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Best Record Cleaning Fluid

Greetings All,

I’ve spend the last few days searching and reading about record cleaning fluids for my cleaning machine (Okki Nikki).  Wow - there are a lot of options out there.  Many more than I originally thought.  Some real esoteric stuff that costs a pretty penny.  I’m currently going through my entire collection, cleaning it, listening to it and adding it to a Discogs DB.  Want to finally know how many I have and have a list of them.  But doing this has resulted in me going through cleaning fluid rather quickly.

So many options, so many perspectives on what are the best fluids.  What do you all say.  I understand that alcohol is a no-no for fluids, but I can’t find out if some of them include alcohol or not.  Currently using up the fluid that came with the machine, but no where can I read it if has bad ingredients.

The 2-stage or 3-stage cleaning systems are not going to happen.  I did get a bottle of Revolv that I was told was good, and use if for new high quality pressings (as opposed to those I bought in high school).

Anyway, would appreciate some perspectives on good quality record cleaning fluids that don’t bust the bank.  Thanks for keeping the sarcasm in check.

Happy Listening,

pgaulke60
voiceofvinyl's avatar
voiceofvinyl
93 posts
 
I use Tergitol surfactants from TALAS (talasonline.com), put 10-20 drops per each into a gallon of distilled water to form a solution. This is what the Smithsonian uses to preserve records for their archives. No residue.

I rinse with Distilled water.

I do not use isopropyl alcohol because a chemist friend claims alcohol dissolves plasticizer molecules and can make the surface of the record brittle raising the noise floor. I also found that using alcohol increases record static.

I use a device I designed and prototyped myself using a special bristle material that I prefer. It’s a mechanical agitation system.

Sometimes, for moldy records, I use TTVJ Vinyl-Zyme Gold. It helps quiet records by removing light mold infestation. It will not fix mold damage.

I believe Liquinox (from Alconox) is a concentrated, anionic detergent good for manual and ultrasonic cleaning. I talked to a tech rep at Alconox and he said it is perfect for vinyl record cleaning. 

technick
140 posts
 
I use a KAB EV-1/Nitty Gritty with Tergitol too, then a rinse with distilled water. 
Just like @voiceofvinyl said, the Smithsonian uses it, and if that’s the case, it’s good enough for me too. I’m sure they did their research, as did I. No residue, and a super clean n’ shiny LP after the rinse. 
voiceofvinyl's avatar
voiceofvinyl
93 posts
 
BTW...Surfactants and Detergents are not quite the same. Photoflo is a surfactant with limited ability to dissolve oils and grease. It’s purpose is to break the surface tension (wetting) of the fluid it is added to and minimize the appearance of film deposits.  

Dawn dishwashing liquid, Tergitol and Liquinox are detergents. They dissolve a lot of the nasty stuff in/on the record. They also have some “wetting ability” like photoflo but I have found I you use distilled water I don’t get spots.
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
9,720 posts
 

In the late 70's-early 80's, Los Angeles resident, chemical engineer, and audiophile Toy Shigekawa developed his Torumat TM-7 Record Cleaning Fluid, and sold it though audiophile hi-fi shops until his death in the 90's. He was a regular at Brooks Berdan Ltd. in Monrovia, California, where I often saw him. Brooks sold Torumat, and used it in the shops' VPI, Nitty Gritty, and Keith Monks Vacuum machines, all of which he sold. Brooks also used it at home, on his legendary, insane LP collection, the largest I have even seen in the flesh. It made my 5,000 LP collection look pathetic!

After Brooks passing, shop employee Joe Knight and Brooks' widow (and now shop manager) Sheila Berdan arranged with Toy's estate to put the solution back into production, and formed Groovy Hi-Fi Solutions to do just that. Joe is himself an engineer (as well as a vintage tube expert, collector, and dealer), and he developed a slightly updated version of the alcohol-free Torumat, new model designation TM-8. Great stuff, the best I've used in my own VPI HW-17F RCM. I also have gallon jugs of Last, Nitty Gritty, and VPI RCM fluids, all of which are very good.

tatyana69
269 posts
 
Quite a few responses about home made stuff. but not relative opinion on off the shelf purchases - maybe 2 recommendations? For a simple person like me I can only glean one or two options, when the original poster though there were many off the shelf options, but needed relative comments. I have an Okki Nokki too and notice different effectiveness from each different one I try, but by the time I finish the bottle I cannot remember the name of the one I preferred maybe 2 bottles back! I seem to remember the original fluid was one of the most effective for me (a concentrate then doing  a simple add distilled water) but cannot remember if that was an Okko Nokki version or something that I picked up at the time. 
If someone says I should take detailed notes of each ... I would say I don't have the obsession needed for that to take place.
I ask my dealer and he says try them and see what you think. Fair enough but the old memory box is a bit deficient to monitor all the nuances of each product over many years
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