Doug, Your logic appears reasonable but the results don't agree with what I hear with my own ears.
Fortunately, everyone is free to make their own conclusions about record cleaning. What works for me is very simple---I only clean records that need cleaning. To my ears the "uncleaned" record usually sounds better, so why subject a record to cleaning if it doesn't need it?
The very word "cleaning" implies that cleaning is an improvement. But maybe other things are going on than just cleaning. People get hung up on whether cleaning fluids leave a residue behind. Maybe the concern is whether they remove something from the record surface that actually contributes to the sound quality.
The why behind all this is really not terribly important to me. I have no interest in exploring the chemistry of records or cleaning solutions. All I want to do is enjoy the music on my records, and if someone wants to call this distortion, that's ok. After all, I listen to records on an all-tube system; maybe I like distortion.
Dave
Fortunately, everyone is free to make their own conclusions about record cleaning. What works for me is very simple---I only clean records that need cleaning. To my ears the "uncleaned" record usually sounds better, so why subject a record to cleaning if it doesn't need it?
The very word "cleaning" implies that cleaning is an improvement. But maybe other things are going on than just cleaning. People get hung up on whether cleaning fluids leave a residue behind. Maybe the concern is whether they remove something from the record surface that actually contributes to the sound quality.
The why behind all this is really not terribly important to me. I have no interest in exploring the chemistry of records or cleaning solutions. All I want to do is enjoy the music on my records, and if someone wants to call this distortion, that's ok. After all, I listen to records on an all-tube system; maybe I like distortion.
Dave