Record Cleaning Machines
There is an old audiophile rule of thumb about the priorities when it comes to playback. I mention it mostly because it is counter-intuitive.
The basics go like this:
The most important influence on quality playback is first the turntable, second the tonearm, and third the cartridge. When an audiophile is feeling a bit pedantic they will sermonize about the quality of the recordings and how most recording engineers clearly have tin ears, or the producers of the records and artsts, yadda yadda yadda. But rarely do they mention record cleanliness - I suspect because it is interesting in the way taking out the trash is interesting. Both lead to a better experience if you do it than if you don't - but it isn't something that people relish doing.
I have wondered why clean records never really get much attention, but since it really isn't a hipster thing, it is probably the least expensive way to get really good sound, and with some careful choices, can be family friendly, too.
I'll go out and say it, the single best upgrade you can do aside from a good turntable, is having a good record cleaning machine. I know. Boring, right? Little ink has been spilled on this subject, because it is more of an "eat your vegetables" kind of statement. But I am serious, you will have more clarity, bass definition, treble extension and overall dynamics when the dust, dirt and grit that settles into the grooves is gone. And for the accountant out there, it extends the life of the needle in that $1000 cartridge (500 hours with dirty records/needles 1500 with clean ones), and the life of the $250 first pressing of Peter Frampton Comes Alive.
But hey, here is a list of major types of them
Scrub it yerself types -Just say NO for light dust/lint only!
The most basic kit sold is an old RCA fiber brush and isopropyl alcohol based fluid you are supposed to place and scrub around the record. It is tedious, lengthy and having used it, it really doesn't get great results if the record is anything but new - and believe me, I have tried. I figured mostly it simply pushed around dirt on the records - and if the fluid could actually get all the way down the groove I have no idea but am left with my doubts. But the lack-of-proof is in the results - you won't be able to clean a deeply dirty record. You can make the record very shiny, but the hash, and pops won't go away.
For the DIY crowd, you can cure insomnia by watching the YouTube videos of the people who breathlessly explain and demonstrate their DIY versions of this approach. But honestly, even if it worked, are you going to want to spend more time cleaning the records than you will listening to them? I think this was born in the era where people would be buying most of their records new - and if you take the plunge into vinyl, or you are there you know - you will have a large chunk of your records being bought used and therefore usually in much need of a cleaning (and yes, used makes sense since a typical used record costs about $4-8, compared to a $20-50 price for new)
Glue in the grooves - Maybe for the odd record or two that just won't get clean using other methods
This way actually works well if the fluid is actually treated to be able to get into the grooves. I have ruined a record or two following the Elmer's wood glue method people explain on YouTube. Don't do it unless you want to spend 3 days slowly ruining a record with a great deal of effort - and while it shines up a record, I don't think the glue penetrates deep enough. There were methods of this during the heyday of vinyl the one that was pointed out to me by a friend is Audio Groome's Disco-film.
We have purchased a couple of bottles from a Australian company called "Record Revirginizer" which is a modern equivalent of this method, and we'll likely report on this later, once we've used it. But this isn't an every record cleaning method - but to try to clean the worst offenders.
The Spin Clean (Chemical bath based) - rational solution for those on a tight budget. Dry it yourself.
This was my first record cleaning method. I have to say, it works pretty well - and for $80 it gives a killer value. It doesn't work as well as a vacuum machine - but it is a great way to get into cleaning. Basically it is a chemical bath that the device allows you to spin through it and across a couple of soft brushes - and when it becomes fluid changing time you see there is a bunch of icky dirt in the bottom and you know it's working. The downside is you are cleaning the record without any sort of automation, and you have to dry the records yourself (and air drying ... well I get paranoid that all the dust you got rid of may just be replaced by the dust in the air .... ). But it is dead quiet and does what it promises.
We keep ours around for really filthy records as a pre-clean before we hit the vacuum system we sprang for after about a year of Spin Clean.
From my perspective, this is a nice option. It is very cost effective, and allowed us to have a "cleaning solution" at a good price while we were building our collection. We purchased it when we started off so a high percentage of our collection at that time was new vinyl. After we started growing our stash, that percentage changed, and when we inherited BOXES of old albums from my mom, we know it wasn't going to be our forever option. I suppose Brent always hoped it wouldn't be our forever option, but I was a slow convert since I usually had no part in cleaning or drying...
Vacuum Based Cleaners - the "sweet spot"
The rationale behind the vacuum based cleaners is that once you use a chemical soup to lift up the dirt and grime form a record, then a vacuum pump sucks it away. This is the single most popular method for cleaning records. It is the method the Library of Congress uses to clean its records - which says something (and what it says really depends your attitude towards government and archivists in general). The price really depends upon the amount of automation and convenience. A basic machine can be had for about $200-300 in which you apply fluid, spread it over the record and turn it yourself as the record vacuum is on, and things become more automatic the price will rise into the thousands of dollars. One thing all of them have in common is the vacuum makes a LOT of noise. (That is a definite understatement, folks.) Shop-Vac levels in cheaper models, domestic vacuum cleaner levels in slightly upscale models, and nearly silent in the kilobuck priced models. As you can guess, the big downside is that unlike the Spin Clean, you will not be listening to records while doing this. Many folks put these in a separate room. We have ours in the listening area - hence the pretty cocbolo and the smoked translucent cover we put on it when not in use. (The cocobolo is very pretty, and really helped to convince me to make room for it in our family room. Yup, I am a sucker for pretty wood-grain. It lets me pretend that it isn't just a manly vacuum.) We tend to clean records right before listening to them, so it works out OK - though there is a noisy interlude between records.
