just clean the record with whatever method and then listen . no need to overthink this.
Wait time after record cleaning
Record cleaning has become a staple of every vinyl addicted audiophiles routine. Most cleaning methods use liquids, whether proprietary, DIY, or just plain water. These fluids are applied and are either vacuum removed, fan dried, towel dried, or allowed to evaporate. There is a ton of info regarding the different types of fluids and cleaning routines currently available to review. I cannot find any information on "when the record is optimized for playing" after cleaning. How long are people waiting after cleaning to actually play the record? I once read that it takes over 24 hours for all the moisture in the grooves to be completely absent following a wet clean, even if on gross visual inspection the vinyl surface appears totally dry. As a corollary, I have also read that the record sounds better if the record isn't played for 24 hours after cleaning. Distilled water, surfactant formulations, and water combined with isopropyl alcohol will all evaporate at a different rate. Is there any risk of vinyl damage if a small residuum of fluid remains in the groove when playing commences. Is there any science behind this, or is everyone just winging it? I typically sleeve all my freshly cleaned records and wait at least a day to play them, based on my previous reading, but am wondering if this is at all necessary.
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Cleaning one, play it, never worked very well for me, I have vastly better results by using a kit with a drying rack and cleaning batches of 10 lps while listening to previously cleaned or new LPs. After vigorous manual scrub, good rinse, thorough dry, they sound awesome, extremely quiet if LP surface is not damaged. see 11th photo: my manual cleaning setup, in my system photos here https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/9511 |
Millercarbon hit it on the head, though. A tough study for sure. Not the head. The navel. When performing your listening tests be sure to record and standardize relative humidity. If the record is to be air dried for 24 hours then ideally the relative humidity must remain constant throughout in order to avoid altering the findings. Needless to say if the record is stored in the sleeve then the micro-environment created within the record jacket must be monitored. Otherwise if the record is damp it increases humidity in the sleeve thereby creating a false positive situation. We can go on and on like this for freaking ever. Or we can play em and get on with it. Being audiophiles the only approved course is to keep anal-izing it to death. Especially since playing records is the most OCD of all. The only real way to enjoy a record is after cleaning it 15 different ways, drying it 35 different ways, placing it on a platter with/without a mat/clamp/weight and then after carefully confirming level spend the next $5k and 5 years using every jig and geometry imaginable to second-guess alignment. Only once this is all done can you run the motor a week to be sure it is warmed up and even then there will still be 15 different things to worry about. Which version of the record are you talking about anyway? No not that one! Start over..... |
"We can go on and on like this for freaking ever." I thought that was a central tenet of the audiophile's code. I'm just trying to do my part. @Riley We all have our routines. Rest assured this doesn't keep me up much a night, lol. Just wondering if there is any scientific validation for what I had read. It just turns out that I have so many LP's to choose from, that it isn't an inconvenience to wait a day to play a recently cleaned LP. @Elliott I have a similar approach, but finish with a degritter which has a fan dryer. |
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