Finding ultra-pure water locally...

Markd51 and Crem1, as we really don't know what the benefits of purity are, I do think we have to go by what we personally judge to be pure enough. I have found, as I noted, that Walker's water sounds better as a final rinse than either store bought distilled water, which should be a pure as the steam that it comes from, and reverse osmosis water. Given what I use I will continue with Walker's water. I do wish some scientist would evaluate the benefits of greater purity for various purposes.

The Prestone Water, while might be good, and good enough for many users, (and very possibly better than single step distilled), without any data to be had, and what type container such water is then placed in, still leaves me with some doubt?

I remember one of our very good agon posters, some time back with the Water Thread, with the very thorough, and extremely long post? Was very well done I thought, and the best lowdown I've ever read about water quality.

The links provided here in this thread of the gallons of water for a very reasonable price, seem like a very good cost effective alternative.

And if I had in my possession 10,000-15,000 LPs like maybe Michael Fremer perhaps has, I'd probably jump at the opportunity to buy it, but four gallons of water is a whole lot of water to buy, and for a "little guy" like me, I'd probably be collecting social security by the time I used all this water!? lol

As time passes, then one might also wonder, is this water still as pure as when I first bought it, or has chemicals from the holding vessle, and conditions it was perhaps stored in, now has leached contaminants-plasticizers into the water, now making it actually worse than the standard Wally World .69 cents a gallon stuff?

Ahh, many thoughts to ponder, but do enjoy the topic with you folks. We once delved into this topic a couple months ago on AKarma, lots of opinion of course, as there always is, one fella remarked he was a degreed chemist, but then offered nothing to the thread about cleaners, or rinse waters.

No scientific data, or common logical sense was offered from others in this thread on Karma, to back any argument in why we all shouldn't just be using chopped down Paint Brushes, and Paint Brush Pads to scrub, Distilled Water mixed with Dawn, Photoflow, and 99% Walgreens Iso Alcohol, forget the Enzymes, who needs them, and of course just whip out the ole Micro-Fiber cloths for the final wipe down, and rack em in the kitchen sink? Mark

As I said, do what you need to do, as there is no real information on which to judge the needed purity of water you need. I probably would have continued to use RO water as I had been using had I not tried the Walker Prelude system.

Markd51: Your point is well taken, kinda like "How many angels can dance on the point of a pin." For my part , I'll give anyone a good run for the money when it comes to a LP Collection, even still , how many records can I clean for today and into tomorrow is up for debate.

The one fact I am sure of is that should one own equipment that discerns the differences all to the good. If not , no problem at least you have a clean recording.

Before I steamed cleaned LPs the differences were less hearable. Now, as I use steam cleaning those differences are quite noticeable , so for me, the "cleaner" the rinse the better. How much better($ vs $$$) has yet to be determined. All the best.

Here's a follow-up on using NERL Diagnostics' Reagent Grade Water for record cleaning.

I purchased a 5 gallon container for roughly $33 (including shipping) via the link I referenced above and it arrived at my door in less than a week after ordering. I compared that cost to Lloyd W's water at ~ $88 per gallon or Osage/Audio Intelligent water at ~ $72/gallon (both w/out shipping).

The NERL Diagnostics Reagent Grade water comes in a thick plastic 'bag' inside a cardboard box with an analysis printed on the side. I was very happy to find a spigot included. It was easy to attach the spigot, then turn the box on its side for easy dispensing of the water into an empty 32oz water bottle from my Walker Prelude kit.

So... how's it work? Works just like water. For record cleaning I've used the RO water from my home's system and of course the water that comes with the Prelude kit, but otherwise I don't have a lot of basis for comparison. And I don't have a fancy methodology, so no pretense of Science here.

The bottom line is I am now more convinced than ever that pure water rinsing is a key critical step in effective record cleaning. I started with records that had been rigorously cleaned with the Prelude system using my Loricraft machine, listened to them, then cleaned them again with one pass of the Prelude Step Two cleaning fluid and 2 rinses with the Reagent Grade water. One record was from an EMI box set of Richter and Kagaan at the Touraine festival playing Mozart sonatas and the other was the Telarc Slatkin Mahler Titan.

The records each sounded remarkably cleaner (substantially reduced noise and faintly increased harmonic information) after the second cleaning and rinsing. I've had both these records for many years and frankly I was surprised and delighted to hear them virtually free from pops n clicks. I can't say if the NERL water is 'better' - not sure how I'd know that - but including it in the regimen yields the best cleaning results I've had over many years of record cleaning.

I then cleaned a copy of the Marriner Argo Handel Water Music and declared victory. For a multi-year supply delivered to my door for a little Web research and less than the price of a new Speakers Corner reissue I'm quite pleased with the NERL water. Its my new reference water! (Heh - always wanted to say something Valinesque.)

Tim