SEEKING ADVICE: Which component would you upgrade first?

noromance

9,275 posts

03-15-2024 at 04:08am 

Isn't tap water anathema?

Record Spindle Spinner

@noromance that’s a fair query. Could be viewed that way, at least in hard water districts. If properly dried after a blast of water, I for one expect residual stuff should be insignificant. If it still feels unacceptable, but hundreds or thousands of dollars are not available for an automated approach, a tub and medium duty water pump could be devised on the cheap for use with recirculated distilled water.

I suggested [a cheap version of] that spindle disc + strong faucet as a solution that didn’t allocate OP’s whole upgrade budget to cleaning records, given the condition of the collection wasn’t disclosed. To me, learning people have LP’s and then suggesting a high cost cleaning solution is like telling people to add condiments to food they haven’t tasted: the advisor might feel need to do that him/herself and get enjoyment from it, but it probably won’t work best for everyone.
For most album collections I’ve seen, the pricey automated cleaners don’t seem like great investments (to me) based on a few factors.

Are jets of distilled water being used at LP pressing plants? Or is hard water being used from municipal taps, and that’s (part of) the reason some folks remark about poor QC in new pressings?

I doubt answers to those questions will be forthcoming. To me it’s just overthinking a useful-within-limits improvement process that shouldn’t cost much, if anything.

But I’ll reiterate that KORG device I mentioned (also available for cheaper in a more vintage-looking non-“R” version: KORG DS-DAC-10), or a self-rigged version with other gear + freeware described here and there online (if KORG’s software is not preferable) to digitize vinyl collections, could be a fun way to walk OP’s vintage kit into future playback opportunities.

@benanders understood. I personally find a record cleaner a luxury investment. I can go to a local stereo shop and use their VPN for 50 cents per record which I do 10 records at a time, every other month. It would take 500 records to recoup that investment, at this rate: 9 years for me :) - when compared with the record doctor.

So I'd spend that money elsewhere. I would always go speakers/source/preamp/amp

@benanders I get fine results using a SpinClean with distilled water and supplied detergent. (I also use an ultrasonic unit for first cleaning, with the SpinClean for final rinse.)

@noromance good call. I bought one of those SpinClean units back when they released the clear version. Maybe a dozen or more years ago? It was nuts to watch it turn water + old record into chocolate milk… I still wonder if it was a pre-programmed chemical reaction from the included solution 😜 (it wasn’t - distilled water alone achieved similar result).

SpinClean works a bit differently than a strong jet of water. I got my SpinClean to deal with nasty surfaces of a big old pile of second-hand records acquired years earlier. Wasn’t a fast or particularly easy process compared to a cheap spindle x faucet (which I wasn’t using then), but I agree both ways sure can help.

Checked for curiosity - SpinCleans are a bit more expensive nowadays. Still a better price-to-performance ratio than buying an automated cleaner for many (most?) collections IMO. If automation is required, I suspect a car-to-cleaner-ready hifi shop would indeed be the better bet for many (most?) folks!

What I love about the SpinClean is that I can give a record a quick clean if it has picked up a little dust. I do not use dry brushes. The SC detergent apparently grass the dirt out of the distilled water, thereby keeping it cleaner and necessitating less frequent changes. Note, all my records have either been SpinCleaned or been thru the US already. I bought additional (better, more absorbent) lint-free cloths which really speeds things up.