to buy or not to buy (ultrasonic record cleaner)

Called and spoke to the local dealer about the Degritter. I have an appt for Friday morning to go and see a demo. He has to order it because the last one in stock was sold last week. Few weeks lead time to get one but that’s ok. No hurry. I will let you guys know how I like it. 

@barnettk   I am glad to report to you that after cleaning my first dozen records yesterday on my new Degritter, the results are rather staggering.  I cleaned and then listened to several records that I am very familiar with in order to have the best understanding possible.  I used records of various SQ levels in order to get a grip on the range of what the machine can provide.  What I found was that with records of less than satisfactory vinyl quality but great music and detail (such as true vinyl noise due to lower grade pressing and/or grade of vinyl) that problem can not be eliminated.  I used the album from Jeff Beck, "Truth" for that example  However, where there is noise from micro sized debris and remaining contaminants from previous cleanings, the noise floor is substantially reduced to nearly zero.  That aspect was very impressive.  More importantly, is what I realized in musical information.  The finest nuance of information was revealed in an almost startling way.  Guitar strings trailed off like I have never heard before.  Sizzle cymbals seemed to go on forever.  Layers of musical information had an overall improved dimension, whereby everything seemed more well defined.  
My system is sensitive and of very high resolution.  I have always heard a depth of music that I had thought was fabulous.  I heard it better than ever last night.  I had no idea just how much I was missing by only using a vacuum RCM.  Ultra Sonic is the state-of-the-art for vinyl record cleaning.  There is no two ways about that.
Enjoy your forthcoming purchase.  It easily qualifies as a newly added component to my hi-fi system.

@mammothguy54 

So you just purchased your degritter? Sounds like you have found the secret sauce. Now you have me really anticipating seeing this thing in action and hearing for myself. I have tried but cannot find anyone who has a bad thing to say about it. That in itself is pretty impressive. The salesman at the store spoke highly of it for sure. Said he can’t keep them in stock. That usually would go in one ear and out the other because what else would he say right.. however everything I have read about it is positive so his comments were right in line what people like you who own it are saying. Seems like there is no ambiguity in what folks are saying either. I am a firm believer and have always known the importance of record cleaning and if this works like everyone says it does I will be over the mountain happy. Honestly I hate cleaning records. I’m not a very patient person, but I do it.  So if this will add a little fun to the task and actually do the job I’m all in. My dilemma was spending the money on something that I could achieve the same result with a manual process. Also there are a lot of machines like the one I borrowed where you spend the money and then still have a very time consuming manual component to get the right result. The salesman says this is basically drop the record in and your done. I’m sure mileage may vary depending on how dirty the record actually is but that record I would hope to never buy in the first place 😂. Keep me posted on your experience as it will be a few weeks before I actually get it delivered since it has to be ordered. One question. How loud is it during operation? Can you speak to that? 

@mammothguy54 

not to get in your business but what table and cartridge are you using?

@barnettk   I recently changed from a high mass turntable, Micro Seiki, to a completely different philosophy.  I chose the latest top end unit from Rega, the Planar 10.  I had purchased a Lyra Delos cartridge for my Micro Seiki just a few months prior so I thus chose not to get the Rega cartridge and instead carried over my Delos to the Planar 10.  I have it placed on a Symposium Acoustics Ultra Platform (which is the top platform on their Foundation Rack Ultra).  I also removed the feet from the turntable and am using Symposium Rollerblock Jr HDSE.  It's a killer isolation and vibration control system.

I would say you'll find it to be about the same level of noise as most vacuum RCM.  I have my unit in a separate room from my listening room so eventually I will have a record being cleaned/dried while listening to some music.  It would be way too loud to have cleaning under way while listening to music if the machine were in the same room.  It is not a noise problem unit and is what I had expected.  Especially after having lived with a Nitty Gritty RCM for so many years.  Just too loud to use while playing music in the same room.
Also, if you do buy a used record it is wise to clean it first via a vacuum RCM and then follow with an ultra sonic cleaning.  I got that from reading up on the matter and it makes perfect sense.