"Cleaning" Vinyl Makes It Worse Not Better!

Look at all these comments and go to the sites recommended for more in depth discussion about cleaners and such. I was where you are now: Trying the manual spay and wipe cleaner something like GrooveWasher. It was leaving gunk that required me to clean the stylus several times during play - and causing distortion. Not good. As others note, maybe not following instructions and using something like a Spin Clean with a few drops of surfactant in distilled water to do a final rinse might help immensely. But talk about labor intensive. It gets old quickly.

I got fed up to the point of building my own vacuum record cleaning machine similar to the guy below for about $250 and have called it a day. I would love to have something "real" like an ultrasonic Degritter but I don’t play vinyl enough to justify the expense of one. I think about how many CDs I could buy for the price of one, or an "end game" DAC.

If I had to do it over again, I’d probably just buy a Record Doctor VI because by the time I bought all the tools needed, bottles, and such, I was very close to the price of one. And that automatic turntable thing I use is no longer available on Amazon. Pity. It helps a bunch.

Note that while it does have fanboys, the Humminguru is underpowered with those wall wart power supplies and simply does not produce cavitation bubbles to do the cleaning like the far more expensive Degritter does. That doesn’t mean it can’t help, but your expectations might have to be tempered a bit or do two or three passes to get decent results. There are many videos where this is discussed.

While just a guess, I think vacuum cleaning done right can get you about 80% of the way to Degritter sound quality. Of course if you are going to get into vinyl heavily as your primary source and you have the funds, a Degritter sounds like the way to go. Sure would save you a heck of a lot of time. Time you could use for more listening and less cleaning.

Fortunately, I’ve found I can clean my records once in the humid summer, put them into good quality sleeves and then merely Zerostat them and use a carbon fiber brush prior to playing for many plays before they need cleaning again. Static electricity sucks - literally.

https://youtu.be/U1Au-WFeWQ8?t=2

and

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGfmZ6-x-Fk&pp=ygUQY2xlYW5pbmcgcmVjb3Jkcw%3D%3D

FWIW the basic rules for UT are as follows:

• The power to produce cavitation is proportional to the kHz, so a 120kHz UT needs more power than a 40kHz.
• For ultrasonic tanks, the bubble diameter is inversely proportional to the kHz, so a 40 kHz UT produces a large bubble than a 120kHz UT.
• The cavitation intensity is proportional to the bubble diameter and the tank power (watts/L) but there is a maximum power above which no addition cavitation intensity is obtained.
• The number of cavitation bubbles produced is proportional to kHz, so a 120kHz produces more bubbles than a 40kHz, but smaller bubbles.
• The smaller the tank volume, the more power that is required. It has to do with the ratio of the tank volume to its interior surface area.
• For lower kHz units (<60kHz), if the tank bath flow rate (from filtering or spinning) >50% of the tank volume per minute, cavitation intensity decreases.

The Humminguru is 40-kHz and the tank is only 400-ml, so even with only 60W it is a proper ultrasonic unit and produces fully developed cavitation.  The Degritter is 120kHz and 1.4L, so it needs much more power, but at ~300W it's a powerful machine.  But the KLAudio is the king of the hill, it's a beast - 40kHz, 0.78-L and 200W.  The KLAudio is the most powerful recording cleaning UT sold.  While the HG and DG can often benefit from a touch of surfactant for cleaning efficiency, the KLAudio is just brute power (and its water level sensors prevent the use of surfactant).

I suspect some of the LPs that I was able to revive were casualties of bad prior cleanings, rather than kludgey tone arms on changers which caused groove chew.

Hi @whart , I completely agree. There’s a well-known vinyl store in Oakland CA that kind of specializes in jazz. Great LPs, but I noticed a lot of static pops on many I bought there. Proper cleaning and vacuuming only helped so much. The owner is a deeply knowledgeable guy who has participated in nearly every aspect of the record biz since the ’70s. But still. One day I watched him "clean" a batch of consignment LPs by rubbing a damp cloth around their surfaces. Aha! No wonder. As much as I want to support him, I stopped buying records there. Once those particles get cemented in, it’s very difficult to get them all out.

I've had a Degritter for about 3 years. It's a work horse and cleans well. Sometimes a record cleaned in the Degritter later picks up gunk and has to be cleaned again. There is nothing you can do about groove wear or even loud vinyl. There is no standard for how vinyl is made. Some of the new 180 gram records wear quickly. I think their vinyl is soft. Sometimes they just pick up gunk that can be cleaned off. Other times, they simply wear quickly. All that being said, I swear by the Degritter.

My VPI 16.5 and 17 vacuum RCM have never let me down.

Use the VPI fluid or the ‘L Art du Son fluid which is even better.