As we mentioned, prices start around $200 and go to about $4000 depending upon how much of the process is automated and convenience. I think the sweet spot in this space is $500-1000. And if you think of this as enhancing your music and making used records more usable - you can play with numbers until your inner accountant is happy. If you were to buy your "forever" record cleaning method and don't think that multiple kilobucks are ever called for in record cleaning - this is the segment we'd recommend shopping in.
Ultrasonic Cleaning - High Tech, High Price. Supposed to be worth every penny.
In the last few years a new record cleaning method has become more prominent in a large part due to a string of rave reviews in the audiophile press, based upon ultrasonic cleaning methods. The German company that makes it has had a hard time keeping up with demand - and at $4k per unit it either means that they have a tiny capacity or their order books are bulging. Ugly as sin, but supposedly a little quieter than the Vacuum based methods - it cleans records the same way jewelry is ultrasonically cleaned. We haven't tried this, but mention it as potentially the best method out there now. A local shop has one, and we might take in a couple of records and report back how clean they seem. And if it does as it says - it might really be the perfect choice for someone willing and able to spend that kind of cash. (It is butt ugly. Don't let Brent fool you. We will never own one unless they can wrap it in cocobolo.)
We honestly feel that the single best upgrade we ever did was record cleaning (I willingly second that comment. It has improved so many of the old and used albums - some were in such bad shape that we couldn't listen to them, even after the SpinClean). In general the dirty underbelly of analog playback is the amount of payback there is for cleanliness. For those that are tweak-minded it opens up a whole world of cleaners, record washes, and other vinyl oriented archiving (such as gentle plastic sleeves from third parties) both store-bought and DIY. Nearly every dedicated audiophile (phool?) develops some sort of method of cleaning because it can be both relatively inexpensive and having clear unambiguous results. It is also the gateway to other things that can improve the sound such as needle cleaning methods and preservative compounds which give you another step up in sound quality (a specially shaped diamond tip does you little good if it has caked on record grunge!) that positively improve the sound of your music. So if you have a record player already, before tweaking with cartridges, tonearms, turntables, phono stages, etc - see if a investment into cleaning your records gives you a nice boost to your sound!
The basics go like this:
The most important influence on quality playback is first the turntable, second the tonearm, and third the cartridge. When an audiophile is feeling a bit pedantic they will sermonize about the quality of the recordings and how most recording engineers clearly have tin ears, or the producers of the records and artsts, yadda yadda yadda. But rarely do they mention record cleanliness - I suspect because it is interesting in the way taking out the trash is interesting. Both lead to a better experience if you do it than if you don't - but it isn't something that people relish doing.
 | ||
| Dirty Grooves - the source of the "pops and "crackles" ill informed journalists think audio fans like. A cleaner will remove them, and improve the sound |
I have wondered why clean records never really get much attention, but since it really isn't a hipster thing, it is probably the least expensive way to get really good sound, and with some careful choices, can be family friendly, too.
I'll go out and say it, the single best upgrade you can do aside from a good turntable, is having a good record cleaning machine. I know. Boring, right? Little ink has been spilled on this subject, because it is more of an "eat your vegetables" kind of statement. But I am serious, you will have more clarity, bass definition, treble extension and overall dynamics when the dust, dirt and grit that settles into the grooves is gone. And for the accountant out there, it extends the life of the needle in that $1000 cartridge (500 hours with dirty records/needles 1500 with clean ones), and the life of the $250 first pressing of Peter Frampton Comes Alive.
But hey, here is a list of major types of them
Scrub it yerself types -
 |
| Simple and Doesn't work well. And yes, a few people know why the red thing is shaped that way... |
For the DIY crowd, you can cure insomnia by watching the YouTube videos of the people who breathlessly explain and demonstrate their DIY versions of this approach. But honestly, even if it worked, are you going to want to spend more time cleaning the records than you will listening to them? I think this was born in the era where people would be buying most of their records new - and if you take the plunge into vinyl, or you are there you know - you will have a large chunk of your records being bought used and therefore usually in much need of a cleaning (and yes, used makes sense since a typical used record costs about $4-8, compared to a $20-50 price for new)
Glue in the grooves - Maybe for the odd record or two that just won't get clean using other methods
 |
| We'll tell you how well this works later, but it is definitely to hit the odd record another cleaning method failed to make pristine |
We have purchased a couple of bottles from a Australian company called "Record Revirginizer" which is a modern equivalent of this method, and we'll likely report on this later, once we've used it. But this isn't an every record cleaning method - but to try to clean the worst offenders.
 |
| Not a bad choice for $80 |
This was my first record cleaning method. I have to say, it works pretty well - and for $80 it gives a killer value. It doesn't work as well as a vacuum machine - but it is a great way to get into cleaning. Basically it is a chemical bath that the device allows you to spin through it and across a couple of soft brushes - and when it becomes fluid changing time you see there is a bunch of icky dirt in the bottom and you know it's working. The downside is you are cleaning the record without any sort of automation, and you have to dry the records yourself (and air drying ... well I get paranoid that all the dust you got rid of may just be replaced by the dust in the air .... ). But it is dead quiet and does what it promises.
