The filtration parts cost around $50 total, which isn’t bad for peace of mind, and careful shopping could maybe cut $10 off that but I got impatient. It does require even more space, which thankfully isn’t an issue for me.
I worthy read is Pyramid's post over on the diyAudio forum. It's at the end of the "My version of an Ultrasonic Record Cleaner" thread.
Sorry for the delay, guys and gals(?). Here are some pics of how everything is set up. There were minor annoyances along the way, most of which involved me buying the wrong parts for the filtration system. I opted to buy the Vinyl Stack stand, which is what’s holding the records in the third pic. It’s an acrylic stand with the same magnet used to attach records to the main spinner. I dry them on a Nitty Gritty Pro that dries both sides at once, a luxury I can only afford because some rich dude sold it to me for $50.
Looks like you got it all goin'- have you figured out the chemistry? BTW, if it weren't for rich dudes, we wouldn't have '20s era W.O. Bentleys that have been hot rodded from 3 liter red labels to 4.5 road monsters back in the day. Kinda like Grey Poupon redneck-mobiles. Junior Johnson drives a Rolls!
So far, I’m happy with 10 or so drops of Triton X-100 surfactant and 100ml of lab-grade isopropyl per 2 gallons of distilled water.
just an update...… I've had my machine for a couple weeks and so far I am very happy with the results I've been getting. As I type this I'm listing to what I think is the ultimate test record. Some years back I found a small amount of records sitting by a dumpster. One of them was Chet Atkins - Mister Guitar from 1961 that looked to be in very good shape. I cleaned it a couple time but it was unlistenable. I cleaned it one time today and I can say that its a very nice sounding record. Are all the imperfections gone.... no but I can now enjoy Chet playing his guitar. I'm using my spin clean with DI water for a final rinse and I'm not putting the surfactant on and leaving it. The albums That I have cleaned have much better sound. You can hear everything much more distinctly than before cleaning, more alive.
That's what I use. Works great! Only I make a 10% stock solution of the Triton X-100, I remove 11 Oz. for the gallon jug of distilled water, I replace it with 8 Oz. of Rubbing Alcohol (70%) and 3 Oz. of the Troton X-100 10% stock solution. I operate a small motel. I have my housekeeper use it daily in my office, kitchen, bathroom and other rooms within my office, all have ceramic floor tiles. Works great! No artificial perfume smells, bleach or vinegar smells or stickiness left behind by the commercial floor cleaners. She just uses a spray bottle to spray some solution and then uses the generic "swiffer" dry pads the we buy at Target, simple, quick, effective and inexpensive.
Curious, do you guys let it sit/soak or do you apply, scrub (if at all) then vacuum up and rinse off right away? I've only been doing the latter as the audiokarma thread I read suggested that only applying and rinsing was necessary and letting is soak would give no benefit.
None of this is applied to the records by hand. The chemicals are added to the distilled water in the ultrasonic machine. After cleaning in the machine, I give a light spray of distilled water on each side and vacuum dry. Kirmuss is the only guy advocating for applying things by hand and I found that whole bit kind of laughable.
