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Record Cleaner Side Effects?

My vinyl collection is expanding and I am feed up with borrowing a friend's top of the line VPI ( before he can part with this holy grail of cleaning machines for the weekend I gotta kiss his _$$ , do a ceremonial bow down combined with backwards walking from the moment I leave his front door untill I can reach my car meanwhile he and his girlfriend smile at my display of graciousness. All this is happening fast enought so that the neihbors don't see the embarrassing display). Not really, but sometimes it feels like that when borrowing something expensive from someone else. Now to the point: Recently I came across an old issue of The Absolute Sound magazine and read an article in which the author was stating that record cleaning machines and their chemicals do more HARM than GOOD. The author did not state reasons/proof to validate his claim and instead he refered back to an earlier issue that covered his argument (and I don't happen to own this issue). I've always believed that record cleaning machines provide the best method for removing contaminants...we are after all taking the grime off the grooves aren't we? Any vinyl addicts here aware of reasons not to clean records using this method? Anybody hear about issues with the solvents more than the machine (new vs. old formulas, certain brands, chemical residues left behind on groves)? I am no expert on this subject and would like to get more input from someone more knowledgeable on this subject. I just know there are several vinyl gurus reading this that can shed some light. Also any recommendations on sub $500 machines (low end VPI, mid-upper end Nitty Gritty)? All info highly appreciated.
one_audiophile
rives
953 posts
 
I have read similar things. I have read tests of new albums being opened--played, then cleaned and played and the top end "lost it's magic". I have heard of two identical records being opened at the same time--one cleaned, one not cleaned and the not cleaned sounded better.

I clean all of my albums, even before the first play. I clean the side I'm going to play each time I play them. To me, it really is a no brainer. My albums remain in excellent condition, and I laugh at myself now for how long it took me to actually buy a VPI 16.5.
detlof
1,899 posts
 
Most LPs profit, with sometimes really shockingly good results regarding soundstage and presence and some simply do not, lose in presence and immediacy, which can be equally clearly evident. I have still to find out why this is so. The percentage of records which sound clearly worse after cleaning lies at about 5% I would say and mostly they are very early stereos.
rshak
416 posts
 
I've used a Nitty Gritty 2.5 since 1986, together with the cleaning fluid supplied by NG. I've had fabulous results. My routine is to clean each record once with the Nitty Gritty (sometimes, in the case of a really gunked up LP, twice). Then, both before and after each play, clean the LP with my Audioquest fiber brush. No problems with the LPs, *and* my stylus stays very, very clean.

Robert
cylinderking_1
130 posts
 
Record cleaning is a must for any anolog system, the word that stuck out like sore thumb was cleaning. By this I beleive any one who takes time to do this in his or her collection probily has fairly clean records. But sometimes the condition of the records - or + in ions needs to be considered sometimes a clean record will have ticks, wash it the ticks go away this is regenerating the record back to its positive state. We must remember records do collect static when stored even in the best VRP ricepaper sleeves.In my collection dirt is not the enemy its the - charges thats what keeps me washing. David
jax2
3,031 posts
 
The formula's I've seen for DIY record cleaning fluids (based upon the ingredients of the more expensive prepared formulas) are fairly innocuous. Usually something like 75% distilled water, 25% Isopropyl Alchohol (non-lanolin), and a few drops of Photo-Flo (a "soapy" wetting agent designed for photographic processing to prevent spotting on films, which I believe is just more alchohol[propylene glycol]) per gallon. I can't imagine how any of these ingridients might build-up or cause damage to vinyl, but I'm no scientist either. Certainly the water and alchohol would evaporate. Photoflo can leave a residue if in too high a concentration, but with only a few drops to a gallon I doubt that would happen. I'm pretty sure most of the cleaning fluids are simply distilled water and alchohol with some form of wetting agent added in very small concentration. Someone correct me here if I'm off base.
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