The answer to your question depends, primarily. upon your answers to these questions:
Do you plan on keeping those records and playing them for your own enjoyment?
Do you have a good quality turntable & cartridge to play them on?
Do you plan to sell the records and make the most money you can on the sale(s)?
How much money are you wiling to spend getting them clean?
There is no question the cavitation or ultrasonic cleaning method is best but don't take my word for it. Visit Michael Fremer at Analog Planet. If you don't know who he is, find out. He's forgotten more about records than most humans on this planet will ever learn.
Generally speaking, the least expensive and easiest record cleaning machine is something like a Knosti Antistat or Spinclean. If Spinclean still uses cleaning pads, get the Knosti. It uses brushes that will get down deep into the grooves. There's no sense using pads, even high quality microfiber cloth pads, to, essentially, push microscopic dirt particles around the grooves. Quality, non-abrasive brushes get down deep into the grooves and get the crud out, rather than pushing round & round.
For a few hundred bucks more, even less on the used market, get a vacuum machine system but something that does NOT have the record(s) bottom sides on a flat surface while you're cleaning the top side. The last thing you want to do is clean one side and then flip it over and put it on a contaminated flat surface while you clean the other. What's the sense in that?
The most effective approach is cavitation or ultrasonic cleaning and you do not have to spend thousands on a machine like this. Check out the "CleanerVinyl" site. You can put together a system like this for considerably less than a grand.
Finally, I would encourage you to do some research and read all you can about "Last" record preservative and "Last" products, in general. No pun intended but "Last" is the last step in my cleaning process. Additionally, if you plan to keep and play those records or have a vinyl collection you care about keeping in great shape, there are a few things you should be doing. For example: learn how to handle & store records properly; use good quality anti-static poly sleeves instead of those funky paper ones; insert the record in the sleeve and, then, into their respective jackets so the openings are not exposed to the air; use a good quality carbon fiber record brush and safe stylus cleaner, like an Onzow, before & after every play of every side and use a good quality record clamp.
These are the basics and don't require as much time & fussing as you might think. If you love music and care about getting the best sound you can, it's a minor labor of love.
Do you plan on keeping those records and playing them for your own enjoyment?
Do you have a good quality turntable & cartridge to play them on?
Do you plan to sell the records and make the most money you can on the sale(s)?
How much money are you wiling to spend getting them clean?
There is no question the cavitation or ultrasonic cleaning method is best but don't take my word for it. Visit Michael Fremer at Analog Planet. If you don't know who he is, find out. He's forgotten more about records than most humans on this planet will ever learn.
Generally speaking, the least expensive and easiest record cleaning machine is something like a Knosti Antistat or Spinclean. If Spinclean still uses cleaning pads, get the Knosti. It uses brushes that will get down deep into the grooves. There's no sense using pads, even high quality microfiber cloth pads, to, essentially, push microscopic dirt particles around the grooves. Quality, non-abrasive brushes get down deep into the grooves and get the crud out, rather than pushing round & round.
For a few hundred bucks more, even less on the used market, get a vacuum machine system but something that does NOT have the record(s) bottom sides on a flat surface while you're cleaning the top side. The last thing you want to do is clean one side and then flip it over and put it on a contaminated flat surface while you clean the other. What's the sense in that?
The most effective approach is cavitation or ultrasonic cleaning and you do not have to spend thousands on a machine like this. Check out the "CleanerVinyl" site. You can put together a system like this for considerably less than a grand.
Finally, I would encourage you to do some research and read all you can about "Last" record preservative and "Last" products, in general. No pun intended but "Last" is the last step in my cleaning process. Additionally, if you plan to keep and play those records or have a vinyl collection you care about keeping in great shape, there are a few things you should be doing. For example: learn how to handle & store records properly; use good quality anti-static poly sleeves instead of those funky paper ones; insert the record in the sleeve and, then, into their respective jackets so the openings are not exposed to the air; use a good quality carbon fiber record brush and safe stylus cleaner, like an Onzow, before & after every play of every side and use a good quality record clamp.
These are the basics and don't require as much time & fussing as you might think. If you love music and care about getting the best sound you can, it's a minor labor of love.