Kirmuss Audio Ultrasonic RCM?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Steve0, Apr 28, 2018.

  1. Steve0

    Steve0 Audio Banana Thread Starter

    Location:
    australia
    Has anyone tried the following product yet, it looks interesting and at the asking price about the same as home made rig

    Kirmuss Audio

    ALl feedback welcome
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  2. Dillydipper

    Dillydipper Space-Age luddite

    Location:
    Central PA
    Ad copy says, "Introducing an affordable solution to maintaining and restoring your vinyl collection"...and then proceeds to name the price of $795. :rolleyes:

    I assume you're gonna come back with, "Yeah, but replacement bottles of the solution? Pretty cheap..."
     
  3. Gumboo

    Gumboo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Metry, Louisiana
    Toast is up!
     
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  4. Minty_fresh

    Minty_fresh Forum Resident

    Location:
    B.
    I’m interested in this. The price seems cheap.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  5. Pinknik

    Pinknik Senior Member

    I’ll actually come back with the first cavitation machine the audiophile press went gaga over cost $4000. So, yeah, that’s not too bad. :D
     
  6. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    When I read that headline I was expecting it to be well over that price and had already started my eye rolling in preparation. But $750 for an ultrasonic RCM actually is affordable in relation to what similar RCMs cost and even pretty good vs vacuum based cleaners.

    It's not that much more expensive than putting together your own DIY version depending on how you go about doing it (it'll be cheaper if you build some bits yourself vs getting ready made kits, assuming you apply no cost to your time spent).

    I wanted to give the ultrasonic method a shot and got the bits I needed myself but if this was available I'd have gone for it.

    However, I still think ultrasonic machines don't really provide much benefit over vacuum based cleaners and indeed since many do not have a drying cycle are worse IMO. I find that without a final distilled water rinse your records are not cleaner. But I'll continue to experiment and try cleaning more records. Maybe I was just unlucky with the ones I have tried already.
     
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  7. I ordered one at AXPONA and it just arrived the other day. Will be cleaning some albums this weekend on it and will report back.

    I spent a great deal of time talking with the owners of Kirmuss and seeing the machine in action. It performed great at AX, enough so that I ordered it.

    Michael Fremer filmed a bit of him seeing a demo and it’s part of his longer AXPONA video on his site. Worth a look.
     
  8. JHC3

    JHC3 Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago
    Keep us posted, Shawn. I am curious about this as well (though I didn't go to AXPONA since the location was a no go - I'm not fighting the Kennedy on Friday and Saturday nights).
     
  9. Catcher10

    Catcher10 I like records, and Prog...duh

    Its the lack of drying that gets me I suppose. The guy says just to dry with mf towel, my experience with that process is you need to change those towels very often, wash them......On occasion I have used mf towel and you get a lot of lint/fuzz stuff back on the record that the stylus digs out. It is a neat machine...
     
    Mike from NYC and Robert C like this.
  10. Dorian75

    Dorian75 Forum President

    Location:
    Dana Point, CA
    I already own a vacuum cleaner (Pro-ject VCS), and am thinking of getting the Kirmuss and using it for cleaning, Pro-ject VCS for drying. There’s a very long thread over on the VPI forum and the consensus is that this is the best approach.

    Having said that, I’m also wondering will I really hear an improvement over just using the VCS? Especially when I listen exclusively to new, or VG+ and above used, only. I currently do a two-step process, a wash cycle with the cleaning solution and a rinse solution with distilled water.

    E.g. I’m listening to a brand new pressing right now, cleaned on the VCS. It looks excellent, but I still hear some surface noise in quiet passages. Will that be significantly reduced if I incorporate the Kirmuss?
     
    Frost likes this.
  11. eddiel

    eddiel Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    IMO, not really, assuming the VCS is a decent machine (I've never tried it), say just as good as an Okki Nokki. I've posted this a few time in different threads but based on my attempts there appears to be no real improvement and I'm not the only person I've spoken to that feels that way.

    You'll see a lot of reports online about how great an Ultrasonic machine is and yes they are great. They do clean records well, but I don't see that many reports comparing a vacuum based RCM with an ultrasonic.

