Thumbs up for ultrasonic record cleaning

@gbanderhoos @terry9

Guys, I don't think that was really necessary. The multitude of approaches and opinions is what makes the progress possible. Quite surprisingly, US cleaning is still a pretty fresh subject even for scientists - I've googled out scientific publications in high impact physical journals as young as 9-10 years (!). Let alone the US use for vinyl, where in the absence of any structured research from the industry, we are left on our own with all the experimentation. So the exchange of ideas/procedures/results is absolutely crucial, no matter if we agree with them or not.

 

fleschler

A Monks or Loricraft would be safe choice relative to the unknown potential damage of KLAudio and AudioDesk (and hassles to use) ...

It isn't clear what you trying to say here. While I don't have first-hand experience with the AudioDesk, I can tell you that the Klaudio is the easiest to use record cleaner of any that I've ever had, or seen in use. The user just pushes one button, and the device does the rest. That's a big part of its charm.

... he chose it over the KLAudio because the cavitation bubbles were not directly hitting the record surface. He thought that was the reason for shearing off high frequencies and possibly distorting the vinyl grooves.

When I first got my Klaudio, I actually made digital recordings of a few LP excerpts both before and after cleaning, and then looked at the waveforms to ascertain if there was any damage after cleaning. If there had been, I would have returned the unit to the dealer. But there wasn't, and I haven't suspected any damage since.

 

@fleschler Have you tried vac re-cleaning/rinsing those Lp's with rolled off highs?

Yes, I rinsed using the VPI 16.5.  The record was click and pop free with low surface noise.  It just lacked the sparkle (the disc has a ton of highs) of those other half dozen discs that were not cleaned via a US unit. 

I heard the a less than pristine pressing on the famous Von Schweikert Ultra 11/VAC 450 $1.4 million system.  That was the closest I've ever heard an audio system sound to the recording venue.  So exciting and musically interesting.  I highly recommend the Urania disc.  

Two other discs I purchased from different vendors also used a US machine to clean the discs and although they were quiet, they lacked high end too.   Why, I don't know but I'm afraid they did something wrong.  

US machines need felt lips to clean, filters to clean, changing tank fluids, etc.  My VPI 16.5 doesn't even have a tank (converted from a VPI 16 unit) and easy to clean felt lips.  The Monks/Loricraft has a tank to empty when it gets full and string to replace when the bobbin is empty.  I just think that there's more upkeep for a US machine.

I just changed the filter from 1um to 0.5um. After some 20 Lp's first pre-cleaned with vac the old filter did have some particles left on it - like a very fine grayish sand plus a bit of yellow coloration. So the US does extract something vac did not extract.