A post about cleaning records

[Entrigo]

Last night I was listening to a record I had just bought - as Near Mint - which turned out quite noisy.

Then I noticed the stylus was picking up a lot of fluff, even though I'd cleaned it - as it looked shiny and clean, I only did a quick hand wipe using GrooveWasher, then spun it on a 5 minutes wash/dry cycle in the Hummingguru ultrasonic cleaner.

But the fluff pointed clearly to some caked dirt... So I decided to do a deeper clean: MoFi Enzyme Cleaner (5 minutes per side then wipe), then GrooveWasher G2 (5 minutes per side then brush/wipe) then 2 full wash cycles plus a wash and dry cycle in the HG.

The record still has occasional tick and very light surface noise, but much reduced. This leads me to believe much of the surface noise I hear on many records could be stubborn dirt caked in the grooves. Unless a record looks obviously dirty, I normally do the quick wash routine (GrooveWasher wipe + quick HG cycle). It now looks like this might not clean enough.

So... I cannot be bothered to do the above 1 hour clean for every record so I was thinking I might look at a different way that minimises the time and effort required (especially the two-step manual clean as it is also messy).

Should I invest in a vacuum cleaner (like Pro-Ject VCS)? Or is the blow out purchase of a Degritter going to give me significantly better results and a true all-in-one solution? Something else?

Restrictions are space (not sure where I could fit a vacuum cleaner on top of the US) and not wanting a laborious/messy system. Ah yeah and £2.5k for the Degritter seems silly money - though my collection is growing by about 10 records per month, I still only have about 500 titles.

 

[nopiano]

If we are lucky, someone might have tried these. I haven’t, but I did enjoy an afternoon listening to Ortofon’s range cartridges a few years ago, ending with their then top MC retailing at about three grand.

In an interval. I realised there was scarcely a tick or pop heard, so I looked closer at the gear. They did use a rare transformer for the MC models, which ime give the best results when well matched. But no trick electronics so I asked one of the reps. Bear in mind they were carting a dozen cartridges and a top Pro-ject turntable around the UK on a ‘roadshow’ to showcase their cartridges.

“Well, we did use a Pro-ject record cleaner before we left base (the Henley Audio premises), but nothing since”, said the rep. That lodged in my brain, and were I to encounter cleaning issues in further I decided I’d get one. They’ve since been improved to make quieter I believe, and my ATC dealer in Bath (now closed) used one too. ‘Nuff said!

 

[Entrigo]

If we are lucky, someone might have tried these. I haven’t, but I did enjoy an afternoon listening to Ortofon’s range cartridges a few years ago, ending with their then top MC retailing at about three grand.

In an interval. I realised there was scarcely a tick or pop heard, so I looked closer at the gear. They did use a rare transformer for the MC models, which ime give the best results when well matched. But no trick electronics so I asked one of the reps. Bear in mind they were carting a dozen cartridges and a top Pro-ject turntable around the UK on a ‘roadshow’ to showcase their cartridges.

“Well, we did use a Pro-ject record cleaner before we left base (the Henley Audio premises), but nothing since”, said the rep. That lodged in my brain, and were I to encounter cleaning issues in further I decided I’d get one. They’ve since been improved to make quieter I believe, and my ATC dealer in Bath (now closed) used one too. ‘Nuff said!

Yeah always good to follow what the "pros" do. That said, on the Steve Hoffman forum I was warned against Pro-Ject as they have the tendency to develop faults of all kinds. I also watched a video and, as well as being pretty massive, they are really loud.

I am now actually thinking of the low-fi option of a Spin Care - just let the records soak in my own solution with the aforementioned enzyme cleaner and groove washer (very wary of IPA-heavy solutions) and then do a few cycles in the ultrasonic...

 

[nopiano]

Paul Rigby did an in-depth review and published a trusted ‘recipe’ for cleaning fluid that you may have seen.

VINYL CLEANING GUIDE PT. 2: RCMs

The second of a proposed trio of ‘How To…’ features, Paul Rigby examines how to clean vinyl using a record cleaning machine

theaudiophileman.com

I always thought that any older LP might well have crud in the grooves, but most of mine were bought when first released back in the 1970s and 80s, so I was mostly lucky. And when I wasn’t the shop happily replaced them.

 

[Entrigo]

Paul Rigby did an in-depth review and published a trusted ‘recipe’ for cleaning fluid that you may have seen.

VINYL CLEANING GUIDE PT. 2: RCMs

The second of a proposed trio of ‘How To…’ features, Paul Rigby examines how to clean vinyl using a record cleaning machine

theaudiophileman.com

I always thought that any older LP might well have crud in the grooves, but most of mine were bought when first released back in the 1970s and 80s, so I was mostly lucky. And when I wasn’t the shop happily replaced them.

Yeah I must have read that article a few times but terrible memory, so, thanks for sharing.

The vast majority of mine were bought second hand - also as I have always had an obsession with first pressings, since I was in my twenties, so even the ones I bought in the 90s (and which I luckily kept when I switched to CDs as most people did) were probably 10-20 years old.

 

[daytona600]

Humming guru for under £300 offers very basic performance but strictly not ultrasonic with full cavitation
operates @ low power , 40 kHz and has a limited Cavitation also only has 2 Ultrasonic Generators

Cavitation - The sound waves create millions of tiny vacuum bubbles that implode. This implosion generates a gentle scrubbing action at a microscopic level.

Full spec RCM will offer offer
higher power eg 200w
multiple transducers eg 4 off
operate at higher cleaning frequency eg 120khz
Will cost a lot more , but much more effective cleaning

 

[Entrigo]

Humming guru for under £300 offers very basic performance but strictly not ultrasonic with full cavitation
operates @ low power , 40 kHz and has a limited Cavitation also only has 2 Ultrasonic Generators

Cavitation - The sound waves create millions of tiny vacuum bubbles that implode. This implosion generates a gentle scrubbing action at a microscopic level.

Full spec RCM will offer offer
higher power eg 200w
multiple transducers eg 4 off
operate at higher cleaning frequency eg 120khz
Will cost a lot more , but much more effective cleaning

Yeah I read about the frequency/cavitation/bubble size, which is why I started looking at the Degritter. I am sure it will clean much better than my HumminGuru, but I am now thinking it might just be too expensive... Now, in a few years or when my collection will have doubled, it might make more sense..=

 

[Entrigo]

Right, found a "too good to be true, cheap enough to take a punt" (£58) Project VC-E on the bay, collecting tomorrow...