Thumbs up for ultrasonic record cleaning

@JTimothyA and Antinn
Both of you have affirmed that

there is no standard for measuring what is clean.

  I would like to draw your attention to my thread in this forum, entitled "The Groove Probe, for optimizing and evaluating record cleaning systems".  There is a summary of it in the post in the first reply.  While it doesn't rise to the level of a standard for evaluation, I believe it does offer a way to quantify cleaning results.  I certainly would appreciate comments, either here or there.

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/the-groove-probe-for-optimizing-and-evaluating-record-cleaning-systemshttp://

@rexc,

I can't argue on the value of measuring the after clean audio file.  However, the intent of my comment was to address pre/after cleaning inspection at the time of cleaning.  However, I am now using a 365nm UV blacklight Alonefire SV003 10W 365nm UV Flashlight Portable Rechargeable Blacklight Flashlight with good results.  UV blacklight can detect particulate not otherwise visible, see VPI forum, General Audio, for some photos.

Neil

@antinn,
What I showed was only an example. Use of the Groove Probe is limited only by your imagination. It offers you a complete, quantitative record of the groove, including high-frequency information. You can analyze the data any way you want. Before and after cleaning would be a great way to use it.
I have used it to diagnose tracking problems in monaural records. I was able to watch and trace every little spot where the needle lost contact. Monaural records are a great way to detect minute problems that you might not otherwise find.

Hgh-frequency noise is a also a suitable subject for analysis. Analysis of quiet sections might be especially revealing. For example, the lead-out groove is usually not supposed to have any signal recorded on it, so any noise you detect there is either surface noise or noise in your system. The lead-in bands (or whatever they’re called) also often have some signal-free regions.

What kinds of things might you analyze? You might look at the amplitude and frequency distribution before and after cleaning. If you really want to kill some time, you could look at the time structure of the noise before and after cleaning. Does it look like embedded particles or something else? Micro-clicks? Or maybe defects in the plastic? Of course, there’s probably a floor of noise that we’ll never eliminate -- even the freshly cut master had some surface roughness. And here’s a question that some people might want answered: Did US make the problem worse by damaging the plastic?

Good idea about the UV light. I have a 395 nm light and a 365 nm light. The 365 nm light is especially good at revealing practically EVERYTHING. I’ll try it next time I digitize an LP.

I bow down to the scientists here.....

Here's my update:

What I've found with the carbon filter is that it works well, I don't notice yellowing anymore...( the Versa-Clean has a dark piss color to it). After 5 weeks from a water change, the water is getting cloudy. So, I wonder if the carbon filter is removing more than the yellow color? Hmmmm?

Records still sound great!

The Vibrato is working well. After my experience with the Audiodesk (4 years). the Chinese tank (two years), now the Vibrato.....it's lack of noise has you wondering at first if it's really cleaning. (Remember, I'm going from two different 40 khz machines to an 80 khz machine here). The answer is yes!