Kirmuss Cleaning System Discuss?

@neonknight , Air drying is an unfortunate mistake, towelling then air drying is even worse. You can safely assume everything, towels, the cleaning solution, etc are contaminated with all kinds of things like your fingerprints and fabric softener. You use fresh fluid to clean the record then vacuum everything off and don't touch the record with anything else. There are many machines that meet this requirement. I think from a performance and build quality perspective the Clearaudios and the Nessie vinylmaster are the best units out there. Fan and air drying are a definitive no-no. Air dry a record and leave a few large droplets on there to magnify the process. Orient the record under the light and examine the surface. What you will see are water spots, just like your car. If you think using distilled water will stop this, try it and see. Vacuum drying is the single best way to keep the record from becoming re-contaminated. 

Ultrasonic cleaning is a fad. It is in no way superior and complicates the process requiring a second device to vacuum dry the record. While you are drying one side the other is dripping all over the place.

I would not call cleaning records fun. The trick is to spend as little time as possible doing it. It should also be convenient and readily accessible. You pick out a record to play and notice it is dirty or staticy.  You want to waste 1/2 hour getting it to the platter? Wouldn't you rather toss it on a machine, push a button and have your record to play, crystal clean in 3 minutes? Pick a device that gets as close to that ideal as possible. No ultrasonic machine comes close to that ideal cleaning and drying the record correctly.  You may actually be better off using just a conductive sweep arm to remove any incidental dust and discharge any static.

Mijo, Your hubris in unabashedly recommending whatever it is you have already decided upon as the only and best choice for everything is so bald-faced that I find it inoffensive and sometimes even charming. You got wherever you are by thinking and experiencing your way to it, so that’s fine. In this case, I actually am in the same boat. I watched Mr Kirmuss clean an LP at the CAF some few years ago. I am sure it works wonders, but I knew in advance I would rarely if ever use it because of the time needed per LP. As a biologist with experience using detergents of both major types in a laboratory to solubilize cellular organelles, I was also a bit concerned about the white stuff that shows up after step 1.  Mr Kirmuss assures us that this is evidence of the grundge that needs to be removed, but I wondered whether the cleaning solution itself plays a role in its generation. (I also emphatically agree with Mijo that you’d want uncontaminated cleaning solution, fresh for each LP or at least every few LPs.) I use a VPI HW17, which does everything that the Clearaudio does but slower and more manually and probably more noisily, but also more inexpensively. I keep the HW17 in my basement workshop, and if I find an LP that I am about to play is obviously in need of a wash, I put it aside until I have a bunch of them that need cleaning. Then I take a small stack to my workshop for a cleaning session.

^ Exactly ditto. Except that I have added a DIY ultrasonic to my HW-17, using the latter to dry the LP after cleaning in the former. For really dirty used LP’s I pre-clean in the kitchen sink (well, above the sink) using the info in the Neil Antin "book". Any ol’ record cleaning brush (or even the paint brush pads used for doing edges), and Liquinox (by Alconox) as a detergent for removing very heavy, dried on schmutz (love that word ;-), the LP held by one of those record "handle" devices available on ebay for peanuts. Then a thorough rinse using tap water (the horror!), and into the ultrasonic tank filled with distilled water. Dry with the HW-17, then hit with the Furutech DeStat III, a fantastic anti-static device.

If an LP needs scrubbing, I put a loose cork platter mat on top of the one attached to the HW-17’s platter (for the dirty side), removing it after cleaning the top side (with a hand held brush; the attached one in the VPI is used only to dispense distilled water) and flip over the LP. The HW-17 is also handy for a quick dusting (it takes only a minute to do both LP sides); hand held brushes just don’t work in my experience (my first was the Cecil E. Watts Preener, my second the Discwasher), but if you must use one get yourself a DeStat III (to neutralize the inevitable static charge left behind), far better than the Zerostat.

Kirmuss? Life is too short!

I have a Kirmuss. I also have an Audio Desk. The Kirmuss system is way too fussy, manually involved and time consuming. After some successes with it I ended up not using it for well over a year, mostly because I couldn't deal with the fuss and time.

Now I have changed my approach.I was about out of the Kirmuss fluid which is very expensive, and didn't want to follow that tedious procedure any more. I bought a vial of Tergikleen and now use that. I run used/dirty records through the Kirmuss with Tergikleen for 20 minutes (10 minutes and then flip the sides...not that flipping makes a difference). Then I run them through the Audio Desk. I use the Audio Intelligent Vinyl Solutions ultrasonic formula for that.

I've been getting much better results than I ever did with the official Kirmuss process, and the cost of consumables is vastly diminished too.

@dwette I have a similar system.  I use an Audiodesk for my initial cleaning.  I like that it is a physical cleaning as well as ultrasonic with the rollers.  I use the Audiodesk cleaning fluid.  I follow up with a rinse/wash in a Degritter using only the Degritter rinse fluid.  90% of the records I clean are very nearly as quiet as a CD and have at most one or two minimal clicks or pops.  If there’s no physical damage most records play as mint.  I am convinced that there is no better cleaning system currently available, though it ain’t cheap.