There is no need to let it soak. I use two 14" deep dish pizza pans (from Amazon). I pour the X-100 solution into the first pan place the record into it. For ordinary used records, I just place the record in the solution and clean with a Mo-Fi brush, turn over and repeat. On a record that might be more endearing to me, I cover the label with a label protector first. After that, I take the record into the kitchen and rinse it off with the sprayer. Then I move it quickly into the 2nd pizza pan, which is filled with distilled water. The sink rinse is important to remove the X-100 solution from the surface of the record. If you don't, you are carrying it over into the rinse water, and the purpose of the final rinse bath is to remove any remaining traces of the X-100 solution from the record. I then place the record on a clean towel and blot the surface with a microfiber cloth, turn over and repeat. I then lean the record against the back of one of the sofa's and allow it to air dry. There is a split pack AC unit on the opposite wall that blows toward the sofa, so it is only a few minutes before it is completely dry. I take a new Mi-Fi inner sleeve, make a not of the month and year that it was cleaned, with a blue Sharpie, in the lower right hand corner of the inner sleeve, place the record inside of it and put the album away. The only time that you might consider a good soak, is if there is particulate matter, particularly if it is organic in nature, is to soak it for 20-30 minutes to let the enzymes go to work on any organic matter that may be present. It is not necessary to purchase expensive enzymes from companies that sell "record cleaning solutions", you can just buy a bottle of digestive enzymes from any drug store and use it. The ones that I buy, come in little capsules that open up. I just empty the contents into a small glass, add some Triton X-100 solution, heat in the microwave and stir to dissolve. Then add it to your wash solution. I rarely do this, because, I generally avoid records that have obvious organic contamination in the first place. This procedure would more likely be used on someone's own record collection that was some how compromised during storage, and is now contaminated by mold... Keeping in mind that Triton X-100 is both a detergent and a wetting agent. As such it is effective in itself and combined with alcohol as an effective organic solvent. I believe that I might end up purchasing the Kirmuss, because of it's compact design and ease of use (and price point). Although I will continue to use my own cleaning methods along with the ultrasonic cleaner, which I will still use the Triton X-100 solution in the cleaning tank. I intend to select records which I have already hand cleaned and listen to them one by one, before applying an ultrasonic cleaning. Afterward I will sink wash and give it a final rinse bath in distilled water. And will dry as described above.
I received my Kirmuss machine and have cleaned around ten records so far. I’m not the early adopter type, and so I was a bit anxious being one of the first to buy one of these. I am happy to say the machine and its accessories have exceeded my expectations in every way. Every record I’ve cleaned so far has previously been cleaned by me or a record cleaning service. All but one has benefited from the Kirmuss cleaning. The one exception is a brand new lp I recently purchased that simply doesn’t seem to be mastered very well. Some records had been vaccuum cleaned using various fluids and rinses. One had been cleaned ultrasonically with an Audio Desk. Each one noticeably gained not only a lower noise floor but also a surprising enhancement in sound quality, in particular upper mid-range. All of this is obviously subjective. And I’m the first to say that one is susceptible to hearing good results after an investment in a component or accessory. So I understand those who take what I’m saying with a generous grain of salt. However, I feel very comfortable recommending this machine with no reservations based on initial performance. Housekeeping notes: the packing of the machine and accessories was top notch (surprisingly so). The instructions and other literature accompanying the unit are the only small disappointment. I’m a former technical and technical marketing writer so I do often expect more regarding this than others. With that said, I found the materials to be unnecessarily dense with occasional unfortunate spelling, grammatical, or usage errors. My overall “grade” for the Kirmuss machine based on performance, price, and build quality: A-
Addendum: unlike another Kirmuss owner in this thread, I have been using the alcohol added to the distilled water as per the instructions. I’ve also been using the spray as indicated. It actually helps a great deal with eliminating static charge when used in combination with the supplied goat hair brush. And although I was extremely suspect of microfiber cloth drying in lieu of vacuuming, the results have proven my skepticism to be unfounded.
Hi Warren, Just wondered if y0u had received your RCM yet. If so, would love to hear your thoughts on it.
It’s interesting that even though this machine has received some critical press/postings, all of the people who own one at least here on the Forum are reporting positive results.
For me it was when I got my machine home and started to clean some records that I bought new when I was a teenager (13 in 1973) to see if they could sound better at all. It didn't get rid of all the abuse I put them through, but they do sound better. The mid and highs and strong with good bottom end. I cleaned my Dire Straits - S/T 1st pressing that I bought new when it came out and it came alive big time! Hearing things I didn't know were there and also removed all but a couple ticks on the whole album. In my opinion this machine is worth the money I spent. Charles is just a guy trying to sell his product and probably not the best spokesman and I'm OK with that. His RCM makes up for his short cummings IMHO.
