Is it worth purchasing the VPI 16.5?

By all means. Very well built, excellent job of cleaning records. Very reliable and little maintenace required.
Dave

In general, it's been my experience that having a vacuum based record cleaning machine is indispensible if you want to get the most from your vinyl. As such, in terms of funtionality, reliability, and performance, the HW-16.5 is an excellent value.

Nitty Gritty works very well and takes up a lot less space. The Keith Monk cleaner is the way to go if you can find one.

the vpi is good,if you get one,replace the brush that it comes with,,its terrible,get disc doctor or music direct record cleaning brush,,

Owning two VPI 16.5's and a NG 1.5FI, i would probably recommend that someone interested in buying a machine of this nature check into the SOTA LP Cleaner. In this regards, Nate aka Nrchy was right on the money in his previous posts.

One should bare in mind that the SOTA RCM has undergone some design revisions over the years, so older models may not be the same as a current production model. The list price of this unit is between that of the 16.5 and VPI 17, making it a bit more expensive than the 16.5 but not as expensive as the larger and far more costly 17.

I really don't think that any of these machines are built / designed anywhere near as well as they could be, but the SOTA seems to be the nicest of the bunch within that price range. Since i've been cleaning a lot of vinyl lately, i've really thought about selling what i have and building my own. Then again, i've already got 2.5 million projects on the burner and not enough time in the day, so i'll have to stick with what i've got for right now.

Having said that, 16.5 isn't a bad machine at all. It just isn't worth anywhere near the asking price. Especially if you take one apart and see how they are made / what goes into making one. In the long run, a vacuum based RCM is a very worthwhile investment, especially if you have a lot of vinyl that you value and you want to obtain the best sonics and longevity from your recordings and stylus. There are HUGE differences in cleaning solutions too, so keep that in mind. Sean
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