What is the best way to clean Vinyl?

You have two choices with a $500 limit. If you don't mind the effort, a SpinClean and a long read of Neil Antin's pamphlet* will be one way. The second is a vacuum machine that might need to be used to fit in the limit. It will get you 80% of the way to the best any of us can do. An ultrasonic cleaner gets you the rest of the way to what is currently achievable.

This is worthwhile, and likely should come before more esoteric upgrades of cartridge or phono stage in my view. It not only can make an LP as quiet as a CD in many cases, but it will prolong the life of your stylus remarkably.

*the PDF is at this link:

A question: Can playing dirty records ruin the needle/stylus? Or is it safe?

I'm on board with the SpinClean, but what do I pair it with specifically?

TIA

A question: Can playing dirty records ruin the needle/stylus? Or is it safe?

Yes, it is safe, but it does cause more wear on the stylus. When a manufacturer tells you you might get 250 (Nagaoka doesn’t tell the truth) to 1000 hours, they are talking average record cleanliness. Super-clean records add hundreds to another thousand hours to stylus life. Not so important to an MM user, but a very expensive issue for MC users.

I’m on board with the SpinClean, but what do I pair it with specifically?

Time to read that PDF I linked!

OK, Thanks.

LOL!

👍