VPI record cleaning system

I agree with Lolo. You can get an upgrade kit if you want..... but more important is to replace the "velvet" pads on the tube. Disc Doctor and VPI have them, through the usual analog outlets (mail order) or direct.

Thanks guys. I went ahead and bought the machine about an hour ago. I must have a 16 that was upgraded to a 16.5. It says Hw16 on the back plate, but has the vacuum tube mounted on the platform and removing the bottom plate reveals a reservoir! The original box say Hw16 with a ".5" written in beside it marker.... Now to get at about 1000 old vinyls! :-(

How often do you clean your records? I'm considering buying a VPI 16.5, but I hear they are loud and run hot, on top of doing a great job. My question is this: do you have to clean a record before each playing? Or once it's scrubbed good and clean, can you just dry clean it for the next several plays?

Thanks,
John

I don't think it is necessary to clean a record before every play (some folks think that this may actually degrade the sound... I don't know about that but I do know that practially every record cleaning fluid does leave a sonic fingerprint). I clean a record immediately after purchasing it (I was able to completely salvage a $1 junky looking copy of an original 6 eye "Kind og Blue" to an acceptable playing condition after cleaning). After cleaning, record goes into a rice paper sleeve and then gets cleaned with a Decca carbon fiber brush for the next couple of turns. I use the Turomat cleaning fluid but have used a homebrew concoction in the past (in my spare time, I am a Chemistry professor).

By all means clean with VPI at the very least. Once the record is clean, it's not necessary to clean everytime before play but it is important to properly store it between each play. Get good inner sleeves ( no easy feat since the rice paper ones are off the market). I clean my records with an audioquest brush ( good, cheap) before and after play. It's not necessary to wet vac a record each time unless you flaw the vinyl with fingerprints and etc. The one caution against the VPI 16 or 16.5 ( I have an original 16 I upgraded) is that it's not suited to do many records at one session. The motor will burn out (it can be replaced). If you see yourself buying and cleaning collections, the 16.5 isn't the machine for you, the 17F is as it has a fan to keep the motor cool.
I swore by the VPI for a good ten years or more, until the Disc Doctor brush/fluid system came along a year or so ago. Now I use a combintation of both. It's so good that audiophile vinyl is a waste of funds in my few as clean vinyl yields the same results and is cheaper and easier to find. But, the VPI remains the heart of my cleaning process.