[etcarroll]

Acquired a VPI 16.5 only today, so what gives best results?

Right now using a Nitty Gritty - Nylon Bristle Brush ( black 1/2 " bristle) brush and Wayner's recipe of distilled water + 91% Iso Alch + dab of Dawn detergent.

Anyone think they have something better?

[orthobiz]

Comments on this will be all over the map. When I'm lazy, I use my enzyme cleaner with the Loricraft vacuum and nothing else. Sometimes I use the l'art du Son and nothing else. Sometimes I use a distilled water chaser. Sometimes I use the enzyme, then the l'art du Son and then the water.

Paul

[TONEPUB]

I use MoFi enzyme cleaner followed by their pure wash.  I'd really avoid the Dawn thing.  Soapy buildup is bad for your stylus.

[SteveFord]

I use VPI's fluid with distilled water. 
I do add some 91% isopropyl alcohol so I can play mad chemist.

[analognut]

I pretty much do just like you do etcarroll. Nitty Gritty, using a 50/50 mix of distilled water and 70% iso-alcohol, with enough of Ortho's enzyme cleaner to turn the water yellow, and 1 or 2 drops of Dawn per quart. Simple, cheap, and effective. How do I know? When the noise floor goes from sssshhhhhh to zero I figure it's working. I don't worry about a soap buildup, it's not enough to cause that. And if it did, my LAST stylus cleaner would remove it. The Dawn acts as a surfactant, making the water wetter so the solution can get into the grooves easily.

Used records are sometimes first cleaned in the sink by scrubbing the mix in using an old LAST Preservative applicator. I want very much to get into the hand-steamer thing. My cleaning method always takes the noise floor way down, but I think maybe steaming might remove a lot of the pops that remain. 

[etcarroll]

Ya, I must say I'm intrigued by the thought of steaming the bad apples. I just bought an Ella Fitzgerald album used, cleaned it x2, and it's still pop-o-licious.

[Photon46]

As hard as it would be to replace many of my records, I've gotten more and more particular about what I will put on them. I used a home brew cleaner like Wayner's recipe in the past and I still use a variant of it now, but with different ingredients. I'd suggest seeking out 99.9% isopropyl alcohol if you can. Amazon sells 99% alcohol from several vendors. Rather than Dawn, I use the wetting agent/detergent Tween 20.

www.bostick-sullivan.com/cart/product.php?productid=675&cat=234&page=1
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polysorbate_20

I've been using de-ionized and purified water rather than distilled water. (deionized water can be found in auto parts supply stores for radiators.) Having read a fair number of scientist's opinions about the best uses of distilled and deionized water, it doesn't seem like there's a clear cut choice for record cleaning. Ideally, I'd like to use de-ionized and distilled water, but that's hard to find if you don't have easy access to laboratory supplies. Any recently purified water you store will eventually dissolve minute amounts of adulterants from the atmosphere (carbon dioxide becomes carbonic acid) and plastic storage container (phtalates.)

[pansixt]

I use MoFi enzyme cleaner followed by their pure wash.  I'd really avoid the Dawn thing.  Soapy buildup is bad for your stylus.

I also use the MoFi with my VPI cleaner.
Years ago I heard the Lanolin in some cleaners attracts dust.

[Old timer]

Chalk up another Mobile Fidelity Plus enzyme user. Followed by their pure water rinse. This stuff REALLY works!