Record Cleaning

I completely agree with Photon. I'm a huge Rega fan, but completely disagree with Roy Gandy.

I waited a while before I bought a record cleaning machine. Had I known then what I know now, I'd have bought it a long tome ago.

I bought a KAB USA EV-1. All the machines reportedly clean to the same degree. The differences are convenience features. The EV-1 is basically a Nitty Gritty without an internal vaccum.

With the money you save over Nitty Gritty or VPI, get a steam cleaner. I use an old Technics TT to blast the LP with some steam, scrub with some cleaner, then vaccum with the EV-1.

Everything sounds so much better now. It's like I bought a new TT and cartridge. If you're not vaccuming the stuff off, it's not coming off in my experience.

JR

I have a prized Oracle carbon fiber brush i got as a gift. The original owner bought it 25 years ago.. It stil works like new.
I used to wash records by hand.. but now nearly all i do is clean them with the brush....

And now for something completely different...Nagaoka Rolling Cleaner. been using the same one for about 30 years. It works. Also have a Hunt, Nag's much more effective.

Also use a VPI 16.5. Had KAB, but pulling the vacuum down leaves a trailing edge of fluid. Downfall is on VPI when someone closes the lid with the tube in place it breaks the wand. Over and over at $30 a crack. YMMV.

JMO.

Randy, just to be clear. Some people use their turntable to do a quick clean of the record before playing. They use products like DiscWasher which has been around since the 70s. Rega discourages this on their tables, probably because the suspension is somewhat fragile and DW requires pressing down with a bit of force. I doubt Roy Gandy is against the idea of cleaning vinyl on an external RCM. If and when you start dumpster diving in the $1 and $2 bins, you'll quickly discover you have to deep clean these things. They sound terrible if you don't. There are lots of different ways to do this. VPI HW-16.5 is a classic example, but there are less expensive creative methods like steam cleaning that are gaining in popularity. Search for steam cleaning in the analog forums on you'll find some excellent info. A carbon fiber brush like the Audioquest should be a supplement to deep cleaning. I hope this helps. -Mark

Another cleaning option is to buy the Nitty Gritty Record Doctor III - you have to turn the record yourself, but it is WAY cheaper than alot of other machines and mine does a great job. I use the Audio Intelligent fluids with it, which are great - it's a three step process with an enzymatic fluid, the regular cleaner, and a pure water step. I have had excellent results with that system. I have a P5, by the way. I also agree with the Audioquest dry brush suggestion. They are great.