive Hand-Select care.
   
2. Initial visual inspection. Our Sales Director Brian Tipton will visually examine each LP prior to it’s cleaning, inspecting for dishing or warping as well.
   
3. Professional cleaning. The disc is then placed on our state of the art cleaning machine and given a thorough brush applied cleaning with our revolutionary L’Art du Son cleaning solution. Our cleaning machines adhere to the same high standards of today’s industrial cleaning machines while still being as quiet as a mouse! Using a thread based suction pump, the dirty fluid is vacuumed safely away.
   
4. Last visual inspection. Once the disc has been sufficiently cleaned, it is again visually inspected for flatness and quality assurance.
   
5. Repackaging. The freshly cleaned LP is then re-sleeved and placed, with cover, into a high quality slightly oversized more-durable outer bag, which is then ready to ship off to you!
   

Harry Pearson says:

“…A dirty windshield and a dirty record have something in common. They not only obscure your view of the world, but they distort it as well. Anyone who loves LPs and doesn’t have a good cleaning device deserves the bad sound (s)he will surely get.”

To amplify on these sage remarks by one of the most respected analog experts on the planet, the bottom line is that a record can just never be too clean. As Mr. Fremer points out, a brand-new record may look pretty pristine, but there is mold release agent lurking in the grooves. This stuff is definitely needed to make new records pull cleanly away from the metal parts of the record press, but it does you absolutely no good when it comes time to play that nice, expensive new record. It is capable of fouling the stylus and causing audible distortion, and it needs to go to be sure that you are really playing the groove, not a contaminant.

When a record is dirty, either from oily fingerprints or dirt and dust, it also needs to be well cleaned to play back with the highest fidelity. Any little bit of grime or grunge can contaminate your stylus and, if a deposit builds up on the needle from constantly playing filthy records, it can be really hard to remove. Plus a dirty record just plain sounds bad. Your pickup system is optimally designed to play a clean groove, and anything that detracts from that goal will result in less-than-top-shelf performance.

The necessary ingredients for a thorough LP cleaning are a quality wet-cleaning machine and a specially formulated detergent that is both gentle and effective for all LPs and 45s. We use the L’Art du Son cleaning fluid. Mike Hobson of TheMusic.com experimented with the solution and decided that we should import and distribute the stuff, and we are now the exclusive source for the L’Art du Son cleaning fluid in the USA.

Martina Schoener, who used to professionally clean records for a major library in Germany, developed the L’Art du Son cleaning fluid over a two-year period. After many months of cleaning, she became physically ill and determined that she would have to come up with a less toxic and more effective solution for cleaning LPs. After much experimentation, she finalized her formula and went to market. L’Art du Son has the following features:

• Concentrate makes up to 5 liters of cleaning fluid when added to ordinary distilled water.
• Contains NO alcohol which can damage LP's
• Use of Environmentally friendly formula components
• Dramatic increase in dynamic contrasts from LP playback
• Improved bass response from LP playback
• Vast improvement in overall soundstage clarity from LP playback
• Increased stage depth and sense of musical ease from LP playback

Substantial reduction in LP noise floor resulting in improved clarity and instrumental definition.

Michael Fremer says:

“…New records are usually contaminated with a mold release agent that does for hot off the press vinyl, what PAM does for scrambled eggs. Used records are just plain dirty. That's why both new and used records need to be wet-vacuum cleaned. Not doing so is like not cleaning your glasses and then complaining that you can't see...”

Q: How do I get Hand-Select vinyl?

A: TheMusic.com would like to offer you the opportunity to have your records cleaned with this high quality Hand-Select process, so from now on we’ll be offering this process at no extra charge with the purchase of all audiophile LPs. Non-audiophile LPs sold through TheMusic.com will also be eligible for this Hand Select process at the low cost of $1.50 per record by simply checking the box next to the item at checkout. For further questions, please contact:

TheMusic.com Groove Shop
(323) 466-9694 x26
Contact The Groove Shop via email