Kl Audio LP200 ultrasonic record cleaner insights


I did a bit of research a few months ago on the Audio Desk ultrasonic cleaner and thats where I found out about the KL Audio CLN LP200unit. I was attracted to the much more powerful motor, no rollers to replace and using distilled water rather than a cleaner.

Let me start that I have a Loricraft and used the Walker 4 step program but shortened it to a clean\rinse setup. Still ten undivided minutes of your time a side to clean. After a while I didnt bother with mint or new records.

Table Galibier Gavia, Triplanar Arm, Zyx Universe cartridge

I have quckly and efficiently cleaned more records in 3 weeks than I have for the three years I have had the Loricraft. And it was hardly an inconvienance, not a major chore

I have cleaned a number of Walker\Loricraft records again with the KL Audio. The results are jaw dropping. Dead quiet, no static pops (sometimes dont even zerostat). The biggest issue is resolution, getting down and removing that last bit of material and the resolution, body, separation of instruments, timing, passion and air around the notes is enhanced. Modest pressing sound like audiophile. I have ran into a few noisy records, probably dug out by the last stylus but most everything else has been so overwhelming. Low level detail is to die for.

The machine is a tank. Everything impeccably manufacturered. You can set the ultrasonic to 1-5 minutes and the drying 2-4 minutes I spit out a record every 5 minutes while I watch tv from the next room. It drys very effectively but isnt that loud

This machine is not cheap at $4k but what it does is like a very serious component upgrade. Highly recommended for someone with a serious vinyl collection and setup
128x128audiotomb

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Still could not hear a difference using the Klaudio and the other cleaning methods. I also examined the Klaudio carefully to see if it was making bubbles in the water. I noticed that the bubbles were only on the left side of reservoir (facing the Klaudio), I don't know what that means. Please look at your Klaudio and tell me where the bubbles are concentrated.

Probably you are right and the Klaudio can not do an improvement. Loricraft is a point nozzle design (or Keith Monks) and is very good.
Did you check your Diamond? Is it really clean? When there is gunk on it, it will reduce resolution drastically. There are also differences in the construction of the diamonds, some go deeper into the groove, some not. Some records have some gunk deep at their bottom, some not.
I think, the bubbles at the left side are not important, there is the water reservoir and when the cleaning starts, a part of it is pumped to the right side where the ultrasonic motors are. When the record is wet and you hear the buzz then it is working properly. The bubbles on the left side come from time to time when the water from the right side is pumped back to the left side.
Clicks and pops can have 3 reasons
a, dirt
b, pressing material from the process in the groove (reissues have that normally)
and
c, damage at the side walls from the grooves based on wrong cartridge adjustment, wrong VTF and some more reasons.

a, this can be solved with machines for 100%,
b, mainly no big hope, here nothing will really help, such a record will get clean sometimes but it is normally a minority
c, no hope. except a "primitive" cartridge with a round diamond (it can hide it)

Generally we can say, any cleaning can be done good/better/best when the record WAS perfect and later came dirt, smoke, coke, fat finger tips etc. into the grooves. That can be removed for 100%. But something from a melting process or defect carts ... here will the story of cleaning find an end. A lot of reissues are made with very soft vinyl, they are super sensitive to everything, records from the 80's for example are best of best, even with 60 or 80gr. Noise can also grow when someone used alcohol for cleaning, this can make the grooves dry and the noise will be endless.

06-06-14: Almandog
Update:

Before cleaning the records I bought at The Show, I emptied the water from KLaudio. I took a clean piece of tissue to clean out reservoir and I could not believe what I saw. The tissue looked like mud was all over it. There was a lot of residue and brown muck in the reservoir. This means that the KLaudio is doing its job in getting muck from inside the recors groves.....

I will use Spin Clean for finger print and oil from now on and Klaudio for deeper cleaning....


The best results (and also most reliable from the technical view) you will get the way you did describe. The mold should be removed with a machine which is able to do a good job, best is a point nozzle design. Then you can do a final Ultra Sonic clean. When I do it that way, the main gunk is in my Monks and when I do an additional run of that "pre-cleaned" Record in the Klaudio there is no more dirt in the reservoir.

But even when you are lazy and use the Klaudio only, deskilled water is cheap, a change of the fluid is easy. Btw. Fingerprints are uninteresting, that is a visual disturb only. The diamond of the cartridge tracks the inside the grooves, not their top. Of course, the ADS has advantages, but the time showed, it made too much problems and some did choose the Klaudio because they want something reliable. I am one of those. And the combination of a point nozzle + Klaudio is simply the best when you are serious in records.
Btw. I use below my Klaudio an isolation Platform....the serious mod for the haunted audiophile :-)
Suteetat is spot on and he is also right with the latest version (no blow only toggle switch). I love my funnel :-)