Which Record Cleaning Machine?

08-31-08: Chadnliz
Isnt any serious Vinyl guy going to have his own RCM?

No. I'm a serious vinyl guy and I don't have one. This statement is based on the assumption that being serious about vinyl has more to do with your love and devotion to the medium than your ability to spend money on it. I had to stop working and it's enough of a challenge even acquiring new vinyl. I use record cleaning fluid and a bundle of napped microfiber rags from Sam's Club. If they're really bad I use a Walgreen's handheld steamer from the "As Seen on TV" shelf. An in-store RCM gives people a chance to hear what a good RCM can do. Once they learn of the purchase price, many of them will bring more records in for cleaning, and a few will buy their own. Win win.

Isn't the loricraft rather more than $1.2k?? Another brand of RCMs i think worth considering would be those from Hannl. German so perhaps better priced again over there in Europe.....

Quiet in operation.

Here are my thoughts based on a quick survey of the RCMs mentioned. I'm not including any VPI in this.

Clearaudio Matrix $3600 USD
Hannl Aragon $3995 USD
Loricraft PRC-4DL $3725 USD

Both Hannl and Loricraft have cheaper models but I tried to compare similar features. Also, I believe the Clearaudio is still just as noisy as a VPI. There is no reason that I can find to think that any of these could not stand up to cleaning hundreds of LPs at a time. Not that many folks could clean hundreds at a time, but I think all three models are built for it.

Both the Clearaudio and Hannl offer mounted brushes and suction pickups that are, I guess, supposed to be removed and cleaned after each LP. I believe that with any cleaning system the user has to make sure the brush is clean. The Loricraft (and Monks) have a suction tube that rides on that tiny thread. Time for the next LP? Just play out a small amount of thread and you have a clean surface ready for the next one. For a home user, maybe not such a big deal. For a business, I would think the less steps to prepare for the next record to be cleaned would be a great benefit.

If your friend is also interested in carrying a line of RCMs then there are many other considerations that a business owner should consider. I'll leave that to him.

For the rest of us, you can build an RCM at home for less than $100 and do as good or better of a job than the VPI or Clearaudio RCMs. It will be noisy and you may have to turn it by hand, but it will get the job done very well. I've been using my DIY RCM for several years and I have no desire to go for a commercial unit. This is especially true since I added one of those cheap, Walgreens steamers to my cleaning ritual.

So maybe your friend can stock a good line of cleaning products and supply his less-well-healed customers with the idea, or maybe even plans, for building their own RCM. Or, make arrangements with a local craftsman to build one for them. This makes more sense to me because I don't think anyone is going to sell quantities of those commercial units.

I like the idea of the Loricraft type machine but $3700 is probably about 4 times higher than I could justify spending on a cleaning machine right now. I could buy a mint Blonde on Blonde mono, a Robert Ludwig Led Zeppelin II, and every other Lp I've lusted after and have plenty left for replacement vacuum strips and cleaning pads on my 16.5 for life.

Sonofjim your thoughts above are so true. I use a 16.5 with my steaming method for superior sounding results. Most of my lps are from the used bin. I receive these lps in all types of condition. I normally wait for 25 or more and clean them all at once. I dont know if its because i have a newer model of 16.5 because i have never had a heating problems only a sure fired way of getting my vinyl clean for great sounding play. Yes it does make the sound of a vacuum cleaner when used, its loud i deal with it. Do as you say buy more vinyl music to clean with the money saved.