To Vacuum or Ultrasonic my vinyl?

Yeah, I am having a hard time trying to imagine being able to put a final number on it...

 

I am saying myself every time I am buying new 100 pack of inners "this will be it"! And just in 2-3 month realizing that pack is empty ))

 

I pulled my old albums out of the closet about 3 years ago when I tuned up my old Technics SL-1700 MK II and had about 400 or so from my collecting days in the late 60's and 70's. I am betting I have close to 800 now. Once you start it is impossible to stop.

 

Oh ya know...baby steps.

 

I vacuum but you don’t wanna know how
It involves a 2hp wet dry some micro fiber towels...

 

The truth he speaketh!

 

Unless you lose your job like I just did. Record collection size on hold.

 

Has anybody tried a Degritter to clean vinyl yet? They are based in EU

 

Well, it is 2600 euro ( 3000 US). That’s a lot for what it is. I believe there are more affordable alternatives. But it is cute indeed.

 

That vinyl bug setup looks really nice, more evolved version of the can fab I have. I like that the record doesn’t touch the surface of the base and it’s microfiber on the arm

 

Oops, wrong thread.

 

I am more than happy with my VPI 16.5 and vacuuming.

 

Both

 

Agreed on the Squeaky Clean Vinyl Record Care System ------ If you are wanting to do a lot of albums, it will get the job done ------- one suggestion would be to get a second wand so you have one for the cleaning solution and one for the water rinse vacuuming ------- I would also recommend placing some small rubber spacers around the label and edge of the record mat on the unit, so that you can flip over the record after cleaning side one without placing that side onto a dirty mat.

The system is cheap at around $140 and is shipped quickly with superb customer service -------- I recently purchased an ultrasonic cleaning system, but will be using the Squeaky Clean system for the rinse cleaning cycle after the main cleaning.....

My .02

 

I agree with the sentiment above. I pull a used/new record out and clean it on my Pro-Ject right before listening and then afterwards I put it in a new sleeve so that it stays clean as long as possible. It's been working quite well for me. Prior to the Pro-Ject I had the spin clean and it became way too tedious that I started to become lazy and would often skip cleaning records if they didn't look too bad. The Pro-Ject has solved this problem with a quick 2 min tops clean and I would say the results are pretty good but not perfect. I couldn't imagine having to wait for an Ultrasonic cleaner....

 

Both!!!

 

If you want to try a vacuum cleaning system on the super-econo level check out the Vinyl Vac, it's $30 on Amazon (or you can get it from them directly). It works so much better than the Spin Clean that I used happily for years. I bought a beater table for $10 to use as a base, the shop vac I already had (if you don't have one all you need is a $30 wet/dry vac), and Audio Intelligent #6 One Step solution, no rinse or pre-treatment needed. Both sides done in about 2 minutes, and my records are cleaner and sound better than they ever have. I'm not affiliated with them at all just a happy customer, check it out for yourself.

DIY Complete Record Cleaning System, Vinyl Vac, Vinyl Vac 33, Vinyl Vac 45, Vinyl Vac Concentrate Cleaner

 

Going ultrasonic cleaning when my ship comes in. ( Or when my VPI RCM packs up.)

 

Spin Clean, then US, then Vac dry is the way to go.

I use a diy US rig...Chinese US tank, Vinyl Stacker LP holder and motor, Rushton's formula.

Spin Clean using SC fluid for initial cleaning and removal of large debris.
Rinse and blot.

15min US clean, at .3 rpm / 1 rev in 3 min / 5 rev total. Then rinse.

Nitty Gritty Vac dry.

New inner sleeve- Done

SC alone works well. Vac drying works better. Adding a US step works best

I get a lot of debris in the SC tank. I -also- get a lot of effluent in the US tank- IE material NOT removed by SC/rinse/blotting steps.

US removes that last level of grunge.....that "shhhhhhhWoshhhhhh" sound you sometimes hear on LPs. My theory is there is a layer of dirt/grunge that has bonded to the LP surface over time. US cleaning removes this last bit. I hear better transient response, and greater HF detail. The grunge was probably blunting the leading edges of the micro small groove undulations.

Once you US it is hard to turn back.

A diy US setup is about half the cost of buying a Kirmus- and a lot less effort once set up.

 

still wouldn't be worth a $1k cleaner, I would spend that on more records, but that's just me. I have a VPI 16.5, love it, cleans fast and well enough for me, but I have like 10K records. The ultrasound are sometimes tempting, but they I hear how long they take for every record, and how often they have technical issues, so I save my money. I clean a record on the VPI in 1-2 minutes and it is satisfactory to me.

 

I still don't understand taking so long on cleaning a single LP, time is limited and the only thing you can't get more of. I have literally hundreds of records in the pile here...

