Vinyl cleaning - Ultrasonic vs. Walker products


I recently inherited some vinyl records and would like to know the best method to clean them. These are from the 1950's thru 70's. How do the different cleaning methods compare?
fiesta75

Showing 1 response by normantaylor

Ultrasonic is superior.  I learned this from experience and formulated my opinion.  I had a very expensive VPI cleaner top of the line (like 4K), vacuum etc.  It cleaned my records well and I had no complaints.  There was noticeable improvement on some of my used LP purchases.
Then I read a thread on Audiogon not much more than 2 1/2 months ago on the subject of LP cleaning.  An engineer in this group talked about his Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner that he paid $150.00 for and raved about it.  I figured for $150 I didn't have a lot to lose and I'd sell which ever one performed the lesser of the two. 
I bought it.  Instructions were not too good.  I think it's made in China, but the pictures were enough to figure everything out.  I put it to work.  I can do 5 records at a time, no sweat.  It is amazing how clean the ultrasonic has gotten my records.  As it vibrates the water and infiltrates the grooves, it cause tiny particulates to fall to the bottom of the silver tank/pan.  I could see in the bottom of the pan from records I had already cleaned with my VPI, specs of dirt that came loose.  As a bonus I even shined up some of my wife's jewelry using it.  
So now my VPI is up for sale.  I will gladly give you a good price on it if you want to go that route.  Otherwise if you want to go ultrasonic just log on line and type in Digital Ultrasonic Cleaner and see if they still come up.  Good luck.