    If you think taking a shot for $750 is worth it go ahead. But if you'd be sacrificing other things to get this machine (or any machine) I'd suggest you stick with the VCS.

    It's a shame you aren't in Toronto because this weekend a local dealer is offering free cleaning on the Kirmuss machine.
     
    Dorian75 likes this.
  12. 5-String

    5-String μηδὲν ἄγαν

    Location:
    Sunshine State
    It surprises me that the Kirmuss uses 35Khz frequency.
    I am not an expert, but I have read that the higher the frequency, the safer it is for vinyl. I don't know if there is much difference between 40 and 35 Khz but many claim that even the 40 Khz might be too aggressive.
    By the way, Klaudio uses 40 and the Degritter, available in a few days uses 120Khz.
    Audio desk says it's frequency is proprietary.
     
  13. Dorian75

    Dorian75 Forum President

    Location:
    Dana Point, CA
    Thanks, very interesting. Yes it would be great to take a couple of records that I’ve already cleaned on the VCS and then clean them on the Kirmuss, and compare. I’ll keep an eye out for local dealers and just sit tight with my VCS in the meantime.
     
    eddiel likes this.
  14. Drew769

    Drew769 Buyer of s*** I never knew I lacked

    Location:
    NJ
    On the one hand, this is fairly cheap entry to the turnkey ultrasonic RCM market.

    On the other, I have a friend who splurged on the AudioDesk URCM for around $3500. Each clean is expensive, so I’ve limited my favors to those records where I’ve cleaned them with my Nitty Gritty and still had issues.

    The AudioDesk has never made ANY improvement over my regular, hand turn, Nitty Gritty. Now, the NG has made many albums, including g new ones, sound great. But I never had any improvement by cleaning afterward on the AD. the only advantage is the set it and forget it cleaning method, which requires only placing the record into the machine and hitting the button.
     
    Dorian75 likes this.
  15. The Kirmuss had a special offer at AXPONA for the unit and a bunch of peripherals for $700. I'd been considering making my own ultrasonic cleaner but my cost would have been upwards of $500, and that's assuming I didn't make any mistakes in my build - plus the time investment - so the Kirmuss made a lot of sense for my particular situation.

    One thing I'm wary of is that the Kimruss includes an anti-fungal spray that you can apply to your records after they've gone through the ultrasonic and have been dried. I'll email the company to find out exactly what's in it as I don't want to chance anything that might over time cause audio issues. At AXPONA they said this was a process to make sure mold/mildew stays away from the vinyl so maybe it's a good thing. But I want to check it out first.
     
  16. Dorian75

    Dorian75 Forum President

    Location:
    Dana Point, CA
    Check out this video of Fremer's starting at 45:25 for a demo of the Kirmuss. He talks at length about the anti-fungal spray. I'm a little wary of it too...

     
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  17. macster

    macster Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Diego, Ca. USA

    If Mike is selling it, it's legit and a good value for the money.

    M~
     
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  18. 5-String

    5-String μηδὲν ἄγαν

    Location:
    Sunshine State
    Interesting that he was applying the surfactant on the record during the cycle.
     
  19. Coricama

    Coricama Classic Rocker

    Location:
    Marietta, GA
    Would using a VPI RCM to dry afterwards have any detrimental effect on the ultrasonic cleaning ie. reintroducing contaminants to the grooves? I hate hand drying and already own a VPI. For this price, ultrasonic cleaning might be doable for me.
    In The Groove KA-RC-1 Ultrasonic Record Cleaning System
     
  20. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    HiFi Guy and SandAndGlass like this.
  21. Coricama

    Coricama Classic Rocker

    Location:
    Marietta, GA
  22. daytona600

    daytona600 Forum Resident

    Location:
    UK
    cheap, too! "Only" $795. Yes most are $4000 , $3200 buys a hell of a lot of records
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  23. Encore

    Encore Forum Resident

    About time :righton:
     
  24. HankM

    HankM Senior Member

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Seen this in Michael Fremer's youtube coverage of Axponia. Looks very interesting, especially at that price. You dry the records by hand.
     
  25. Erocka2000

    Erocka2000 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Brooklyn, NY, USA
    Does it have a drying cycle?
     

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