Click title to read one, or click date to read all below it.
05-29-08
Do the steam cleaners make as much noise as the vacuum pumps ... Jj2468
05-29-08
No but there is a little sound from the steam. Oilmanmojo
05-30-08
Fyi: wal-mart has sold the exact steamer as mapleshade for $ ... Crem1
05-30-08
Maczurak - you're more than welcome to plop down $150 for th ... Vinyladdict
06-04-08: Volleyguy
Just bought a steam cleaner today! I have had my interest peaked in this issue! I had a Apollo Moon Lp from a friend's basement that was so bad with mold I would not even put it on the RCM. I mean mold from rim of record to label. So a perfect candidate. Well it is almost tick free! It was also somewhat scatchy. So this for sure works. After steam cleaning I use the RCM.
So for sure on turd records this works. (nothing to lose)
I also did buy 2 mint condition Prince Purple Rain LP's today to go with the one I have. Mine has a slight cloudiness. I have several lp's that LOOK mint but sound cloudy??? You can see a kind of haze on the record. This is what interests me in this! I don't have hardly any moldly lp's the the Apollo one. But I do have many slightly cloudy ones.
I think this is mold from being stored in the basement. I don't mean massive mold but the kind you have to angle the record in the light the right way.
I will let everyone know my opinion on the this cleaning with the 3 Prince lp's. I can see this works on garbage records but what does it do to the sound on good ones? I have a Beatles White Album in the same condition (looking mint sounding cloudy)
I am concerned some people are buying lousy records steam cleaning them to reduce noise and open up sound but also doing groove damage? So I will do a sound demo on a Prince records.
What frustrates me is the mint looking slightly cloudy lp that sounds cloudy and there is NO WAY the RCM gets that off. I have tried so many times. I think RCM's clean dirt but do not take off light mold. This is where the Steam cleaner does make sense!
So far things look promising but scary! It looks as if I have done groove damage to the Prince lp. (none was done to the Apollo one) There is a wavy look at some spots where maybe melted the vinyl somewhat. But the sound is MUCH more open! First impression tells me this is as much an improvement as the $500 RCM! and it was $30!
Very excited this is interesting. I will keep posted the test is being done on a audiophile level turntable.
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-04-08: Volleyguy
One word of caution the Prince lp is a '80's LP and looks to have distorted the Apollo is much heavier vinyl and seems to have no problem.
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-04-08
Volleyguy, i am under the impression that you haven't read e ... Crem1
06-04-08: Volleyguy
Crem1 I did read quite a lot but not all. The one prince record which is '80's and the vinyl is thin did distort on the grooves. It still seems to sound very good though. I am interested in this process for those records that have a light mold on them that my RCM does not clean. I bought a steamer to clean our vinyl windows and got thinking then stumbled onto the tread. Any suggestions?
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-04-08: Volleyguy
Crem1 that is why I bought the other 2 price lp's mine has a slight mold but the 2 I bought are clean. They were cheap to experiement with and I can compare to a pristine copy. I know they get cleaner without a doubt! but wondered what happened to the grooves? Do you know what temp mold breaks down? This can only work if mold breaks down before vinyl distorts? I my case the records I am interested in this are mint (looking) but I feel sound 80%. The Apollo 11 record is garbage so all upside. (and work it does!) But what I did not want was to turn my mint vinyl with slight haze (mold) into 40% sounding vinyl? Cleaner yes but distorted?
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-04-08
One trick for mold (fungus) is to use a mild bleach solution ... Oilmanmojo
06-04-08
O: many thanks for your post. Crem1
06-04-08: Volleyguy
I admit to getting carried away with the Prince record. I was just seeing how much I could steam. I am going to try the mild bleach. I do believe cleaning with hot water for sure works. Funny no one has done it to vinyl records before? I mean we clean everything in hot water?
How much bleach to distilled water?
