[hmen]

I just got back into vinyl after about a fifteen year hiatus. Most of my old records have quite a bit of snap,crackle and pop. Would a record cleaning machine help? Can somebody recommend a good brand?

[gary]

In my experience if a record is glossy and not dull, and only contains minor surface scuffs, after cleaning it will play with very very few pops or clicks and almost no surface noise. In fact, I can't even imagine why anyone would listen to vinyl without properly cleaned & vacuumed records. The difference is that significant.

As for recommendations, here's what I ended up with after doing a ton of research:

Orbitrac Brushes:
http://www.allsop.com/product.asp?cid=16&p=77500

KAB EV-1 Record Cleaner:
http://www.kabusa.com/ev1.htm
(It's cheap and does the job, but an automatic one would be nice instead)

RRL Fluids:
http://www.gcaudio.com/cgi-bin/store/showProduct.cgi?id=29
http://www.gcaudio.com/cgi-bin/store/showProduct.cgi?id=28

Finally, here's an article explaining how to use all of the above most effectively to clean your records.

Yeah, it's an awful lot of trouble and expense, but absolutely necessary as far as I'm concerned.

Gary

[zachslc]

I don't know how I lived before I got my Nitty Gritty.  Best $150 I've ever spent on audio.

That having been said, I like to avoid cleaning records.  I think for overall preservation they are best left untouched, but far worse after dragging a stylus over dirty grooves and grinding everything in.

[ikno]

In my opinion a good record cleaning machine (the one's with a vacuum) is one, if not the best investment a vinyl lover can make.  It has made a world of difference.  Get one and you won't regret it.

[zachslc]

Has anyone here made a DIY vacuum RCM?

[Scott F.]

Hiya hmen,

Heres and article I wrote a few years ago over at TNT
http://www.tnt-audio.com/accessories/discdoctor_e.html

If you are looking for a machine, the KAB EV1 is the least expensive that I know of. Mate it to a garage sale hand held vaccum (or any other standard vaccum for that matter, just no shop vacs) and you've got a winning combination.

I highly recommend the Disc Docs solution. Now I haven't tried some of the recent new comers out there but I can say that the DD's solution is far better than the Nitty Gritty or any of the home brew solutions I've tried (including the ones using alchohol based or photo flow as part of the solution).

[Marbles]

I use the Disk Doctor brushes and cleaning solution, then I rinse them with the Spin Clean.

(go halfway down the page to see it)  http://www.garage-a-records.com/index.php

Then hand dry with lint free rags.  It takes about 1 minute per record, is easy , cheap and silent.

[Scott F.]

I use the Disk Doctor brushes and cleaning solution, then I rinse them with the Spin Clean.

(go halfway down the page to see it)  http://www.garage-a-records.com/index.php

Then hand dry with lint free rags.  It takes about 1 minute per record, is easy , cheap and silent.

Excellent idea. Looks like it would work really well. Gotta love cheap!

[SHIF]

...(or any other standard vaccum for that matter, just no shop vacs) ...

I totally agree with your choice of Disc Doctor fluid and brushes but this anti-Shop Vac statement has me puzzled. Please explain your reasoning.

By the way, I think the Disc Doc products are great but the velvet pads are poor and their adhesive can be attacked by the cleaning solution itself. I don't like the idea of that adhesive melting and soaking through the pad and mixing with the cleaning solution while it's on my record surface.  I've had excellent results using the DD rubber brush blocks with a much larger piece of velvet fabric wrapped around the block and taped up by the handles.  I bought and tested several samples of velvet fabrics from my local sewing center and discovered one that "feels" exactly like the original DD pad when scrubbing on the record surface.  Not too thick, not too thin.  The sonic results are excellent and the sale price is $10 per linear yard.

[Scott F.]

I totally agree with your choice of Disc Doctor fluid and brushes but this anti-Shop Vac statement has me puzzled. Please explain your reasoning....

According to Kevin at KAB (and I believe Nitty Gritty also) the shop vac provides too much suction. Some of it may be because of ease of operation (a shop vac would create such a suction that it would make the record hard to spin during the wash/rinse cycle) and some may be because of the heavier suction draws the record down on the EV-1's cleaning bristles, bending them over and rendering them ineffective.

http://www.kabusa.com/frameset.htm?index.htm

Kevin could tell you for sure.

By the way, I think the Disc Doc products are great but the velvet pads are poor and their adhesive can be attacked by the cleaning solution itself. I don't like the idea of that adhesive melting and soaking through the pad and mixing with the cleaning solution while it's on my record surface.  I've had excellent results using the DD rubber brush blocks with a much larger piece of velvet fabric wrapped around the block and taped up by the handles. I bought and tested several samples of velvet fabrics from my local sewing center and discovered one that "feels" exactly like the original DD pad when scrubbing on the record surface. Not too thick, not too thin. The sonic results are excellent and the sale price is $10 per linear yard.

Excellent.
I don't think the DD is using velvet for his pads (though I'm sure it works). The DD uses optical grade polishing cloth on both his record and CD cleaning pads which is a different material than velvet. The reason he does this is because when you use commercial velvet, the fibers can tend to fall out of the backing material and get buried in the grooves where the industrial polishing cloth is less prone to do that.

Can't say that I've had any issues with the adhiesive letting loose on my record cleaning brushes. I've been using them for about 3 years now without a problem. Maybe the adhiesive on yours was a bad batch. You might try dropping Duane (the Disc Doc) and email.

[nathanm]

A record on the EV-1 is harder to turn if the vacuum is too powerful.  My vacuum cleaner has a little opening in the hose which lowers the suction and I use that option for record cleaning.  Also, the unit doesn't have enough mass to counteract forceful hand turning, so a lower suction is best.

[hmen]

I ended up buying a Nitty Gritty. I bought the model with the built-in vacuum that you turn by hand. I was surprised at how big a difference it made on some of my old LP's. It's definitely a worthwhile investment.