I got in on the Degritter and ordered one back in the summer. Given the start-up and crowd-fund nature of the company I expected delays and of course there have been a number of them. All well explained by the company though.
I should be getting mine hopefully within the next couple of weeks.
It will be my first record cleaning machine! And I have so much vinyl I’ve bought since I ordered it, piling up, waiting to be cleaned.
For me this machine based on it’s goals, design and the feedback of beta testers, is precisely what I was looking for. I buy plenty of old and new records and wanted a record cleaner. But frankly every single version of record cleaning I’ve ever seen has turned me off. It just looks like adding a chore to the experience of listening to records. I have taken albums over to my friend’s place and watched him use his VPI cleaner and it was just, as I said, too chore-like. And as I have sensitive ears I HATE the loud fans on so many record cleaners.
The automated US machines from AudioDesk etc seemed to do what I’d like, but were expensive and, IMO, damned ugly.
As soon as I saw the Degritter I wanted it. Love the chic industrial design. Looks like a finished product I would actually place in plain view, rather than the kludged together in someone’s basement look of other record cleaners.
Loved the intuitive looking controls, the fact you just pop a record in and hit a button, then you can walk away do other things and come back to a dry record ready to play. And they seem to have thought through so many little user-friendly design aspects, especially flexibility in the drying process. There are now something like 22 finely graded settings for the fan dryer noise, so you can dial it to really quiet (longer dry) or louder (shorter dry).
I took the chance in paying 1/2 up front, 1/2 upon delivery. The feedback from beta testers was all highly positive both for the machine and for the Degritter team being conscientious and responsive.
Since paying up I’ve found that to be very true. All inquiries have been responded to within 24 hours, often sooner, with confidence-inspiring detail.
As to the price, I can certainly understand why someone would blanche at paying thousands of dollars for a record cleaner. But this is really about personality and budget. As I said, I look to records to relax, not add chores to my life. To some they may like to clean records so it’s no big loss to go a cheaper route, or a manual route to cleaning. Which is great! But that’s not me. I rationalize the money in that I have spent similar sums and more for various equipment over the years - speakers, amps, pre-amps, turntable, etc. Given I'm listening mostly to vinyl these days and cleaning a record will upgrade the sound to some degree (variable, I know, I’m not expecting miracles) I look at it as an upgrade similar to if I were buying some other component that would improve the sound of my system.
So that’s my story with the Degritter, thus far.
I’ll report back when I get it in action.
