Whats the best record cleaning fluid?

Your language implied an attitude to me that I see alot on this forum. If I misread, please forgive me. It seems odd that you and your asssociates had such a markedly different experience than that of a number of reputable people.

Talk about language and implications. "different experience than that of a number of reputable people"? And you wonder why some might have resentment toward "businessmen". The old forgive me on the one hand while I stick the fork in deeper with the other is old, still lame, and always smarmy. Godd luck with your sales.

The issue of cleaning fluid is pretty simple and there are a lot of good easy to use products on the market to fit anyones taste or particular situation. I have said it before, the purpose of any cleaning fluid/cleaning system is to get the junk removed from the grooves. As was said with audiofeil note, the majority of the product is water which is a wonderful solvent for ionic compounds such as salts but pretty poor for non polar compounds such as grease/oil/fingerprints.etc. Good cleaning solutions will have a component to help water emulsify the non polar compounds and a component to disperse the solids that will not dissolve. The tiny grooves also means a mechanism to get the cleaning solution into the grooves is required. Wetting agents can be added to help this or mechanical action by a brush will help get the cleaning solution into the grooves. A brush also plays an important function in that the mechanical force helps dislodge the particles stuck in the groove. THe last function of the cleaning fluid is to dry quickly. Again the use of a vacuum or dry part of a record brush can help. Alcohol is used in some formulations to aid in drying. IMHO, the most important factor is clean water that will not leave a residue. My favorite homemade formulation is 1 qt of water(triple distilled or better), 1 teaspoon of Dishwashing detergent and then enough alcohol (about 1 oz)so when a drop of cleaning fluid is put on a record it freely flows into the grooves. I use an old discwasher brush and this formulation has worked for me for almost 30 years. I have found though heavily fouled records will require a machine like the VPI to get the mechanical action from the brush and lots of cleaning fluid.

Jejune,

dare I respond...

You and I would get along a lot better if you would simply take me at face value. I'm in this business because I like to turn people on to ways that they might enjoy music better. I work hard at researching how to best do this for the same reasons that all of us here work at getting our systems to sound better. In my experience, many manufacturers are in it for the same reason. Some are more willing to charge well for the 100s of hours that it often takes to come up with a superior product that is worthy of its price. Invariably results are mixed. Mistrust is understandable but isn't always warranted.

Your response to my first post seemed to be mocking my simple intentions. After your reponse to my second post I realized that I had read too much into your minimalist remark and admited to same. My following remarks were not meant to imply anything other than precisely what I said.

Coincidentally, Lloyd called today and we talked about this and the other thread re: Prelude that I now remember you contributing to. Lloyd has not yet heard from your friend or anyone else about returning Prelude product. He also related the entire story of his experience with Disc Doctor and Audio Inteligence and his developement process of Prelude. Perhaps only one side of the story and a biased one at that but I see no evidence of unethical behavior; quite the contrary.

As I said before, I'm still interested in any specific constructive input you or your friends may have.

I think that there are a few very good cleaning formulas on the market currently. The problem is that the overpriced POS cleaning machines have underated vacumes.
I will put a $60 shop vac up against any RCM and make it look like a toy. A ultra pure water rinse is also very important.

Tim

I will put a $60 shop vac up against any RCM and make it look like a toy.

FWIW, I used a GroovMaster (sic) an old turntable and a modded Shop Vac to do record cleaning for two years. Then I bought a Loricraft.

It isn't the Loricraft that looks like a toy. It's the right tool for the job.

Of course my basement floor is really clean too, since that old "RCM" is the right tool for THAT job. ;-)