Best way to clean CD's?

Dawn dishwashing liquid and a cotton cloth.

I use the Mapleshade Products with great results. You will clean them and improve the sound also. Micro Smooth and Optrix will do the trick.

The eyeglass cleaner with lint free cloth (or microfiber) is about the cheapest wa to do it. You can get both at Sam's club or Walmart, which can keep the price down.

The next level up is probably the Novus cleaners, which are for polycarbonate surfaces, which is what CDs are. They also have a scratch remover that works pretty well. But the stage one clean with a lint free or microfiber cloth will be all that you need to remove fingerprints and smudges.

The next level up is something like the mapleshade cleaners. But if you're going to go that far, also get their ionoclast gun which will remove static buildup from the application of the cleaner (plus the static buildup that was already present on the CD). The effects of ionoclast should be audible in most resolved systems with a trained ear.

Oh yeah, wipe the cleaners off in a raduis patter away from the center hole to the edge. Never wipe them concentrically. That can damage them.

A somewhat different question: will using Mapleshade Mikro-Smooth + Optrix spray remove all of the mold separater, or is it worth pre-cleaning with a dedicated mold separater remover like LAT International's Once and Done?

Tony

I use the Micro Smooth on all my CDs, new or used regardless of the age. I have also found that the harder you scrubb (and longer) the better the results. Be careful though to rinse the CDs VERY thoroughly. I basically use all the other Mapleshade tweeks and feel that the results are cumulative. I also use the Optrix in conjunction with a Bedini defluxer. The rotation of the Bedini unit uniformly applies the liquid and results in an audible improvement.

In addition I use the Denon Demagic disc to remove system magnetic build-up.

I know this can sound a little weird, but if you have 30K + in your system... details do matter.