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-05-08
I would try with white distilled vinager first instead of bl ... Jahaira
06-05-08
Be very cautious with bleach...it is a strong oxidizer and m ... Ghosthouse
06-05-08
Agree you must be careful. but a weak bleach solution will n ... Oilmanmojo
06-06-08: Volleyguy
Cleaned a Abbey Road (Beatles) lp and it was a BIG improvement! The improvement came in voices mostly. Much easier to tell who was singing each song and back-ups. I was quite surprised. Thanks Crem1!
I also cleaned a White Album with mixed results. It sounds more open and I hear things I never heard before but it seems to reveal what I always thought that the album has was more wear than is visible. So the mixed results are I thought it was going to clean the mold off and the lp would sound great but it still does not sound great (just more open) but the high's seem worse or I just notice them more?
Anyone else find that out?
The upside is HUGE with this though like a component (pre amp) upgrade. I would say as noticeable as when I got the RCM which I always tell people that is big. They do seem to work well together.
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-06-08
Volleyguy: thanks and "never get mad ... get steamed&qu ... Crem1
06-08-08: Volleyguy
Listened to Abbey Road 4 times yesterday in shock at how much better it sounded. Crem1 what records in general get better, no doubt if crud in the groove is a problem and not groove wear. Have you found that sometimes when steamed sound opens up but wear shows up even more. This seemed to happen to me on the White Album.
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-18-08
Volleguy: that's the double edge to steam cleaning and clean ... Crem1
06-18-08
Fyi: walgreens has reduced the price of a perfection steamer ... Crem1
06-21-08
yep. i just picked one up from my local walgreens at $19.95 ... Dan_ed
06-24-08
I've had my perfection stemaer for about 5 days and have cle ... Doak
06-24-08
Doak: thank you, thank you : for years i have been wageing t ... Crem1
06-25-08
Best wishes to you also. ;-} the internet has made this &qu ... Doak
06-28-08
Steamers: i just purchased a perfect steamer. it sputters q ... Tvad
06-29-08
No it is defective , please return to the walgreens for a re ... Crem1
06-29-08
Tvad i have refined my steaming using regular distilled wate ... Stltrains
06-29-08
The sputtering occurred during the first use of the steamer. ... Tvad
06-29-08
I should add that i was using the long neck attachment to av ... Tvad
06-29-08
Tvad, i've got the perfection and had some sputtering with ... Dan_ed
06-29-08
I'll try it. thanks. Tvad
06-29-08
The sputtering may be caused by the tip getting clogged on o ... Zenblaster
06-29-08
Another reason for sputtering is overfilling the boiling cha ... Oilmanmojo
06-29-08
My perfection has only been used twice since i bought it abo ... Dan_ed
06-29-08
I have been steaming for near a "deckade and 1/2" ... Crem1
06-30-08
The steam cleaning works very well for me, but i'll comment ... Davidsss
06-30-08
Yep, ds, i agree with your findings. many of those scratches ... Dan_ed
06-30-08: Volleyguy
davidsss I think the tick is sometimes maybe mold. I often wonder if the heat is enough to release the mold? I think dirt as well and one guy menttioned not needing a RCM. I still do not regret buying mine. It just works even better now.
Volleyguy (System | Threads | Answers | This Thread)
06-30-08
Volleyguy i cant agree more with you on using a rcm. i used ... Stltrains
07-01-08
Steamers: keep in mind that using attachments may increase t ... Crem1
07-01-08
Ok i finally "get" it: no attachments at all - not ... Doak
07-01-08
This is interesting. i like the long spout and the downward ... Oilmanmojo
07-02-08
Doak : murray is one of the smartest/nicest persons in audio ... Crem1
07-02-08
I would steam the records propped by a support only on its l ... Morphy72
07-02-08
Morphy72: this whole warp thing has me in the dark . i have ... Crem1
07-03-08
Thank you crem1. perhaps i will wait your gem before to cons ... Morphy72
07-03-08
No problem. as soon as i complete what on my plate, the gems ... Crem1
07-05-08
Steam heads: looking for ultra pure water. i found feser a ... Tvad
07-05-08
Only downside to buying mail order water is the shipping cos ... Tvad
07-05-08
i'm wondering how much benefit one gains from the use of ul ... Photon46
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