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First impressions of the Audio Desk Record Cleaner

This is my first US cleaner. I was using a spin clean before - tedious at best.

The $4K price tag was a barrier for a long time but I found a used low mileage one a few weeks ago for sale from Analog Audio (Minneapolis, MN). The owner Paul Blizel was great btw.

I’m systematically going through maybe 400 records using the full 5 min cleaning cycle so 9 mins total per record. I’m a 125 into the task.

Most of my records are new, and quite a few are higher-end pressings.

I had 2 new records with flaws in the pressings, including Wild Flower and all the rest. Track 1 has a visible production flaw - AD made a slightly better but didn’t solve that issue - no surprise there.

Dire Straits On Every Street was full of static-sounds with no visible flaws. I did have my local dealer run it through his AD but I’m sure it was a 1 min clean. It took 2 X 5 min sessions, but it now sounds great. This record was a litmus test for me because the distortion was annoying on every track. Well done AD.

As I listen to the newly cleaned records, I’m astonished by the newfound clarity and blacker backgrounds, even on the high-end pressings like one step and masters from Analogue Productions and MOFI. It’s a significant upgrade.

Maybe I should have bought one sooner.

 

macg19
hiendmmoe
203 posts
 

Unfortunately buying this record cleaning machine comes with a longevity life span of 300-1000 records. There’s an almost certainty that after that it will fail on you. Everyone that I know who has bought one has had it fail on them after using it extensively to clean their collection. I’m not talking about early generations either. One person had to return the pro x 3 times for a new model. Luckily he bought it from a reputable dealer and it was still under warranty. They aren’t fixable if something goes wrong. If it’s out of warranty your screwed. As good as it cleans your LP’s the reliability issues that have plagued it from the beginning still remain. At $4500-5000 you would think it would last a lifetime!

overthemoon
421 posts
 

I have had good luck with mine - my record collection is small (300ish); however, most are old enough to be the President of the United States. 
 

I tend to view it as ‘insurance’ for my sanity and hopefully the needle. And if anything it was cheaper than buying replacement records out of concern for cleanliness. 

rsf507
2,329 posts
 

I've wanted an AD cleaner for a long time but also have followed several threads here on Agon regarding the many failures of the machines over the years. Just didn't want to take a chance. I'm sure it performs wonders when it works.

theo's avatar
theo
2,690 posts
 

Congrats macg19. I have had mine for about 3 years and love it. I had a VPI 16.5 prior and it was a great machine but the AD just make is so much easier and does a much better job, in my opinion of course. So far I haven’t had any issues and the only complaint I had was the way draining had to be done. But I made some modifications and have a ball valve with a drain tube and it makes life easier. I don’t know why that isn’t standard or an accessory, but it was a simple enough fix.

Enjoy!

 

 

macg19 OP
941 posts
 

Not sure where some of the math comes from...

AD is $4K new as most retailers in the US and mine listed for $2,500 and came with brand new roller brushes, filter, wiper blades and 5 bottles of cleaning solution (so supplies for ~500 records. It was used on about 200 records prior to me.

As for my time - it takes ~1 min per record, so call it 8 hours of my time for 400-ish records.  

I'll report back if it breaks. 

In the meantime, the results are well beyond my expectations.

 

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