Careful with that UltraSonic Axe, Eugene!

Brian,

The real question is...
Did ultrasonic cleaning make your records quieter than regular cleaning!?
, seriously, I hope you feel better soon and be careful .

 

Brian, thanks for posting your cautionary tale.

 

Vinyl =headache. J.K.

 

Other things can cause headaches too, and I love them.

 

That sounds fair.

 

Me too

 

Ha! Fair point.

 

Brian,
Have you visited Originals Vinyl in San Francisco (Mission) as they have a KlAudio with a custom soundproof cover made by KLAudio. They run their cleaner 24/7 just 3 feet from where they stand! $2.00 per record to be cleaned.
They speak highly of the cover's effectiveness. This cover may allow you to run the machine in your listening room.

 

I don't think ear plugs would work on ultrasonic frequencies. But, should you want to try some anyways, SureFire makes some the best hearing protection I've experienced. Their EP10 model has been tested to cut noise down by 30 dB.

http://www.surefire.com/media/wysiwyg/main_site_pdfs/EP10_Sonic_Defenders_Ultra_Max_RevA.pdf

 

I've never been to that particular store. The noise isn't really an issue for me now. I keep my records and cleaning workstation in their own separate room. I just close the door and let the machine do it's thing.

I recently received the Clearaudio Double Matrix Sonic Pro machine. It uses brushes, not ultrasonic. The brushes kinda vibrate, which I guess is what they are calling the "Sonic". That and probably wanting to get in on the whole ultrasonic cleaning machine phenomenon.

I got this machine because I found that doing a cleaning via a machine with brushes followed by a cleaning in the KLAudio yielded pretty spectacular results, particularly on older vinyl where a ultrasonic only cleaning may leave some oils or gunk.

The beauty of the Clearaudio machine is that it is supposed to be fully automated. Press one button and it cleans bith sides. And super quiet too.

Unfortunately, I've had nothing but problems so far. When the machine arrived, I couldn't get the fluid to come out. At first they told me it was the fluid I was using. But it turned out to be a kink in one of the hoses. Easy fix, so no biggie.

But now I'm seeing that the machine can't turn the record during the vacuum cycle. I have to manually push the record along and even that is pretty hard. Seems the vacuum cycle really clamps down on the record way too hard.

I've reached out to Clearaudio, but no word back on troubleshooting though it has only been a day. Hopefully this is another easy fix, but annoying that a machine this pricey isn't properly tested before getting shipped.

 

Did your headaches cease after putting the ultrasonic in another room? It's been months now. I'm curious. I'm sure you made the causative connection.

 

Looks like I solved my own problem with the Clearaudio. Turns out you really have to push down on the clamp and tighten it until it won't turn at all.

I was just putting it on and turning clockwise until it seemed secure. Seems like it is working fine now, which is great. It does a pretty fantastic job cleaning and now I can get super clean records with the absolute least amount of work. Nice!

 

Yep. Completely gone. I try to stay out of the room when the ultrasonic is on just in case.

 

Brian, you have dedicated record storage/record cleaning room?

Very cool

 

Well, it's just a spare bedroom/office, but it's really only used for record storage and cleaning.

I just had some shelves built to house all my LP's. I've been taking a few hours here and there to get LP's out of boxes or off the floor and into the shelves. Takes awhile to alphabetized everything, longer than expected.

I still have another 2-3,000 LP's to go! Then I need to eventually log everything in Discogs. All this takes some time away from just listening, so I do it in spurts which really drags it out.

In the end, I think I added more storage than I really need right now. That, of course, just means more space for more records. Sigh.

 

This is one aspect for which I'm thankful I just started buying vinyl - no huge collection to transcribe into Discogs. That's... really about the only silver lining I can find Interesting thoughts on that ClearAudio machine though. Not saying I'm upgrading soon on that side, but good to see better alternatives are coming along.

 

This is why you always do Ayahuasca before an extended cleaning session.

 

Does this mean that listening to SACD's is hazardous to your health? Seriously. Right now I'm running a 25 kHz sine wave on endless loop. Amplifier meters indicate that it's being reproduced, but not surprisingly, I'm not hearing anything. I'll leave it looping for an hour or so just to see if there are any negative effects.

This is all quite fascinating.

 

Hey, Brian. Sorry to hear about the headaches. I can tell you, being a classic "cluster headache" suffer for decades, and having used ultrasonic cleaning for my records for several years (both the Audio Desk and the KL) that I have not suffered any effects from being in proximity to them while cleaning. But, having said that, headache stuff is very, very tricky- I cannot tell you how many neurologists i've seen over the years in Manhattan- top people- who really couldn't give me much help with the clusters- yeah, there was medication, all of it brutal, most with horrible side effects, etc. In headache land, you'll find that there are all kinds of things that are stimuli for various people- from foods, to sound or light, to stress- to liquor- and it is hard to prove that there is an actual causal connection- usually, if something tips somebody into a bout of headaches, the doctors' answer is "stay away" from that. I'm not implying that there is no causal connection in this case- there may well be, for you- but it is not something you want to mess with, and it may have nothing to do with the ultrasonic. Not intending to scare you. Just suggesting that you get a complete physical from a top flight doctor, and see a neurologist that specializes in headaches. I found the right guy only after years of trying others- he's in Manhattan, but that doesn't mean there aren't others (clusters are a rarer headache than migraine and require different treatment, and "they" don't know what causes them either). I don't want to go through my medical history on the web, but am happy to talk to you offline. The biggest issue for me, though, and the one that scared the **** out of me- was the risk of stroke. That made me completely change my lifestyle.

 

Simplest way to find out is just spend an entire weekend cleaning records the way you did it before and see if the headaches return....If so, then obviously you know what the cause is..... And I would just for the heck of it use earplugs as well.. And just clean in moderation.. You wont be listening to ALL of them in one night anyway... And eventually , you will be finished... Enjoy, the process....

 

Also, to the guy who has BOTH the AD and the KL machines... Just want to know, why do you have both??? I am looking in to getting an AD machine and would think that should be enough.. Along with a brush machine for gunky vinyl.... Just curious about your experiences...

 

The best methodology for an old dirty record in my experience is a brush and vacuum clean followed by US and - the most important bit - distilled water rinse and vacuum. I dislike the air drying following ultrasonic as I see residue on the surface of the vinyl after US cleaning and I would hate that to stay on the vinyl. Good luck with your new machine. Give us a report 100 LPs in.

 

Sounds perfect...

 

Are you talkin' to me? [CUE: Travis Bickle voice-over] I actually use just one, the KL, preceded by pre-cleaning on a Monks, using various cleaning fluids, always followed by a reagent water rinse before inserting into the ultrasonic. Do your research on ultrasonic machines. Also, I agree with Clarets- the best results I've gotten in some cases have been to preclean on the Monks, wash in the ultrasonic, but vac dry on the Monks. I've written extensively about this elsewhere.

 

"Do your research on ultrasonic machines" ?? I have.... And I am just curious about your experience with the AudioDeske.. IF you want to enlighten.. And uhhh, asking for your enlightened experience with the machine in question IS doing research in part....