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Record Cleaning Machines.

AudioAl said:
Ask your dealer to hear one before parting with you £££££
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I accept that vacuum type cleaners make some noise. I have borrowed one..and I have had records cleaned by a friend. This is not an issue for me. I have no intention of trying to listen to music whilst cleaning records. If necessary I can wear my B&W PX 7s in NC mode....

Guinnless said:
My Project RCM has transformed noisy s/h records into almost new. After I cleaned all of my existing records the dirty water that came out of the RCM was the colour of urine!
My records were never left out of the sleeves and were always in anti-static sleeves.
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Glad you are happy, though I'd have hoped for dirty grey... :( Are you, or have you ever been..a smoker? :)

AudioAl said:
Most of the lower price vacuum RCM's should be provided with something like this as std

AD1A0AD8-8F24-4A8F-A310-6E2F7C955E57-huge by , on Flickr
.
.
:)
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What? A baldy bloke?

I think that most of us will now agree that you have made your point. :p
 
In conclusion..may I repeat my thanks to all contributors, whilst re-inforcing a principle which is expressed more and more among those of us who are perhaps the more aged representatives of what is already a largely 'old beardy blokes' hobby..

We reach a point where endless comparisons.and wittering on about minute perceived differences in sound, become issues for which we no longer have time. In my own case I am now experienceing better hi-fi sound than I have ever heard in my 72 years. I'm happy. I just want a basically competent record cleaner at a sensible price.

Finally, nobody has mentioned clean sleeves in which to put the cleaned record. So I'll now ask about those. Please don't tell me Brand X 'Sounds better' than Brand Y, but by all means recommend good sleeves, reliable suppliers, etc.

Thanks again.
 
Guinnless said:
My Project RCM has transformed noisy s/h records into almost new. After I cleaned all of my existing records the dirty water that came out of the RCM was the colour of urine!
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I’d have given vinyl up decades ago without a good wet-vacuum cleaner. It just transforms second hand vinyl and really helps brand new vinyl (especially stuff that ships in statically-attracted paper or card sleeves that have shed stuff before even the first play). I clean everything coming into my collection and a vast amount of the shop stock. The stuff that comes out of the machine (a VPI 17i) is just disgusting, but it really works and can often turn fifty or sixty year old jazz first pressings or whatever from something so caked in crap you’d think twice about playing it at all into the best sounding vinyl I’ve ever heard.

PS FWIW I don’t think there is a qualitative difference between wet cleaners when it comes to results, that’s far more down to the solution and scrubbing technique. What you get for more cash is better build and reliability, quieter motors and more convenience. Makes sense for me to own a £1500 cleaner given how many records I clean (I’m actually on my second one!), but if it was just for my own use I’d likely just have a £500-600 one.
 
Mullardman said:
Finally, nobody has mentioned clean sleeves in which to put the cleaned record. So I'll now ask about those. Please don't tell me Brand X 'Sounds better' than Brand Y, but by all means recommend good sleeves, reliable suppliers, etc.
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If you have valuable records, and many are these days, retain the original inner sleeves and just tuck a fresh Nagaoka 102 or cheaper equivalent, e.g. these Spin Care inside. Proper collectors know what sleeve should be on which specific issue, even the plain white paper types, so I only replace them if they really are ruined, some idiot has written on them or whatever. Otherwise I just stick a Nagaoka inside.
 
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Indeed Tony. I should have pointed out that all of those records I have so far had cleaned by friends, still have the original sleeve, and an added 'clean' Nagaoka or somesuch.
 
Alun Rains said:
I bought mine in June.. still appears out of stock virtually everywhere now.
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Shame, I pained over buying one for years after slumming it with a Knosti cleaner. I just wasn’t sure £500 would be justified for the Okki Nokki… so eventually decided to bite the bullet and buy a Pro-Ject… but came home with the Okki Nokki, it was an easy decision to make, and it’s so much better than a Knosti it’s not even funny, far more efficient on cleaning fluid too.

I have to be honest, had the Okki Nokki not been available, I’d have bought the Pro-Ject, it’ll still do a great job. Like Tony says, the more expensive machines are just more robust and have more user friendly features. I think the Okki Nokki One really wins on the user friendly features front, it’s brilliantly ergonomic and simple to use with the new style switch and the adjustable vacuum arm.
 
