My apologies with respect to pricing on the Loricraft; I was unaware that they had introduced the lower priced model at $1895.
There is certainly no doubt that the Loricraft and Monks are good machines and will do an excellent job. They both offer much quieter operation and the ability to really churn through cleaning records at much higher speeds than budget alternatives. The threading system on both is an excellent way to prevent cross contamination (the thread is really only a spacer to prevent vacuum lock up and does not contribute anything to the cleaning process other than preventing potential cross contamination) although in my experience with the KAB providing one is diligent in keeping the vacuum slot clean (ie. by vacuuming it occassionally following cleanings and by pre-cleaning records with a carbon fibre brush and Nagaoka roller if really filthy before the wet clean process) the threat of cross contamination is negligible. As an example, an almost new record cleaned on the Monks with Nitty Gritty Fluid (without a rinse) sounded noticeably better when cleaned a week or two later with the KAB using RRL Super Vinyl Wash followed with a lab grade water rinse, which is now my standard cleaning procedure. There are two pieces of info to be taken from this in my opinion and they are: 1) that as I said above, the issue of cross contamination if you're using a bit of common sense is negligible and 2) as Mike and I said previously, selection of cleaning fluids and/or cleaning regime is just as important as cleaning hardware.
I am in no way trying to knock the Monks or the Loricraft; my intention is only to make someone new to cleaning vinyl aware of the fact that they can get very high quality cleaning with a bit of effort and a relatively modest financial outlay.
There is certainly no doubt that the Loricraft and Monks are good machines and will do an excellent job. They both offer much quieter operation and the ability to really churn through cleaning records at much higher speeds than budget alternatives. The threading system on both is an excellent way to prevent cross contamination (the thread is really only a spacer to prevent vacuum lock up and does not contribute anything to the cleaning process other than preventing potential cross contamination) although in my experience with the KAB providing one is diligent in keeping the vacuum slot clean (ie. by vacuuming it occassionally following cleanings and by pre-cleaning records with a carbon fibre brush and Nagaoka roller if really filthy before the wet clean process) the threat of cross contamination is negligible. As an example, an almost new record cleaned on the Monks with Nitty Gritty Fluid (without a rinse) sounded noticeably better when cleaned a week or two later with the KAB using RRL Super Vinyl Wash followed with a lab grade water rinse, which is now my standard cleaning procedure. There are two pieces of info to be taken from this in my opinion and they are: 1) that as I said above, the issue of cross contamination if you're using a bit of common sense is negligible and 2) as Mike and I said previously, selection of cleaning fluids and/or cleaning regime is just as important as cleaning hardware.
I am in no way trying to knock the Monks or the Loricraft; my intention is only to make someone new to cleaning vinyl aware of the fact that they can get very high quality cleaning with a bit of effort and a relatively modest financial outlay.