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I'm happy with my cleaning method of LP's but am I missing anything?

I've been following all of the discussions here since the fist of the year, learned so much. After 20 years I got back into vinyl. My fist step was a $400.00 tune-up to my Thorens TD 160 that I bought new back in 1976. New wires, belt, lube job, and new Grado Red. Out of my 300 albums I was able to pick out about 75 of them that looked good. They were all stored upright in an air conditioned basement. The 70's took a toll on many of them, but I was surprised that they all had been returned to their sleeves.
     Before I played any I researched cleaning methods, spent hours trying to find the best way. Ultrasonic seemed to be the way to go but beyond my budget. Finally. came up with my own method.
     For under $200.00 I went with 2 - Spin Cleans, (one for using their solution, and the other for rinsing). Using distilled water. Bought a Lazy Susan turning platter, mounted a 11" piece of 3/4" plywood to it, and epoxied a 1/4" bolt dead center. Then bought a Vinyl Vac to suck the water and debris out after cleaning. I lay down that rubber type shelf lining to put between the plywood and album. Then before playing I hit the album with one of my two old Discwashers that I bought back in the 70's. I did have to buy some new D4 solution.
    I'm sure I will get some, "if you like it why ask" comments but I thought I would ask you guys, or perhaps help someone else. 
     I'm extremely happy, I hear things that I don't on my CD's. (Around 3000 of them)
     It was an expensive journey for me. My Adcom pre amp started having balance problems so I bought a new NAD C165BEE, then upgraded the wire to my Infinity Kappa 8's. Then bought all new $100.00 cables. Next was a pair of Bryston A2 speakers. Each step gave me a better sound. So let's replace my 20 year old Technics CD player with a NAD C 546BEE player. Then I read on this site about the possible damage I could do using my 15 year old Adcom GFA 555II which I had to buy to run the Kappa 8's. With the new amp I bought a Isotek Polaris with the $80.00 power cords.
      All this put a hit on my financial status, but to me music is number one to these 63 year old ears and mental well being.
     I welcome any positive replies. 


golden210
roberjerman
4,319 posts
 
The more tweaking a hobby requires, the more fun it is! If CD players required as much tweaking as TTs, audiophiles would be much happier!
whart's avatar
whart
2,967 posts
 
There is a qualitative difference in cleaning: some of it has to do with 'best practices' (almost no additional cost, save for two sets of applicators, vacuum wands and some level of purified water, like distilled, which is reasonably cheap). Fluids can make a difference to the degree that they are harder to remove from the record and may leave a residue of chemicals and contaminants on the surface. 
The next steps up would probably be DIY ultrasonic.
But @golden210-you said you were impacted by the cost of other upgrades, so where do you want to go with this? You want to know if you are really missing anything?
I did a comparison of cleaning methods a few years ago that I wrote about, using a very basic old VPI machine v. my Monks (a fancy vacuum machine). I did not include an ultrasonic step to keep the playing field level. For most practical purposes, there was little sonic difference between the results on two different machines, though the Monks can do a better job on challenged records and I prefer it to the VPI. That came down to best practices, separate wands, keeping all contact materials with the record scrupulously clean, etc. 
 I do think the combo of ultrasonic and conventional fluid/vacuum is synergistic, but if I had to choose one type of machine, given that I buy a lot of older copies, it would probably be the Monks rather than an expensive 'made for LP' ultrasonic. Thankfully, I don't have to choose, and DIY ultrasonic can be had for far less cost. It also gives you more flexibility and provides a feature set that you won't find in any commercial US RCM. 
Not sure if this is what you asked for~ short answer is you could probably improve your results both by how you are doing it (not the equipment itself) as well as the inclusion of DIY ultrasonic. 
sbank's avatar
sbank
3,378 posts
 
Since you already have everything you need for doing a post-ultrasonic rinse & vacuum, you won't have to spend more than about $150 to get a good U.S. tank, $300 for a vinyl stack to spin the records in the tank and a few bucks on chemicals that will last years.
Read the Rush Paul articles here or on Positive Feedback about his U.S. method adapt to use your Spin clean, etc. for the rinsing/vacuuming. It works far better than most everything else except the more convenient U.S. machines that cost >$3k. Cheers,
Spencer 
alpha_gt
155 posts
 
I have the Pro-Ject machine, $500, I had a VPI before but it developed a leak in the motor. It’s all very nice and does a great job, it really takes playing Records to the next level! But, it’s not doing anything you’re not already doing. I’ve read several recipes for cleaning solutions, with and without alcohol, but I prefer to take the easy route and buy the MoFi brand fluids, Super Clean for most Records, and Enzyme clean for the really dirty ones. 

I also put them in vinyl sleeves after cleaning, which keeps them clean. I use a Zerostat pistol too, just for good measure, a lot of pops are just static, nothing actually on the record. Vacuuming Records creates static. Once they are clean, I rarely do anything to them before playing. Unless I see dust on it, I won’t even run a brush on it, but when I do, I use an inexpensive carbon fiber brush. I fear that using a dishwasher brush with D4 before playing is only pushing dust down into the grooves? Or creating static again.  
sleepwalker65's avatar
sleepwalker65
832 posts
 
I like the idea of two SpinClean units followed by vacuum removal of remaining fluids and contaminants. I just bought my first SpinClean and have purchased most of the parts to make my record vacuum which will simultaneously clean both sides. Now I’m thinking I should buy a second SpinClean like the original poster for the rinse cycle so I can set up a production line to clean several records in a sequence. 

Like the original poster, I’ve been using the Discwasher D4 system since the early 80’s and I really believe in it. The Zerostat is also great as the final step after the Discwasher D4 before playing. 
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