That’s pretty much my take on it as well. I think Charles can get in his own way by letting his enthusiasm for the product overshadow the product itself. Honestly, if I continue to get the results I have so far, I’m very glad I opted to buy the Kirmuss machine versus the other major players in the market. Not just because of cost either. I like being able to clean multiple records at once plus the build quality seems on par with the Audio Desk.
I just received it today, by mail. But I am very busy for the next few days, so I won't open it until sometime next week.
I too just made the plunge. My wife hit a little on the slot machine action that allowed me to do it. Even at 1/4 of the big players, it's still quite a hit. I talked with Charles yesterday and he was at M Fremmer's place I guess putting the machine through it's paces. I imagine he will post some kind of review soon. Charles seems like a pretty down to earth guy I must say. I ended up ordering from Morrow as he had 2 in stock, and Charles had a 2 week expected shipping date. I also grabbed a second bottle of the surfactant as he thought it would take 4 cycles of his cleaning with my current cleaning regimen. We'll see how it goes.
I'm not sure what you mean by that, Smokinone. What is it about your regimen that requires extra cycles?
Not too sure myself, but bought the extra surfactant to be sure. In the past I have glued, Spin Clean, then moved up to the OKKI with the OKKI cleaner initially, then used some L'Art du Son and lastly been using AI #6 to finish after the L'Art clean. All seemed to have improved the play. Maybe in Charles progression with his machine he's seen those chemicals applied and had to do multiple cleanings. As in Fremmer's last video it seems he had to clean some records several times to rid it of the "SOAP" residue left by cleaning agents or other players.
If you purchase this device: ultrasonic cleaning device for vinyl records - LP3! together with an inexpensive ultrasonic bath you might have the same results but saved some money.
Well, I received the Kirmuss US cleaner today. I put about 8 records through it and used a little over a 1/3 of the surfactant, maybe more. I never did get the records to stop "soaping" up using the methods described. I finally just dried the records and played them. It did reduce the surface noise on some of the records, but it doesn't fix damage as we all know. I did get quite a bit of black debris at the bottom of the tank, and wiped out some dirt from the bottom of the tank. The solution I drained seemed a little soapy as well, at least had a very little bubbling like soap. So far I am pretty pleased, although I would like to know why I couldn't get the soapy effect to dissipate. I didn't even spray the surfactant on a few of the records, just used the brush and got the same effect with whatever was left on the brush from previous use. It seemed to me when the surfactant hit the wetter part of the record it started the soap look. I could put up some pics, but I don't have a place to put them to send them up as it looks like you need a host of some sort. Anyway, that's my update, probably do some more cleaning on my next days off. I also want to add there was something leaking inside as the contents bag was wet. I didn't see anything that was obvious, and the screw lids were tight on everything. Just a mention.
The one step he leaves out here compared to the instruction manual is a distilled water rinse, which is applied with a spray bottle (not included) according to the instruction book, and then wiped with the smaller cloth provided. I also have noticed that if I apply the anti-fungal/surfactant and brush going along the grooves, I don't get the "soap", but if I use a circular motion across the grooves, I do get it. As I think I stated earlier, I went through the cycle about 6 times on several records and still got the soap using the circular motion across the grooves with the brush. I am starting to think that what ever the anti-fungal/surfactant has something in it that causes the "soap" look or effect. If you look at the video again. I think it bears out what I am saying. The soap effect was present when Charles basically spun the brush across or against the grooves, and the second time he went the same direction of the grooves, not across them, and didn't get the soapy look. Anyone else with the KA-RC-1 notice this, or am I imagining all this? All that aside, it does a good job of cleaning the records, I'm just out of anti-fungal/surfactant trying to get the "soap" removed
I have only anecdotal observations. The records I’ve gotten the most “soap” from have also been some of the more problematic ones, in terms of noise relative to the appearance of the vinyl. It’s made me think there is something to Charles’ observation that this is a by-product of other cleaning products. I’m not sold on this theory but it has crossed my mind the more I clean with the Kirmuss machine.
