About Packburn 323 Audio Noise Suppressor

 

HI; I have learned that you for many years (and probably still) use the
Packburn for playback and recording from old 78 rpm discs.

Since I am a collector of old 78's and have a big collection of records from
all ages. I have also spent some recourses on good equipment and I think
this Packburn would be the correct analogue device to my set-up.

I have a Thorens TD 521 turnable. The arm is a SME 3012R and the cartridge
is a Stanton 500MKII and some different stylis, all special made for
playback of old 78's! I use a normal NAD RIIA preamp.

My experience so far is that it works very well on clicks and pops using the
switcher and the blanker. But the continous noise filter bugs me a bit,
since I think it doesn't reduce that much surface noise. I don't use the
variable adjust very often, since the so called "masked-noise" and the
pumping effect bring offer "strange noises" to the sound. Therefore I mostly
use the FIXED adjust, and usually set it fixed at 9 o'clock posititon.

 

I have read that some re-issue engineers, like Robert Parker used the
Packburn 323A frequently when restoring old 78's for LP and CD-releases.

MY main question is if the Packburn was used as a "stand alone" unit or it
was also supplied with other noise reduction units in order to filter out
more of the surface noise. If so, what did they (or you) actually do and
what could eventually be a good supplement for that purpose?

I would really appreciate if any of you would please give me some hints and
suggestions, since I think the Packburn will work very well if used the
right way!

Really hope to hear from you again!!

 

Best regards

Jan Myren¨

NORWAY