How do you get past the pops and hiss of LPs?


I have recently got out my dad's old Thorens TT (TD 150 MKII) and listened to some of his old classical LP's. I think that it is a warmer sound than CD but I can't get passed all the noise. I asked my Dad and he said it always sounded that way. Am I doing something wrong? Do you just ignore the hiss and pops? Thanks in advance.

-Kevin
kemp
Motdathird, a very well reasoned response.

I have had many CDP's over the last 20 years and yes I've had nearly as many TT's In my own mind the upgrade was about equal each time I bought a better TT I bought a better CDP also. Right now I have about the same amount of money invested in each. The CDP and the table, arm, and cartridge retail for about $3500 each. In theory they should be of equal sound quality.

I attend concerts and hear live music regularly, and use that as the point of reference. When I listen at home to 'cleaned' records and CDs of which I have the same thing on cd, SACD, or vinyl I have yet to hear a digital recording that sounds as good as vinyl. Is my system so inferior that I cannot detect the differences? Am I just to stupid to notice that CDs really sound better? Or is it that I spent the money to buy what I consider to be a very good (and expensive) CD player, but that I'm still unwilling to give the CDP a fair chance? What am I doing wrong???
I apologize to Kemp. I see that he said he is using the Thorens. That will work!
Inpepinnovations@, I would take issue with your statement that the redbook CD medium has the greater dynamic range. In fact, LP playback has the greater dynamic range. One can hear roughly 15 to 20db into the noise floor on LPs, but on CD replay all music is simply thrown away if it exists below the least significant bit. I would grant you that CD has the superior signal to noise ratio, but this is a completely different matter.
This is the same old problem here.
Someone new to analog asks a simple question. Members try to answer it as best as They can.
Then some digivites start to bash analog.

That is were we are once again.

We have been down this road before.
After much debate, digital and analog rigs compared worth 10s of thousands of dollars the verdict is in, lp rules. (check the archives)

The only logical conclusion one can make, if one claims the superiority of digital is that you need to listen to a good analog rig. Believe me, we have been in a place where we once wanted cd to be better, because this medium has a lot going for it. The bottom line for those us that have chosen to abandon digital for critical listening is that lp simply has more music on it, period. Plus a pop or a click once in a while, and maybe some grove noise between tracks. Many lp's play with no noise at all.
The low frequencies are the hardest to trace for the cartridge and track for the arm. It takes a superior combo to dig the information out of those groves. Twl's moded Origin Live silver arm and a Shelter 501 cartridge (Retail is $1,600) with the hi fi mod increases the low end with at least another octave. This is the bass that a cd player cannot match.

You do not have to spend a fortune to get good analog sound, that is mostly free of noise(pops & clicks).
A used Systemdeck and a atcoc9 with a Rega arm will sound fantastic($700 range).
There are many sub 1k rigs that will get you most of the way there.

I hope this clears up some issues.
When you here how great, good analog can sound and if you are willing to put in the effort required in setup,(this can be quite a lot sometimes)it is not plug in and play. You will be rewarded.