One way to look at the price of a machine such as The Degritter is: if your local used-record store were to charge you $1 to clean an LP on an USC, would you do it? Well, if you have 3,000 LP's in your music library (a reasonable number), buying and using it, The Degritter will have paid for itself. Charge other LP owners of your acquaintances (not friends, of course ;-) a buck a record, and make your money back! |
Finally is right @prof! I'll bet the Degritter company was so back-ordered they didn't have a spare to send him (at no cost to him). Plus, they were selling every machine they could make, no need for a review. Fremer gets most the new-release/reissue LP's he reviews for free, and industry-accommodation pricing on equipment (around half retail). |
@stringreen, so a sweep with the Hunt brush (which I also own, along with a Decca, Audioquest, and Discwasher) gets all the "stuff" out of the grooves and off the surfaces of the used LP's you add to your collection? Or you don't buy used? I've bought more used this year than new, and there's no way I'm gonna use my stylus to remove the gunk from the groove of a previously owned LP. That's like using someone else's toothbrush! |
Right @kozzmo999, and the price had crept up to $3000. Not cheap, but lower priced than both the KL Audio and Audiodesk @ $4000. A DIY ultrasonic cleaner can be put together for under $1000, but the Degritter has it all. |
A cleaning solution that is alcohol free, for those who prefer, is Torumat TM-8. Sheila Berdan and Joe Knight at Brooks Berdan, Ltd. in Monrovia California have started Groovy Hi-Fi Solutions to make and market it. |
I have to sell a couple of my vintage drumsets before I can buy a Degritter. Audiogon member Simon (folkfreak) invited me over to his place in NE Portland to hear his system (and quite a system it is!), and while I was there he cleaned an LP I brought with me on his KL Audio machine. After hearing some of my records through his Magico loudspeakers (which have an elevated high end in comparison with those I’m accustomed to), I learned I HAVE to get an URC of my own! |
Congratulations, @prof! I can't see how KLAudio and Audio Desk will be able to sell any more of their machines; the Degritter is clearly superior, and cheaper! If one has the $ and wants a non-DIY ultrasonic cleaner, it is imo the one to get. |
Excellent prof! Degritter is proving to be a very conscientious group of fellas. |
@prof, I received a notice from Degritter that after the initial batch of machines were shipped out, a number of minor defects reared their heads, and the company was recalling those machines. Have you sent yours back? |
Excellent, prof, can’t wait to hear if it lives up to our high expectations. The designers (who appear to be very sharp young men) really took their time, making every effort to get it perfect. I can't see a thing they missed! |
Agree 100% @prof. I registered on the Degritter website, and have received regular email updates on the status of the cleaner ever since. Many of them included the announcement of a slight increase in price, but nothing like the latest! At around $2,000 US I didn’t consider it overpriced (as I do the $4,000 usc machines), but $3,000 is pushing it. Still, as it appears it may actually be a better machine than the KLAudio and Audio Desk, that price IS defendable. For anyone not wanting to have to assemble a DIY usc, and with the required disposable income (or savings, for you retired gents), the Degritter is mighty attractive and tempting. As you said prof, to see it is to want it! I’m not crazy about the idea of forced-air drying of LP’s, but anyone with a VPI, Nitty Gritty, Pro-Ject, Okki Nokki, or even Keith Monks vacuum machine can use it to dry the LP after a cleaning in any usc. I also like having a VPI if for no other reason than that it provides a platter upon which a used, dirty LP can be scrubbed by hand. One advantage of the Vinyl Stack spinner is the ability to clean up to five LP’s simultaneously. The only automatic usc that does more than one at a time is the Kirmuss (and then only two), with which I have serious reservations (for one thing, 35kHz is imo unacceptable. For another, their pitchmans claims for the Kirmuss cleaning solution strike me as bs. Plus, drying an LP with a cloth?!). |
I can't speak for anyone else, but the LP's I bought from Tom Port are no quieter than those I cleaned myself. But then, those LP's were acquired from Tom many years ago; perhaps his current cleaner does a better job than the one he used on my LP's. |
I lived two blocks from Tom Ports apartment in Sherman Oaks in the late-80’s/early-90’s, and bought some LP’s from him (the original German pressing of Magical Mystery Tour is a must!). I was pretty surprised by his hi-fi system, and not in a good way. A mass-market Japanese "automatic" record player, a receiver, and some box speakers. It was like being in a Best Buy! I don’t recall what record cleaner he was using at the time, but ya know he doesn’t have some secret information no one else does. A clean record is a clean record, however that is achieved. Brooks Berdan had a Keith Monks (original) in his shop in Monrovia, but preferred the VPI HW-17F. I love my 17F (with which I use fluids by VPI, Last, Nitty Gritty, and Torumat), but am still going to put together a DIY ultrasonic. There is one guy offering tanks with a choice of frequency---40k, 60k, 80k, 120k; I’m thinking 80k is a good compromise between power and gentleness. That and a VinylStack LP spinner plus water filter makes for a great, low cost usc. The Degritter looks great, but I’d rather put $3,000 into more LP’s. |
Damn @reubent, the price has gone up 50% from just six months ago! I posted this not to make the case for ultrasonic cleaning, but for those considering purchasing one of the $4,000 machines (Audio Desk, KLAudio, etc.). Here is a cheaper (even with the price increase) alternative that may actually be superior to the $4,000 models. A perfectly acceptable usc can be assembled DIY for far less, of course, and many of us still pretty happy with our VPI’s, Nitty Gritty’s, etc. I don't require Tom Port's advice on record cleaning---I've been doing it longer that he ;-) . My first cleaner was a Watts Preener in 1968. |
