The Quietest LP Cleaning Machines

I have a PRC 3 Loricraft and have had it since 2001. I heard it while stuck in London after 911. It is much less noisy than other record cleaners I have owned including the Keith Monks that I owned nearly 30 years ago. But the PRC 6 and the PRC 4 Deluxe are much quieter yet and have greater vacuum, which reduces the need to clean dirty records twice.

Seriously,
If your go for a loud machine; get some serious ear protection and put the machine in the garage.
That is what I had to do.
Now I clean records in my living space on the Loricraft while my kid naps 30 feet away.

WHAT?!?!? I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I'M CLEANING RECORDS ON MY DIY RCM. WORKS GREAT, LOTS OF VACUUM. I JUST HAVE TO WAIT 20 MINUTES TO PLAY AN LP UNTIL I CAN HEAR AGAIN.

Someday I'll own a Loricraft.

I think I'll live with the noise, given that the PRC4 is 5 times the cost of a HW-16.5-the difference will pay for a nice MC cartridge and a large stack of Classic Records reissues. Do what I do-use your headphones to listen while you are doing the cleaning. It doesn't help those nearby, but at least you can enjoy some music while you are doing your maintenance work.

I have to add my 0.02. I have been using my own cleaning solution along with an Orbitrak2 and I have been very satified with the results. I, too, have been looking for a RCM but am satisfied with the Orbitrak results to date. This is not to say I won't get a RCM - May go for the KAB and use my own upright vac.

Lotta' help you guys. Thanks!

the best way to quiet a 16.5 is how i did it...i sold it and purchased the Loricraft PRC4.

:-)

Yea you can quiet it down by pulling the Vac pump putting it in anther room and running a hose to the cleaner, this is meant to be a joke so dont flame me:)

the best way to quiet a 16.5 is how i did it...i sold it and purchased the Loricraft PRC4.

i cleaned 3000 Lps over 8 years with my 16.5.... a great machine. but it's loouuud!

Anybody know a good way to quiet down a VPI 16.5? Are there quiet vacuums that can be swapped in?

The VPI 16.5 is the opposite from being quiet. Had one. The Loricraft is much louder than a Keith Monks. The Monks is very, very quiet.

VPI 16.5 against the Clearaudio Smart Matrix?Which one is quieter?

Clearaudio.

Are they equally effective? I expect so, but don;t take my word for it. Cheers

Orbitrac (LOL)

Thanks for the info Mikelavigne.

Has anyone compared the VPI 16.5 against the Clearaudio Smart Matrix? Are they equally effective? Which one is quieter?

noise is directly related to the size of the vaccuum opening. therefore any Record Cleaner with a wide sweep vaccuum arm will sound to a large degree like a vaccuum cleaner.

the 'Keith Monks'....Loricraft...type record cleaners use a stylus vaccuum arm with a tiny vaccuum hole at the end of the stylus. a piece of thread is fed to the end of the same arm and the vaccuum point rests on the thread. every time you clean a record you advance the thread to use a new spot. in any case; this style of record cleaner is infinitly quieter since the vaccuum openning is much much smaller than the 'wide' arm type.

i have not compared different machines within this approach to say which is the quietist.

Loricraft PRC6