We keep ours around for really filthy records as a pre-clean before we hit the vacuum system we sprang for after about a year of Spin Clean.
From my perspective, this is a nice option. It is very cost effective, and allowed us to have a "cleaning solution" at a good price while we were building our collection. We purchased it when we started off so a high percentage of our collection at that time was new vinyl. After we started growing our stash, that percentage changed, and when we inherited BOXES of old albums from my mom, we know it wasn't going to be our forever option. I suppose Brent always hoped it wouldn't be our forever option, but I was a slow convert since I usually had no part in cleaning or drying...
 |
| One machine - we happen to own this exact model - including the Cocobolo wood. For us this is the sweet spot |
 |
| VPI was put on the map with this baby. |
The rationale behind the vacuum based cleaners is that once you use a chemical soup to lift up the dirt and grime form a record, then a vacuum pump sucks it away. This is the single most popular method for cleaning records. It is the method the Library of Congress uses to clean its records - which says something (and what it says really depends your attitude towards government and archivists in general). The price really depends upon the amount of automation and convenience. A basic machine can be had for about $200-300 in which you apply fluid, spread it over the record and turn it yourself as the record vacuum is on, and things become more automatic the price will rise into the thousands of dollars. One thing all of them have in common is the vacuum makes a LOT of noise. (That is a definite understatement, folks.) Shop-Vac levels in cheaper models, domestic vacuum cleaner levels in slightly upscale models, and nearly silent in the kilobuck priced models. As you can guess, the big downside is that unlike the Spin Clean, you will not be listening to records while doing this. Many folks put these in a separate room. We have ours in the listening area - hence the pretty cocbolo and the smoked translucent cover we put on it when not in use. (The cocobolo is very pretty, and really helped to convince me to make room for it in our family room. Yup, I am a sucker for pretty wood-grain. It lets me pretend that it isn't just a manly vacuum.) We tend to clean records right before listening to them, so it works out OK - though there is a noisy interlude between records.
 |
| The Loricraft - the big Mac Daddy of this segment |
 |
| Supposedly worth every penny at $4000! |
In the last few years a new record cleaning method has become more prominent in a large part due to a string of rave reviews in the audiophile press, based upon ultrasonic cleaning methods. The German company that makes it has had a hard time keeping up with demand - and at $4k per unit it either means that they have a tiny capacity or their order books are bulging. Ugly as sin, but supposedly a little quieter than the Vacuum based methods - it cleans records the same way jewelry is ultrasonically cleaned. We haven't tried this, but mention it as potentially the best method out there now. A local shop has one, and we might take in a couple of records and report back how clean they seem. And if it does as it says - it might really be the perfect choice for someone willing and able to spend that kind of cash. (It is butt ugly. Don't let Brent fool you. We will never own one unless they can wrap it in cocobolo.)
 |
| There are dozens of brands of stylus cleaners. Pick one, and use it - they all work and really do help your sound and lengthens the life of your pickup. |
 |
| An odd rubber that pulls dust off a stylus. It's convenient and works really well. It's my favorite one and works well |
The red brush is shaped that way to clip on the cap of the bottle of cleaning fluid which then goes inside the body of the brush which, by the way, does work most excellently at what it was designed to do. Used properly and regularly it removes light dust and lint from the grooves. It was never designed to remove gum, peanut butter, or scratches.
ReplyDeleteGood points - I modded the post above to make sure it is "for light cleaning needs only" rather than "just say no" - thanks also for the clarification for that brush, though I tried to see how it all might fit together and just couldn't figure it out. I think I would still recommend the Spin Clean as a "starter" set for someone getting into vinyl - graduating to a vacuum system when they start having a large number of used records. I got the RCA system simply because it was inexpensive ($30) and I didn't have a lot of records. But once I got a used one that needed cleaning - I had to get a Spin Clean ($80) which helped. But the Vacuum system we got that record even cleaner and the "surface noise" all but disappeared.
DeleteI'm going to go with the "just say no" on the RCA (known to those of us in the '70s as the DiscWasher). As I understand it, the problem is that the brush fibers are too short and thick to reach the bottom of the groove -- so, instead of cleaning the dust off, it simply mixes it with the cleaning fluid into a mud-like paste and pushes it down into the groove deeper than where the brush will go...and where it will be ground by the stylus into the groove walls at high pressure the next play, damaging the groove and messing up the stylus. Avoid like the plague.
ReplyDelete