Where will devotees of Audio Intelligent turn.....


....now that Paul Frumkin has discontinued the product? Which product best approximates the chemistry and execution of the AI 3 step process?
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Showing 2 responses by 4yanx

RRL and Buggtussel have worked best for me.

If by your question you are seeking a fluid to use on occasion for the dirtiest of LP's or one with mold that is effective, safe, and is fully removed without repeated rinses - AND an everyday cleaner for the vast majority of records that does the best job, is ultimately “rinseable”, and leaves no sonic signature, you’d have been better off turning no farther than Doug's suggestion from the start.
I am simply stating an opinion, as have many others. For the record, I have purchased this stuff and compared it rather extensively, as I have virtually every other commercially made record cleaning products. It simply does not measure up, in my experience, and is incredibly hard to fully rinse from a record without leaving a sonic remnant. This is a condition which I and quite a number of others, according to posts here and elsewhere, have heard. These days, I don't have the time for multiple, multiple passes. And, I choose not to use distilled water for rinsing and insist in using only something with purified water, something Mr. Frumpkin did not even know about until Francisco (Physicanimal) told him about such, and only after Mr. Frumpkin had begun production on what was to initially hit the market, by the way. Given that, I find that when forced into multiple rinsings with such a product, the ultimate total cost of cleaning becomes too high. As such, for most all records, one pass with RRL Super Deep Cleaner, one pass with Super Vinyl Wash and I am done. Period. Quick. Easy. Effective. On to listening.

Now, I fully acknowledge that others have used this stuff, continue to use the stuff, and am happy for them that they have found something with which they are happy. They say that they do not require multiple rinsing. I did. I also happen to respect their opinions, though it is not one I share and, the last time I checked, folks here were free to assert their opinions in answer to a posed question or otherwise. I have not told them they are wrong and, with the latest silly exception, no one has told me that I am wrong.

Also for record, I have not said so much as a SINGLE WORD about this product since perhaps a month or two after it hit the market. I had serious reservations at that time about the amount of testing that had been done to assure the safety of the product, given its ingredients, and, given the responses I received then, I still have these concerns. However, I have since that time strictly limited my posts regarding record cleaning solutions to recommendations of what TO use - not what NOT to use and I challenge anyone to site a post of mine that has not followed this path in the past two-odd years. I have come to the mind that to do otherwise is largely a waste of time. In fact, there has been so little talk, at all, about this product in the past 18 months or so, and virtually none recommending it, that I assumed some folks had tried it, dismissed it, and moved on to other products. Life mission? Believe me, I haven't given this product 15 seconds of thought in the past 18 months, plus.

I happen to feel that using Buggtussel and RRL fluids is a far better solution than using ANYTHING else - Mr. Frumpkin's product notwithstanding among MANY others. THAT is the advice I give and still give to the OP (which could apply in comparison to a host of other products, since Mr. Frumpkin feels so singled out). It is advice that I and Doug have given in this thread and others have given in many, many threads on this site and elsewhere. I don't mean to pick at Doug here because I agree with his assessment of this product (which is not directly stated in this thread), but Doug and others have stated negative impressions of this product here and on the VA site, and I don't see Mr. Frumpkin challenging their posts.

I do find it very odd and curious, additionally, that Mr. Frumpkin should be so touchy about an innocuous post that he feels besmirches a product he ostensibly no longer planned to offer and now feels forced to bring it further to the fore. With that, I bid this thread adieu and leave for him the last word that always seems so important to Mr. Frumpkin.