do record cleaning fluids soften the treble?

Rrm, I agree with your findings, much like my own.

What confuses this issue is each persons cleaning methods, attention to detail, number of steps employed and even the brand of record cleaning machine used.

Mo Fi fluids (previously Record Research) if rinsed properly do not cause any problems, at least with my record cleaning machine.

The Audio Desk Glass (automatic-ultrasonic two side LP machine) is relatively neutral in the highs but does benefit from a final rinse with lab grade water. Unfortunately this requires a second machine.

Based on my experiments, I have concluded if a record does not seem to need a cleaning, leave it alone. Like you, I've typically heard treble softening with a number of cleaners, however, when I strictly use a pure alcohol/water blend of 25% to 75%, I routinely get that "somewhat drier" sound you allude to.

Most fluids do this. I am very sensitive to this. The all roll of the highs to a certain degree. I was very frustrated and started to rince after my washes. This brings back the highs. Now, I do a double rince. Triple rince would be even better

Interesting comments above because my experience is different. Many of the fluids I have tried change the tonal balance by thinning the bass and accentuating the treble, making the overall sound brighter and thinner than the LP was to begin with. This varies in degree but has been true for me with all of the AI fluids, the Mint LP and some others whose names I am forgetting right now. The "super pure" water rinses have the same effect even when used without a cleaner.

The exceptions to this thinner/brighter change are Disc Doctor and (my current favorite) L'Art du Son.

The same results were obtained on my Nitty Gritty 2.5Fi and Loricraft vac machines.

Dave

Surfactants reduce surface tension, which helps a solution spread out into a thinner layer and wet smaller surface irregularities. This makes the solution more resistant to being vacuumed off and in fact vacuuming is insufficient. Rinsing AND vacuuming is required to remove it.

Unrinsed surfactants leave residues. Try washing your dishes in soapy water and vacuuming them dry without rinsing. Good luck, and don't invite me to dinner!

If the surfactant residue on an LP isn't removed it forms a cushion between vinyl and stylus. The first thing to suffer will indeed be the highs, since their groove modulations are the smallest. If the stylus can't see it you won't hear it.

Low level details and overall amplitudes also suffer, but the audibility of that tends to vary with the ability of the entire system.

Rinsing (at least twice) with extremely pure water and dedicated brushes, with a vacuum pass using a dedicated wand after each rinse, usually removes this residue. There are exceptions however. Some old (pre-MoFi) RRL Super Vinyl Wash contained a leave-behind lubricant. Water would not rinse it away, a complete re-cleaning was required. The orginal Disc Doctor cleaner was also notorious for being difficult to rinse.

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As regards a cleaner, better-rinsed record sounding "drier", "brighter", "thinner" or any other adjective that doesn't imply "closer to the original", that's just personal musical taste overruling reality. By definition, only the cleanest, most completely rinsed and residue-free groove can allow a playback stylus to precisely retrace the path of the cutting sylus. Any residue, by definition, introduces a form of distortion. If you or your system prefer that distortion to the reality of a cleaner groove, okay, but it should be acknowledged as such.

Harrumph! ;-)