@slaw
I began with a two stage rinse, spinning the cleaned records in a bath of Brita-purified water, then a bath of distilled water. But I could see bubbles forming in the rinse after only a few records, so changed the rinses more often. Then I tried pouring purified water over the records first, and things improved. Including the sound. I tried pouring purified water over the records both before and after the first bath. More improvement.
At the same time, I was increasing temperature from 35C to 45C (80KHz commercial machine). Cumulative of all of the above refinements was a further improvement of at least as much as US over VPI. I re-cleaned everything already done, 2000 records.
As you can see, labour intensive. But I dislike the noise of the VPI 16.5, so I sold mine as soon as I confirmed the superiority of US, and have never used the two methods in combination. My current method of filtered running water is just so much more convenient, that convenience alone makes it worthwhile. But I also note that after 50 records cleaned, the distilled water bath is still bubble-free at all times, so there is probably a further improvement in cleanliness, stylus friction, and sound.
That said, I've now got about 2500 records cleaned to 4-rinse standards, and don't think I'll start again. There are limits to madness, even mine.
I am giving you all of this information so that you can judge for yourself how reliable my impressions are (or are not!).
My impression, which is very crude, is that you would hear a clear difference between my method and yours, perhaps as much as half the difference between VPI and US. Bear in mind that this is more of a guess than an estimate.
If you try it, please let us know if I'm right. Or not. I hate persisting in error.
I began with a two stage rinse, spinning the cleaned records in a bath of Brita-purified water, then a bath of distilled water. But I could see bubbles forming in the rinse after only a few records, so changed the rinses more often. Then I tried pouring purified water over the records first, and things improved. Including the sound. I tried pouring purified water over the records both before and after the first bath. More improvement.
At the same time, I was increasing temperature from 35C to 45C (80KHz commercial machine). Cumulative of all of the above refinements was a further improvement of at least as much as US over VPI. I re-cleaned everything already done, 2000 records.
As you can see, labour intensive. But I dislike the noise of the VPI 16.5, so I sold mine as soon as I confirmed the superiority of US, and have never used the two methods in combination. My current method of filtered running water is just so much more convenient, that convenience alone makes it worthwhile. But I also note that after 50 records cleaned, the distilled water bath is still bubble-free at all times, so there is probably a further improvement in cleanliness, stylus friction, and sound.
That said, I've now got about 2500 records cleaned to 4-rinse standards, and don't think I'll start again. There are limits to madness, even mine.
I am giving you all of this information so that you can judge for yourself how reliable my impressions are (or are not!).
My impression, which is very crude, is that you would hear a clear difference between my method and yours, perhaps as much as half the difference between VPI and US. Bear in mind that this is more of a guess than an estimate.
If you try it, please let us know if I'm right. Or not. I hate persisting in error.