Just started using my PRC-3. Prior to this, all I ever had was the Discwasher system, a Rec-O-Vac and a Decca record brush. In college, a buddy of mine bought some LAST. To his horror, the next day the bottle was empty because it had evaporated through the little hole in the spritzer! Anyway, I digress...
...Just got back into my LP's. Luckily I used the Decca record brush most of all over the years and they are in overall good shape. But, I've picked up a few "moldy oldies" recently in need of some industrial strength cleaning. And my records haven't been played in over 14 years.
Along the way I looked at and read about various cleaners, Nitty Gritty, VPI, Clearaudio (similar to the Loricraft from what I can tell) and the legendary Keith Monks. Pricewise, the Loricraft falls in the middle at 1800 bucks. Featurewise, the vacuum arm runs like a turntable arm (check out Garrard501.com and smartdev.com for pics and more details) and rides the record grooves on a "sled" of nylon thread so the vacuum unit comes very close to, but does not actually touch, the record.
I saw a VPI at my "local" record store (200 miles from my boondock home in northwest lower Michigan; I live in "BFE," Midwesterners will know what that means). I could see that the brush traversing the entire recorded surface could have trouble negotiating warped records. The dealer charged a couple of bucks to clean a record so I figure eventually the Loricraft will pay for itself (yeah, right). I asked him to turn it on, sounded like a jet ready for takeoff and the store began to smell like moldy mushrooms (if that's not redundant).
I read the Bill Gaw review on the Loricraft, saw that some Stereophile reviewers list it in their system, read a couple of lines from Michael Fremer about how good it is and was convinced. So, I bought one!
First of all, it's not cheap but at least it is built like a truck and should survive any holocaust-level catastrophe. All of the parts are high quality, the arm is a brass and copper and aluminum machined wonder. At 11" tall, it's not easy to conceal, especially with its paradise blue cloth cover on top. It does run quietly enough. Documentation is scanty until you go to both the British (Garrard) and American (Smart Devices) websites where a wealth of information exists. For the bucks they could have easily supplied a CD-ROM with all the .mov and .pdf files you need.
Operation is straightforward: turn on the platter motor, use a nylon brush lightly on the surface to distribute the record cleaning fluid you spray in front of the brush. Then, turn on the arm motor (I'm not sure what it does but it is coupled to the arm via magnetism, probably slows the tendency to skate outward as the suction removes the fluid). Next, turn on the suction motor and place the tip of the "tonearm" next the label. So far it's been quiet to the point that my wife hasn't yet noticed it!
Finally, marvel as the fluid is diligently sucked up several grooves at a time in less than a minute, leaving the record clean and dust-free as the arm slowly and methodically drifts to the outer groove. Sonic results so far are excellent.
My copy of David Gates "First" is pretty warped but posed no problem to the Loricraft as the suction arm hugged the grooves. Apparently the Loricraft is not foiled by the increased thickness of the label and outer bead areas like some of the single brush units out there.
And speaking of brushes, each record is treated to a new piece of nylon thread so there is no worry of cross-contamination among your dirtiest discs. The spool of thread supplied should last for several hundred records at 1/4" of new thread per disc.
All in all an excellent unit. For an extra 200 bucks, you can get wood instead of the basic black I opted for. For 600 extra bucks you can get an even higher suction motor, recommended for record shops and other high volume applications. I don't feel that I'm lacking suction power when I use my unit (no double entendres intended).