Tony L said:
If you have valuable records, and many are these days, retain the original inner sleeves and just tuck a fresh Nagaoka 102 or cheaper equivalent, e.g. these Spin Care inside. Proper collectors know what sleeve should be on which specific issue, even the plain white paper types, so I only replace them if they really are ruined, some idiot has written on them or whatever. Otherwise I just stick a Nagaoka inside.
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Yes Tony, I do exactly that. Not much point in cleaning a record and not placing it in a new anti-static inner sleeve. Nagaoka 102's work well for me and fit inside the original paper or cardboard sleeves. You would have thought that given the price of brand new vinyl these days, record companies could at least supply them with a good anti-static inner sleeve. Purchased in huge quantities would add very little to the price of new records.
 
This site contains affiliate links for which pink fish media may be compensated.
linnfomaniac83 said:
Shame, I pained over buying one for years after slumming it with a Knosti cleaner. I just wasn’t sure £500 would be justified for the Okki Nokki… so eventually decided to bite the bullet and buy a Pro-Ject… but came home with the Okki Nokki, it was an easy decision to make, and it’s so much better than a Knosti it’s not even funny, far more efficient on cleaning fluid too.

I have to be honest, had the Okki Nokki not been available, I’d have bought the Pro-Ject, it’ll still do a great job. Like Tony says, the more expensive machines are just more robust and have more user friendly features. I think the Okki Nokki One really wins on the user friendly features front, it’s brilliantly ergonomic and simple to use with the new style switch and the adjustable vacuum arm.
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I completely agree..
 
Tony L said:
PS FWIW I don’t think there is a qualitative difference between wet cleaners when it comes to results, that’s far more down to the solution and scrubbing technique. What you get for more cash is better build and reliability, quieter motors and more convenience. Makes sense for me to own a £1500 cleaner given how many records I clean (I’m actually on my second one!), but if it was just for my own use I’d likely just have a £500-600 one.
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Yes, if you've got a wet cleaner that sucks all the solution off the record, then it'll clean as well as any other such cleaner. Many folk like to believe their super-expensive machine does a better job, but that's almost impossible to prove of course. However, it's easy enough to establish if a record's as clean as it can be, and any noise is down to damage rather than dirt.

Many years ago I built a Moth from the kit, and it's worked flawlessly ever since. I made mine out of extra-thick board, so it's not too noisy. I did spend a single session cleaning nearly a hundred classical LPs, left to me by my uncle, that were mouldy & generally filthy. The trusty Moth did a remarkable job, the only downside being that I lost the will to live about halfway through.
 
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I have bought a project VC-E earlier this year. For home use, I doubt that a more expensive machine is worthwhile. Some people say that vacuum machines scratch the vinyl - you can see signs in the leadout groove area under bright light - and insist that only ultra-sonic is the way to go. Beware, ultrasonic baths can overheat though.

I'm liking the heavy duty liners that come with the Tone Poets but I don't know how thick they are in terms of mil.
 
Something I should have done years ago, so after following this thread, I've just ordered a Project VCS 2 should have it Tuesday from Deco Audio.
 
mikechadwick said:
Pro-Ject VC-E - A bit noisy but excellent value. I use it with L'Art du Son Cleaning Liquid
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If you go for one of the current Pro-ject VC cleaners, spend the extra £100 and get the larger VC-S2. Any fluid dripping over the LP edge lands on the top plate. With the VC-E it goes on the table/floor and is a pain to mop up. You won't miss the extra £100 a couple of months down the line.
 
If one were not in the market for an ‘actual machine’ what are the suggestions for suitable manual cleaning methods (recommendations should not include anything costing £££ as they are seemingly made from unobtanium)
 
gavreid said:
Some people say that vacuum machines scratch the vinyl - you can see signs in the leadout groove area under bright light
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I'd argue that even if that is true, it is not necessarily an issue. A decent stylus will be tracing the info deep in the groove and 'ignoring' any fine surface scratches. I'm convinced that is why some of my oldest records still sound very good with a modern stylus.

Colonel_Mad said:
If you go for one of the current Pro-ject VC cleaners, spend the extra £100 and get the larger VC-S2. Any fluid dripping over the LP edge lands on the top plate. With the VC-E it goes on the table/floor and is a pain to mop up. You won't miss the extra £100 a couple of months down the line.
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I'd sooner have the smaller machine because space is an issue for me. I haven't yet decided where to keep the macine when not in use, but I have ideas. As for when in use, it would be no problem to site the machine on an old drinks tray, or similar, to catch any drips.
 
Mullardman said:
I'd sooner have the smaller machine because space is an issue for me. I haven't yet decided where to keep the macine when not in use, but I have ideas. As for when in use, it would be no problem to site the machine on an old drinks tray, or similar, to catch any drips.
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If you have to get it out to use it, you won't use it as often, it will seem more of a chore. Dedicating a bit of permanent shelf space to it, in a place where it's convenient to operate, would be preferable in my opinion. Perhaps it could be disguised with a screen or a cover of some sort?
 
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