Clearaudio Double Smart Matrix or Loricraft PRC4


Anyone with exspearience with these two specific units shed some light.

I don't currently have much of a record collection but looks like I will, just got back into vinyl and really enjoying so a really good cleaner is important to me.

The Clearaudio; I like the idea of cleaning both sides at the same time but just not sure if there will be issues with that down the road and really just how good of a job does it do. How quiet is it compared to the specific Loricraft I'm looking at.

The Loricraft; I like how it uses that thread for cleaning, a freind has the PRC3, a few years old and seems to be very happy with and says it does a great job, I saw him do a record and it really didn't take all the long but was pretty load to me anyways once the vacuum was put on. Maybe I don't even need the model I'm looking at, put the $400 into some music, maybe the PRC3 MK2 would be sufficient.

Thoughts....

dev
Ditto. I don't allow strong electromagnets anywhere near my cartridges or any other gear. It doesn't get used on the platform of my Loricraft either. Demagging the motor or magnetic arm clutch seemed like a poor idea.

One minor diff: per instructions from some mad scientist we demag LPs *before* cleaning on the untested but seemingly reasonable and probably harmless hypothesis that this might reduce the tendency of some grunge to adhere to the vinyl. Quite speculative, but I sleep better. ;-)
Yes, I agree. I demag up on my third floor, two floors away from the cartridge, speaker magnets etc. The device picks up the screws under my wood floor and buzzes. Scary stuff, but this is a crazy hobby at times.

A demag party sounds fun.
Some general information for the lazy User. I am one of those with RCM. My experience the last 12 years with cleaning fluids (please notice, I don't write what is good, better, best, I don't know all fluids). I started 12 years ago with a VPI 16.5 and the VPI cleaning fluid. It is a concentrate. Later I read a lot about home made fluids and the rip off pricing from commercial fluids and I tried my own stuff. In a lot of mixes, I had contact to Audiophiles, we talked endless about how many parts of "this" in "that" and it was a good time.
Years later I got a Keith Monks and was impressed how much more information I was able to hear after cleaning with this kind of Design (Point nozzle). I went ahead with fluids, I bought real expensive ones and after years I realized, no matter what I do, some records won't get silent. Well, to make a long story short, when the vinyl has problems (cooling process, noisy vinyl), I could do everything, it got a bit better, but far away from the results I had with the old vinyl from pre 1990.
Last year I thought, no matter what I use and no matter how good the RCM is, sometimes it is the way it is. Waste of time.
I gave up this Cleaning Fluid Odyssey and went back to the cheap stuff, the one from VPI. and my results are as great as with 10x more expensive fluids.
And I like the results. It is clean.
And those which still have tics, pops have it even after 10 cleaning runs.
That's the way it is.
Ok, ok. Once again my words have been ripped from my mouth and feed back to me in large chunks. :-)

Steam isn't doing as much for me as I thought. It may have helped some used records but I'm back on the soaking band wagon. Doug soaked my previously cleaned, LP for at least 15 minutes with the AIVS enzyme cleaner and the results proved without a doubt that my current, faster regimen is not cutting it. I'm not quite ready to spring for a Loricraft, but I am going back to the slow, soaking method.

Looks like I won't be cutting into that backlog anytime soon. :-)