Pro-ject debuts $399 vacuum RCM

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Michael Ries, May 26, 2015.

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  1. moomaloo

    moomaloo All-round good egg

    I've built two Moth RCMs in kit form and, as good as they are, the basic kit (a bag of parts - build your own cabinet and assemble..) costs more than this. Superb initiative from ProJect. They should sell lots. I wonder that the UK/EU price will be...
     
  2. senseabove

    senseabove Forum Resident

    Anyone heard any word on this? Release date or more details?
     
    james likes this.
  3. Good deal. Record cleaning machines are among the biggest ripoffs in audioland.
     
    SandAndGlass, phish and Poison_Flour like this.
  4. bajaed

    bajaed Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Which is why $399 sounds like a relative bargain if it works well.
     
  5. lyniv

    lyniv Forum Resident

    Location:
    Grand Junction, CO
    trying to find out more about this, wonder when this will be available?
     
  6. Leviethan

    Leviethan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Portland, OR
    When Pro-ject (or anybody) offers an ultrasonic cleaner for $500 or less, then I'll get excited.
     
    Vinylsoul 1965 and Dino like this.
  7. G E

    G E Senior Member

    I built my own RCM and it turned out well

    Key parts purchased from Elusive disc and vpi directly.

    Based on VPI's 16.5 with key upgrades and a different take on the spent fluid tank. My deck is 1/2 inch aluminum, no wafer board anywhere. I spent about $800 on the project and it looks and works great.

    More info here:
    http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=131104.0
     
    Dino likes this.
  8. Buddy>Elvis

    Buddy>Elvis Senior Member

    Location:
    New Zealand
    I emailed the Pro-Ject distributors in Australia and they were expecting to get a sample/demo by the end of the year. Fingers crossed they'll be available early new year.

    That said, how many of us would be happy with Mrs Claus sticking a RCM under the tree this year?
     
  9. Deuce66

    Deuce66 Senior Member

    Location:
    Canada
    I saw a post over at Blu-ray.com where a member emailed Pro-Ject about it, it's not coming out until 2016 if it comes out at all - no further information available.
     
  10. senseabove

    senseabove Forum Resident

    Well those are some mixed messages... Wonder who's doing the mixing, the recipients or Pro-Ject.
     
  11. Buddy>Elvis

    Buddy>Elvis Senior Member

    Location:
    New Zealand
    This from October 5th (I was asking about NZ$RRP also)

    "I have spoken to Heinz from Pro-Ject Audio head office regarding your request.

    He has not provided me with an RRP, but says he hopes to send some samples to us before the year is out."
     
    senseabove likes this.
  12. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

  13. You know, someone like Crosley could make a cleaning machine out of cheap parts like a plastic plinth and platter (because in an RCM, they just need to hold up the record and store spent fluid), a cheap motor (because who cares how fast or accurate it spins), and then maybe a little more money on the vacuum and pump system, and they could make a really inexpensive machine that would clean just as well as the big boys.
     
    Rolltide likes this.
  14. Buddy>Elvis

    Buddy>Elvis Senior Member

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Playing Devil's Advocate here:

    The kind of person who is in the market for a RCM owns or intends to own a decent amount of vinyl.
    If they are intending to spend say $200 on a RCM (fictitious rrp of cheap RCM) it would be a safe bet to say they own a TT costing a lot more. By this stage they probably have an "opinion" about Crosley and wouldn't buy a RCM badged thus.

    Pro-Ject on the other hand has a good reputation for offering value for money and $399 is a lot cheaper already than the next similar option.

    People who are really budget conscious will DIY or go for a Spin Clean or the like.

    Once I eventually buy a RCM I intend to clean my entire collection (roughly 25oo albums) so cheap parts and motor wouldn't fill me with confidence as a buyer.
     
    Robert C likes this.
  15. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Get a Keith Monks RCM if you seek high end~ cleaning.
     
    McLover likes this.
  16. blakep

    blakep Senior Member

    In all likelihood a rebrand of the Opera/Consonance. Project may be thinking that they can do pretty large volume due to better name recognition though and thus sell at a lower price point and still make money.

    Nothing wrong with that if they can and good for the consumer though.

    Doesn't really interest me-I set up a dedicated cleaning station in my basement with a scrap turntable, a high quality (relatively quiet) domestic vac and a KAB EV1 about 10 years ago. A bit more space required but no big deal if you have it. Was about $160 and have cleaned about 4-5000 records in that time period. It's all the RCM I'll ever need and I clean fewer records these days as I'm not buying in the quantity I used to.

    High quality record cleaning is more about quality of fluids and technique IMO. Apart from ultrasonic, all any RCM does is suck fluid off the record. It's not really rocket science, although it is very important if you want to enjoy vinyl.
     
    Vinylsoul 1965 and russk like this.
  17. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member

    Demo probably released on april 1. Still not a single piece of serious information on that thing. Actually never heard anything about it in the local HiFi LP and analog scene - magazines..
    It is late fall by now, if that should be available this year we had heard about it. Probably not profitable at that price point. Sadly..
     
  18. It's a frigging cleaning machine! The parts and the motor don't need to do anything except spin the record! There's nothing to feel confident about! The performance doesn't really matter--instead, feature set, reliability and, for some people, noisyness of the machine are the only truly important factors.
     
  19. Vinylsoul 1965

    Vinylsoul 1965 Senior Member

    I love my KAB EV1 - I have replaced the felt already on the unit (which came with the unit so no extra cost there!) and I have definitely cleaned hundreds of records. The advantage is you can isolate your vac so that it is not as loud as a VPI 16.5 would be AND I like manually spinning the record to clean it and manually adding fluid/cleaner. The only upgrade I can see would be an Ultrasonic cleaner to this. To me the KAB is the cheaper solution to a VPI/Nitty Gritty...with the right vac it does a great job (well, YOU do the great job!)
     
    jmobrien68 and shirleyujest like this.
  20. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    I've seen the VPI 16.5 on sale for $550. I fought the urge to pick one up for a long time based on price but I got one about a month ago. It is truly a transformational upgrade. Anyone that is waiting six months to a year for a Pro-ject so they can save $150 is making a mistake. Just do it.
     
    Gasman1003 and Robert C like this.
  21. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Christmas in 4 weeks.
     
  22. alexpop

    alexpop Power pop + other bad habits....

    Makes sense.
     
  23. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    The sad thing is he's probably right - completely unwarranted, but I can just imagine the rending of garments that take place here in regards to a Crosley RCM. You'd try to explain to people it can't damage their records because it's not playing them and be told THATS NOT THE POINT.

    The people who should be doing this are Hanpin, who could just start with their cheapest DD platform, make it even cheaper by removing unneeded speed controls, and away we go.
     
    Robert C likes this.
  24. Buddy>Elvis

    Buddy>Elvis Senior Member

    Location:
    New Zealand
    Respectfully, I did say I was playing Devil's Advocate...it's not unreasonable to want something costing hundreds of dollars that you intend to use a lot to last a few years. What kind of reputation does Crosley currently have for reliability?

    That said, If they released a RCM that was attractively priced and favorably reviewed I'd consider it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2015
  25. Dennis0675

    Dennis0675 Hyperactive!

    Location:
    Ohio
    Honestly, how big is the market for RCM's? And of that market how many people are looking for the cheapest option? At $400 retail it is probably $200 wholesale and the manufacturing cost $75 to $100. There is never going to be millions of units sold and the cost isn't going down.

    Not that many people care about records and even fewer care about cleaning them. At $600 or $700 an American made VPI is the best bet.
     
    Gasman1003 and Dino like this.
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