Came across this charming thing on Deco Audio's site. It's a customer's blog on all things valves and mostly vinyl of the dusty sort :) Lovely....
http://vinyl-musings.posterous.com/
Here's a snippet :
Bad Vibrations
I've been noticing a little distortion when playing records loud. I've cleaned the records, I've checked the stylus is clean but its still there.
I made a phone call to Deco Audio (Aylesbury hifi shop where I bought my turntable) and asked advice. As I expected he listed a bunch of possible causes. One stood out to me - that it might be vibration caused by the turntable being too close to the speaker - but how do I tell?
Well, remembering Jurassic Park I half filled a glass of water and sat it on the speaker, whilst it didn't do the TRex ripple effect, I could clearly feel the vibration in the glass if I lightly placed my fingers against it. Then I placed the glass on the shelf next to the turntable and on the turntable lid - I could still fee vibration. Placing it on the nearby windowsill or further way and the vibration was gone.
So next to do something about those bad vibrations. Either move the deck, possible but a pain, or experient with a more stable shelf and better feet on which to place the turntable. And perhaps a weight that goes on the record label as it plays - I saw some of these listed on Deco Audio's site:
Another snippet:
October 6, 2011 Our Children Will Never Know
Personally I like the ritual of taking the record out of its sleeve, putting it on the turntable and lowering the needle. Putting a pencil in the cassette tape to wind it on, things like that.
To make a cup of tea you have to engage in all manner of small actions. Imagine being able to push a button on your kitchen wall and a fresh cup of tea appears, Star Trek style. The tea would be of the same high standard every time. That would seem pretty boring to me, but I guess that is what most people want. I'm happy with slight imperfections and variations. There's joy to be had in any of life's little rituals where it be making a cup of tea, washing up or putting a record on.