Thumbs up for ultrasonic record cleaning

@regafan,

My 3 years plus with my AD machine ( I now look at it as an informative, expensive lesson), was that after pre-steamimg, I did get better results. after going to the DIY machine set-up, it’s clearly better than the AD.

For convenience, which the AD has in spades, for me, the high initial cost and the inability to be able to access the internals, the inability to be able to clean out the cavity properly, the high ongoing cost of ownership and so on makes it hard to recommend.

Well, I have no way to know who is right and who is wrong, but I am certain that I made the right move for me. I was on the verge of buying the AD and was ready to hit the button for PayPal to well-known dealer in PA when I happened to read that the transducers in any US machine eventually crap out and immediately concluded it was dumb to pay that much money for a machine that performs such an isolated function. I went the cheap route instead-a $200 Chinese-made 6L US tank and the Vinyl Stack Pro and the various fluids recommended by some chemist on some audio Board thread that was repeated on Arthur Salvatore's site. This dealer in PA was offering $500 off with a trade-in of a VPI RCM so I had my 16.5 in my car to ship off to said dealer. I instead bought two new pick-up tubes on the realization that I very much need my 16.5 to dry off my records after I run them through my cheap alternative set-up. 
I haven't yet started with my cheap-route set-up thanks to being on crutches at the moment, but when I do, I will report back. 

@fsonicsmith,

Thanks for the post. Look forward to your findings!

(By the way, "I don’t know who to believe",..I can appreciate that. This is why I spend the effort in several ways to find out for myself...then I report here.) I stand behind what I here. My recommendation for anyone is to try several options for yourself.


Although I really don’t pay much attention to the audio press much any more, I did (kind of ) follow Art Dudley’s move towards the AD cleaner. At first he said he could not afford it, then low and behold he bought one. He is the one writer I have respect for. I only hope he’ll possibly do a DIY US cleaner in the manner in which he did his own plinth for the Thorens. ?

Although I really don’t pay much attention to the audio press much any more, I did (kind of ) follow Art Dudley’s move towards the AD cleaner. At first he said he could not afford it, then low and behold he bought one. He is the one writer I have respect for. I only hope he’ll possibly do a DIY US cleaner in the manner in which he did his own plinth for the Thorens. ?

I'm in the same boat-Art Dudley is the one S'Phile reviewer I feel I can rely upon. Although I listen to vinyl 95% of the time, based on his review of the Abbingdon Music Research DP777 DAC, I bought a lightly used one sound-unheard and have been very happy with it ever since. With each knew touted hi-res format, I chuckle to myself that well-executed 16bit/44.1 is all I need. More so than any other reviewer in the S'Phile fold, Art seems to totally free himself from "hi-fi" sound and instead values truth of tone and timbre. He understands that all of audio involves compromise and priorities. When a reviewer automatically dismisses analogue as a faulty medium or insists upon truthful reproduction of the lowest octave of pipe-organ or double-bass, I know to steer clear. I apologize for digressing, but JA and his buddy Kal Rubinson still insist that Benchmark DAC's are among the best and yet consumer after consumer on the various audio Boards express their regret for having bought one.