Thumbs up for ultrasonic record cleaning

@fleschler- You have it backwards. A higher frequency US will have lower energy release and it will be much more evenly distributed than lower frequency. The cavitation bubble size is inversely proportional to the frequency; the higher the frequency, the smaller the bubbles and the lower the energy release when they collapse. The smaller bubbles are also more effective at removing smaller particles than larger bubbles (lower frequency), especially between the grooves. The Kirmuss RCM is closer to an industrial cleaner and should be avoided IMHO.

Higher temps facilitate cavitation and will increase the energy release, which may not be desirable if you are worried about damage. Adding surfactants and IPA will also increase cavitation. Whether this is advantageous or not depends on frequency, power, chemistry of the bath, distance from the transducers, volume of the tank, coupling efficiency of the transducers and matching of the drive signal for both impedance and frequency of the transducers.

I too have bought many records which appear NM, but play poorly. Just to note, most records look NM after a US cleaning (scratches excepted, obviously). Nevertheless, a well used record plays that way, no matter how it looks.

My experiments, 80KHz and 45C with an Elmasonic, would appear to contradict those claims. And in my view, experiment is the ultimate arbiter.

@terry9 Could you pls link to the diyaudio graph? Thanks

fleschler

I've purchased ebay records where the seller used the KLAudio. The records are nearly mint; however, they are missing their highs

I don't think there's any correlation between the lack of highs on these LPs and the use of the Klaudio machine. I have a Klaudio and have not experienced this problem. When I first got the Klaudio, I actually went to the trouble of recording to digital both before and after samples from a few records, and then compared the waveforms. I didn't see any damage to the discs, and haven't suspected any damage since.

terry9

I too have bought many records which appear NM, but play poorly. Just to note, most records look NM after a US cleaning (scratches excepted, obviously). Nevertheless, a well used record plays that way, no matter how it looks.

Exactly. And it's just amazing how good an LP will look after a pass through a good US  cleaning system.