Also, if you can afford it or save up, you will be *much* happier with a machine like the VPI 16.5 or the Oki nokkie etc. turning the records by hand is a pain. get a motorized machine, trust me.

 

Am using the squeaky clean system but am not having particular luck with it nor with vinyl noise in general. Every 3rd new record purchased is so noisy it must be returned. And the best purchases still have clicks and pops. Suspect this must be a common problem because the shops I go to are starting to refuse to accept returns.
Have gotten into the habit of cleaning both new or old vinyl when brought home and it only seems to help if the record is pretty clean to begin with. The best listening records I have gotten are old ones from the 60s or 70s. They are more relaxed in their musical noise and the clicks and pops seem less intrusive, somehow.
Is anyone purchasing "perfect" vinyl? Would love to be able to listen through a record with no bothersome noise. CDs have spoiled me for the vinyl revolution...

 

you really have to accept the fact the vinyl has noise, there is always an audible noise floor, and a few light pops and clicks on a record, even a new one, are really impossible to avoid (despite some people's claims). But, there is a pretty good amount of noisy vinyl being pressed these days. Cleaning will help if debris is causing the noise but not if the pressing is just bad.

 

FWIW since switching to distilled water I've found it doesn't take nearly as long to air dry as filtered tap water. I'm not against vacuum or US but have found Tergikleen then distilled rinse and air dry very effective recently. Doesn't take long or cost much.

 

I recently did a total overhaul of my record cleaning system and I am reaping the rewards of the changes big time! I bought one of the ultrasonic 6 liter tanks ($129) along with the CleanerVinyl motorized arm with second LP holder ($210) from cleanervinyl.com and started to experiment around around with the cleaning progression and the tank solution........

At first I tried about 5% isopropyl alcohol, twenty drops of Triton X-100 and the rest distilled water and ran through about twenty records with a cycle time of 15 minutes.......I should point out that I was extremely hesitant to use isopropyl at all........after drying them in a dish rack, I placed them onto my squeakycleanvinyl system and sprayed the records with distilled water and vacuumed them.......I have to tell you that I was not jumping for joy as the sound was muffled and there were pronounced issues with sibilance........this simply was not going to work.......the whole purpose of purchasing the ultrasonic tank was to deep clean my records and the solution I had made frankly sucked!

And then it hit me......I have always used L'art Du Son cleaner (one bottle runs $45) with my squeaky cleanvinyl manual system, and this solution is highly recommended for use with the "string systems" like Loricraft and Keith Monks......I had an entire bottle of it sitting around and thought I would use it in the ultrasonic tank (since the main concept of ultrasonic cleaning is really deep cleaning of the grooves).........usually one bottle can be mixed with a gallon of distilled water as a cleaning solution in spray form, so I thought why not try it in the ultrasonic system.......so I threw one bottle of L'art DU Son into the tank and mixed it with six liters of deionized water type 2 (yeah I know it's expensive at $50 for four gallons) but I wanted to really clean my albums the best I can.......

I re-ran the twenty albums I had already cleaned along with ten additional LP's..........All is I can say is Wow!!!!!!!

I am now hearing things in many songs I had never heard before, and the clicks and pops that were tolerated in the past were largely completely gone!! The background of the sound stage is completely black and the imaging and detail returned while the veil over the music previously had completely vanished!! I am sitting here listening to album after album and gleefully cleaning them as I rotate through my collection.......this by far was the best $100 investment in cleaning solution and water I could have ever spent, and coupled with the ultrasonic tank and cleaner vinyl system I am loving my albums again!!!

So in recap here is my system and procedures:

6 liter ultrasonic tank filled with almost six liters of deionized type 2 water and one bottle of L'Art Du Son record cleaning solution

EasyCleanVinyl rotating arm with second record adaptor to clean two albums at a time.......run the ultrasonic tank for about 15 minutes prior to adding LP's to clean to degas the system.......once you add the albums, there is no need to do anything with the tank temperature so leave that alone........just set the system for 15 minutes and start the tank........once the albums have rotated through the bath for the fifteen minutes, unplug the power cord from the arm and pull the easycleanvinyl system off of the lip of the tank........hold the arm with the albums attached over the tank for about a minute to allow the albums to drip back into the tank.......

Take the albums off of the arm (they are held magnetically together on the arm spindle) and place the records into a dish rack........run a fan over them for about 15 minutes and they will be ready for the rinse stage........place the album on the squeakycleanvinyl turntable and spray the album with distilled water while using a MOFI applicator to spread it onto the record........vacuum it off and repeat on the other side and you are done.........place the albums into a brand new sleeve..........

Just wait until you hear what this combination of equipment and solution will do to your records!!!