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ultrasound record cleaning machine damaged my records

I recently purchased an ultrasound record cleaning machine. For reasons which I hope you understand I won’t name brands, because I am not wanting to make bad publicity to anyone but to discuss the matter. 

Previously, I had anather ultrasound machine which broke. I cleaned more than a 1000 records with it, with no concerns at all. The machine broke and, due to its steep price, I decided to go for a less costly solution. 

With the new machine I cleaned 7 records. One of themLeonard Cohen’s “New Skin for the old ceremony”. When listening to “Chelsea Hote”, I remarked a distortion that wasn’t there before. IT was clear on the low notes, like the instrument being out of focus or vibrating. I had some old very worn records which had that problem due to bad stylus. At first I started to think that there was a problem with the stylus of my Lyra Atlas. So I went to another version of the same album I have at home, to check if there was a problem with the stylus. Clean passage. No problem at all. 

As on the previous cleaned record I noticed a similar problem, not so apparent, I decided to clean the second version of the LP on the new machine. Playing it i heard  the same distortion on the same music. Checking out all the 7 records I cleaned, I heard issues on all of them, some less apparent ( the mono ones) and some more appparent. 

I couldn’t believe it but the new machine was damaging my records. 

The combination of my atlas and my SME 312 arm gives some “needle talk” - music heard when with everything muted you put your hear next to the stylus on the record. Doing it, I heard the same rumble distortion that was being amplified by the system. 

 

I used distilled water (not a new one but one which was opened for the previous machine) but it was clear clean. I put the exact amount of surfactant liquid on the mixture of distilled water. I kept all the operating instruction rules. I don’t understand what is wrong, but the fact is this machines damages the grooves on the record. 

 

Does anyone had this problem before? Any help provided?

 

Note: I already contacted the dealer who sold it  and I am going to see him next week. It is a very good a solid dealer.  It I’d like to hear your opinion. 

 

Best regards,

128x128pfmaudio
antinn
395 posts
 

@oldrooney,

Thank you for the compliment but let us not forget the contribution of @whart who generously stepped in as Editor and Publisher making the book available for free via his site -  Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records-3rd Edition - The Vinyl Press and arranging that any time the book is downloaded, it's always the latest version.  

And let me reiterate the premise of the book as stated in the Forward - 

All cleaning procedures specified herein are presented as only “a” way to clean a record. No claim is made there is only one way to approach the process. In the final analysis, the best cleaning process is the one that is best for you.

Good luck,

Neil

PS/For those in the UK & EU, Chapter II Table II EU/UK Manual Record Cleaning Process Material Substitution List, the Tonar™ Plasticgoat Natural Goat Hair Wet Record Cleaning Brush may not be suitable.  The design the book links - Tonar Plastigoat Natural Goats Hair Wet Record Cleaning Brush - SCOTT NANGLE AUDIO (snvinyl.co.uk) may not be the design being sold - Tonar Plastigoat Brush - HIFI MEDIA which has very short brushes and one user in Switzerland recently reported unsatisfactory (and may leave residue).  The preferred Stasis brush (same as the Record Doctor brush) is available in the EU - Stasis Plattenbürste - Rockers Records.

pfmaudio's avatar
pfmaudio OP
19 posts
 

After this long thread I went to my dealer to discuss the matter. We listened to all the records on his system. And to the surprise of all, there was no problem with the records when played at his system. The problem must be at my turntable, as that is the only variable that wasn’t checked before. 
It is a little misterious becaus, in my system, ONLY THE CLEANED RECORDS caused problems. I hear no difference in other records and the system seems ok to me. I will now check all the TT set-up because the problem must lie there. 
The TT and cartridge of the dealer was of a similar quality of mine (SME 20.12 with Lyra Atla Carteige). His turntable a little better and the cartridge a little below the Atlas. 
I will keep everyone informed on further developments. 
Ome of the reasons why I didn’t at first reveal the brand of the machine was this one. I have more than 30 years on this hobby and it is not the first time that the reason of a problem is the one we think. 
To all HuminGuro owners and future owners I say to be assured that my records weren’t, apparently, damaged by the US cleaner. 
Thanks everyone for the help and comments, specially @antinn for the great help. 
I will keep you informed. 

dogberry
646 posts
 

If it was only the cleaned records sounding off, one can only explain this by wondering if they were not completely dry, or even whether psychacoustic factors came into play somehow? (I mean no disrespect with the latter, we are all susceptible.)

Surely it cannot be a TT set-up issue or that would affect all records, cleaned or not.

pfmaudio's avatar
pfmaudio OP
19 posts
 

@dogberry, I understand your point. It was very clear to hear the distortion. Can we post in here an audio file?

oldrooney's avatar
oldrooney
200 posts
 

@pindac Thanks for the tips.
@antinn When I cite your work in future, I will be sure to include the text from the foreword, p. 3 that you quote above.
@whart Thank you for allowing free download of the current edition of Precision Aqueous Cleaning of Vinyl Records. It truly is a gift to the community and offers solid guidance in the midst of a forest of ‘solutions’ I feel.
@pfmaudio I’m glad things went well at the dealer. Your experience vindicated your reticence to mention names at the start, in my opinion. I don’t know about you, but every new purchase these days seems to generate a high degree of anxiety in me which seems to affect both my senses and my sense, if you will. I wish I had a dealer I could go to in order to confirm or deny my perceptions. I guess my old age (70+) makes me frail in ways I don’t always anticipate.

As far as I know you can post links to YouTube video clips that contain music, but I haven’t done it myself. The key is linking the data file, I’m not sure you can upload the file itself, but others may correct me. You might reach out to the site moderator for instructions and limitations.

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