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do record cleaning fluids soften the treble?

Over many years of cleaning records with fluids containing a surfactant (not specified) I have come to the opinion that the process leads to a very slight softening of the treble. After cleaning the sound was more"cosy" and less extended in the treble. However I did not get this effect with the VPI fluid that came with my 16.5 machine. It made the sound somewhat drier. Anyone else noticed this /these effects? Any idea why???
rrm
stanwal's avatar
stanwal
3,147 posts
 
All very well but I just listened to "Music From the Time of the Crusades" on Argo; I gave up half way through one side before I cleaned it, really noisy. After cleaning it was much better and sounded fine to me. It use to be a general recommendation that you clean new records before you play them, I have seen several comments about how much crud was on them. Everyone to their own taste but all my friends with LP collections have cleaners and use them often.
opus88
530 posts
 
As I mentioned earlier, if a record does not seem to need cleaning, I leave it alone. Salectric's ears tell him "...the 'uncleaned' record usually sounds better..." Time and again, my ears tell me the same thing.
markd51's avatar
markd51
763 posts
 
If I may, can I then ask, and perhaps make a few conclusions-assumptions about these different viewpoints-opinions mentioned here?

What I have normally noted, when there was a rare, past time of playing any uncleaned records, was usually a higher degree of crud accumilation on the Stylus?

So, one question to the original poster, have you noted this as well? Why I ask, and my thoughts, are, if such is occurring, wouldn;t this then be a certain sign, that the Stylus is trying to plow a path through the groove?

Wouldn't this then have a greater degree of degradation, versus a cleaner groove?

Another thought is, can we then lump all makes-types of cleaning fluids, and rinses into the same boat, in that all that is made, can then cause these degrading qualities that some claim to note?

That even to a highly trained eye, that the uncleaned, brand spankin new record appears to be perfectly fine to play, wouldn't a certain degree of Stearates, and Mold Release products on the record's surface, and within the groove then be a benefit, or?

Just curious about this, because generally, most would no doubt find the exact opposite set of results with cleaning versus not cleaning.

Lastly, could it be a partciular cleaner-rinse, or a specific process that is being used, to cause less than optimal results? Mark
inna
7,923 posts
 
You see. No wonder that as much as I like tape I hate vinyl. I just have to deal with it. But it's a big pain in the backside and also very expensive.
Generally speaking, I too try to do as little cleaning as possible - I let the stylus do the work.
notec
407 posts
 
Just for the simple fact that your stylus will last longer when tracking cleaned vinyl than uncleaned is cause enough for me to clean every record I play. That and every one I've cleaned has noticeably sounded better without question.

I've yet to hear a negative impact after a cleaning. Perhaps I've just lucked into a effective methodology.
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