Vintage KMAL RCM2 record cleaner.


Hi I came accross this rare machine(mid-70's vintage) for sale and wonder what would be fair price to offer. The condition of this machine is functional. Cosmetics are darn ugly, but I don't care much. The vacuum pump had been replaced fairly recently and shows ideally clean. It currently has almost new Thomas vacuum pump that is able to make about 10gpm connected to the very thin suction tube so suction is pretty darn strong. As you might know that KMAL rotates near 78rpm and to clean one side of 12" record is about 5m so total of 10m per record. If the surface noise and crackes reduced, the cycle can be repeated again. It's also presumed to be a lot noisier than conventional VPI or OkiNoki just because it's a membrane vacume pump type and it shakes, but I'll plan to use rubber mounts if I decide to acquire it. I'd also replace the membrane pump with rotary one of the same size which is another $150 for one with same suction power.
My quest is to be able to not only clean records and keep them clean, but to restore them as well. I have a number of records that actually look mint, but play with lots of surface noise and crackles. I'm aware that I won't be able to fix 'needle drop' crackle problems, but at least need to know if there will be any advantages of purchasing this vintage unit over the modern OkiNoki.
After all I plan to keep both RCMs as my collection is extremely huge at or over 10,000 records. One machine os for quick vacuum clean and another machine for detailed cleaning of old and greasy garage records. Lots of them I sell and lots of them I buy and feel like one machine isn't enough...
Appreciate all of your input.
THANKS!
I won't reveal the asking price of KMAL for purpose of more precise responses.
czarivey

Showing 1 response by buconero117

Don't even think about it. Old technology. Best you consider an ultra sonic machine, while expensive it will clean better then anything else invented. Move into the 21st century.