Best Cheap Record Cleaning Machine

Whats the best cheap record cleaning machine? I can't see the sense in spending hundreds of pounds just for a RCM. Looking at spending £50 maximum. Seen the Knosti Disco Antistat but it looks like this will ruin the labels as it does'nt seal the label area when cleaning. I've been using a non scratch dish washing pad and Fairy washing up liquid with water and also Isopropyl Alcohol. Contrary to what some think, these methods don't ruin your Vinyl, they just don't seem to be able to remove the deep ingrained dirt in the grooves and they're still noisy after i've cleaned them.

 

£50 won't get the results you're after. Get a Spinclean or, better still, a Record Doctor:

http://www.audioadvisor.com/prodinfo.asp?number=RDV&gclid=CKne5uiyoLgCFUui4AodR1kAhw

 

Record Doctor basic model, KABUSA basic model, or the least expensive VPI will serve you well.

 

I have the GEM Dandy cleaner and love it.

Here's a review: http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/gem/dandy.html

Not sure where you can still buy it, however.

 

http://www.gmanalog.com/dandy-hydraulic-cleaning.php

Looks like the price has gone up since I bought it, but it's still probably the best bang for your buck option out there... I now make my own cleaning fluid (based on a recipe found online) because the fluid replacements can get up there in price when you're cleaning lots of LPs.

 

I use a KAB EV-1. It's a pain to use but it gets the job done.

 

Go for a Spin-Clean at that price.

 

I use the knosti antistat with l'art du son as the "bath".

I have never tried any other forms of cleaning (apart from cloths etc) but it certainly cleans up quite a few ticks and pops.




I don't think I could ever justify spending much more than £50 on record cleaning so this works for me.

And I've never noticed any label problems.

I've had labels that have got a little wet around the edges but not noticed any long term damage.

 

I used a Spin-Clean for years before buying a RCM and it's well worth the price. Use it per the instructions that come with it and you'll get great results. The only thing that I changed was using microfiber towels instead of the SC towels.

 

No brainer

 

I have a Spin Clean and think it was a very good investment. They really stand by their product, too!

As ssmith said, microfiber towels work better than the included towels.

 

And after you've had the Spin Clean a while add the EV-1 from KAB-USA to vaacum dry you LPs instead of the cloths.

 

I think the vpi 16.5 is the best value even though it is over $600 now. easier to use than the less $options, lasts forever, etc.

 

I was thinking of doing just that. However, instead of a EV-1, I'm considering a Record Doctor. So, my plan is to use the Spin Clean and then use the Record doctor to vacuum / dry the record. Would that be that over-kill though?

 

Lucky for you the price of the Spin Clean seems to have come down. It was edging up toward $100. Now they're back to $79.

 

I'm really liking the Okki Nokki too.

 

I wouldn't think overkill, only that what you're paying extra for is the vacuum motor. For $30 extra how good a motor are you getting? What do you do if/when the motor goes out? No moving parts in an EV-1 and the vacuum is as good as what you choose to use.

 

My Record Doctor - built for Audio Advisor by Nitty Gritty is now 5 or 6 years old and has cleaned 700 records. It's still going strong. Does everything I want it to do > no complaints.

 

In my experience the GEM Dandy easily outperforms the Nitty Gritty. Highly recommended.

 

I can just see the look on my wife's face when I tell her I need to use the sink and whip that thing out! Hahahaha!

 

I have no doubt the VPI is a superior product, but I disagree that it represents "best value" compared to the $199 Record Doctor, which I suspect provides the same results at less than half the price and with slightly more effort. Am I wrong?

 

the VPI is easier to use and works better IMO. It seems like it is probably more durable. The record doctor is not a bad machine but if you have a lot of records to clean, the manual rotating gets old, as does the flipping/dripping wet records to vacuum them. In the long run you will use the VPI more and the cost per record cleaned will be lower. If you own say a few hundred LPS the record doctor is probably all the RCM you need though.

 

Good points.

I rarely clean records in batches, so I hadn't considered that. Does the VPI do both sides at once?

 

Oh yeah, it's a bit of a clunky beast for sure. It's pretty cheap and cleans like nobodies business, but it's definitely not as simple or pleasant to use as many of the vacuum cleaners on the market.

 

No, just one side at a time. I think the nitty gritty pro will do both sides but it is > $1K

The nice thing about the VPI is you can put whatever scrubbing pressure you want while the disc is rotated. The design flaw is putting the cleaned side on the potentially dirty cork platter after you flip it to clean the other side. In practice I find that as long as you pre brush the dust off of the very dirty LPs, this is not a major issue. My first RCM was a record doctor and the VPI is just way better in actual use. I do usually clean 10 or more records in a batch.