Hmmmm.. I have an ultrasonic bath that I had made for me locally, big enough to soak an entire LP. I just have a plastic label cover with O-ring to protect label.
After 10-15s, I get a few holes in foil. I Have been using it for about 3 years now and have not noticed any bad side effect so far. I read somewhere that you need ultrasonic head that is at least 40,000 Hz to get all those bubbles into the groove and the regular 20,000 Hz one will not do anything much if I remember correctly. Have no idea what is the rating on my machine though. In comparison to using my Clear Audio Matrix with various cleaners, I don't think there is much benefit as far as sound quality is concerned but on some LPs, there are less ticks and pops than using Clearaudio machine alone even if I soak the LP in water for a day or two with dishwasher liquid first before cleaning with machine. I generally use ultrasonic bath, rinse with tap water then run it through Clearaudio machine at the end, zap any static with Furutech DeStat and that's that. I have also been thinking about Audiodesk system now that it seems that all the kinks had been worked out although a friend bought one last year that had to be sent back to Germany because something became loose inside.
I definitely like the idea of one button operation. Using ultrasonic bath and then cleaning machine becomes tedious after awhile especially when I get in a batch of used LPs.
The biggest effect I heard on an LP after cleaning though is Hassl record cleaner (sp?). Impressive looking machine, looks like a Rolls Royce of record cleaner with a price to match (if VPI is a Toyota equavalent). I heard it demo at a local show and a friend brought his LP that was well cleaned and we played it first then cleaned it with the machine and listen again and the difference was impressive.
I don't think the machine does anything much more than other cleaner but look and feel much much better. May be it is the cleaning solution. Unfortunately local dealer will only sell cleaning fluid to customer who bought the machine from them only so I will never know.
