Clearaudio Double Smart Matrix or Loricraft PRC4

I can't believe the difference and all those pops and ticks are almost all gone and to me that sealed the deal

Good sound has often its roots in science, some knowledge and the right solutions. I found a nice print, probably it will help to understand how something works

The Point Nozzle Principle

The Keith Monks Record Cleaning Machine is one of the world's best devices (if not the best) for cleaning records and keeping them in excellent condition. 
The Loricraft Record Cleaning Machines (PRC) work along the same principle devised by the late Percy Wilson, but they omit the stationary brush and the motorized unwinding of the buffer thread. The advantage is that the Loricraft machines are about half the price of the Keith Monks. There is also the Odyssey on the Market, when K. Monks passed (Loricraft made their RCM at that time) away and nothing was available, the German Monks Importer built a new one with excellent German parts and some modifications. K. Monks Son Jonathan continues the work of his Dad now.
There are plenty of choices, for every taste, for every amount of money, some work good, some better, some excellent.

let me rephrace something. lloyd's cleaner is fantastic and I have tried using with my D.M. but because the way the D.M. is set up it was not a good fit. also I have not been to lloyd's for some time and he maybe using something other then the vpi now. but his 4 step is probably one of the best cleaners there is and on ocastion for a real bad album I make it work on the D.M.. He is a perfectionest.

Markd51, one last point since you brought it up. the last time I was at lloyds he was using steam and loving it in conjunction with his cleaning product. There is nothing wrong with the VPI cleaner. it is (very)loud, but it works good enough with steam. I would own the VPI over the PRC4. the cost of an item is not directly connected with how good it functions or preforms. so your referance to the cost of a steamer has no "value". do as you wish, but if your not using steam it aint kleen.

I'd like commenting again. Lloyd possibly was conducting some curious tests that day, and I would assume that if the Prelude Cleaning System is so good, as everyone claims it is, one wouldn't find a need to resort to steam.

Not in any way berating Prelude, because if what I was using currently became no longer available, the Prelude System would be the one I would most likely turn to-consider. Only possibly dislike I might find with the products, is the need to pre-mix batches of the Enzyme Cleaner.

I'm not here to hype any particular product, but with the products I've been using, I have found no need to resort to the Steamers. One might argue, saying, "well that's because my system isn't high quality-resolving enough to hear the differences". I believe it certainly is, and I don't think one will absolutely need to spring $40K on a Table to clearly know without a doubt, the records are perfectly clean.

Although the ZYX Airy 3X Cartridge is not what I call a "high resolution click+pop finder", as it is a cartridge that plays very quiet in the groove.

I've seen how steam "tacos' records, and there's enough of this on youtube to see such, as when the steam is applied, the record warps crazily. Yes, that goes away once the steamer is pulled away, and the record is left to cool, but to what degree it then returns to its fully original state before such an assault I'm sure is not 100%.

Since the dawn of time with vinyl, it always has been a no no leaving vinyl in a hot car, etc. And that's one good argument as to why I would not wish to create a self made enviornment of hea destruction for my treasured vinyl.

I believe one day, someone will show visually, the effects at the miscroscopic level, before, and after, the evidence of what steam (I prefer to call it hot water) does to the groove.

I'm a firm believer, that if the cleaners that are used are properly designed, in that they do the job they supposed to do, which is detach the contaminants that are found in the groove, and place them into the aqueous solution, so that the vacuum can come along and remove them, then the job is essentially correctly accomplished.

As well, that no residues are left behind due to an inefficient vacuum system, or that the vinyl was damaged by the specific components of a cleaner system. That any residues left behind in the groove, are just another type of contaminant left behind for the Stylus, (and the Ear)

I know there's people here who have a better knack of explaining the sciences involved, and putting them to type better than I. I don't exactly consider myself a William Shakespeare, or someone like Justin_Time when it comes to writing.

Again, do use what you feel is best for you. I am well aware how such topics have controversy about methods-cleaners.

I will lastly say, that common sense causes me to believe that a $500 RCM with the best cleaners, and proper techniques will give head and shoulders better results versus an RCM costing 10 times the price but with inefficient cleaners, rinses, and/or poor technique. Mark

Just for the record, Lloyd Walker experimented with steam for all of about 15 minutes. His 4 step product functions just fine, thank you very much, without steam. He tried steam - it was not the answer.