bdp24, I beg to differ. The only pathetic vinyl collection is no collection.
I have stated my position that the best way to keep clean records is don't let them get dirty in the first place. It is an approach that has worked perfectly for myself and several acquaintances for decades with the caveat of used records and the rare occasional salsa food fight.
Having said this the single most important characteristic in any cleaning fluid is that it leave absolutely no residue. Distilled water, no residue. Isopropyl alcholol, no residue except when cleeds uses it because it causes him to melt into the record. Oh by the way cleeds there is a difference between a study where you are looking for an effect in a cohort and a simple experiment where you are trying to prove or disprove a simple hypothesis like does isopropyl alcohol damage records. The study needs controls. The simple experiment does not.
Right, no residue. A modern stylus can pick up an irregularity in the vinyl down to 0.1 microns. It is hard to do that if your stylus is piled up with gunk. Clean your stylus well with whatever you favorite stylus cleaning stuff is. I use 50/50 distilled water and 91% isopropyl. Isopropyl will not at all harm cured epoxy or any of the modern UV cured adhesives. ( If it did all of cleeds teeth would fall out every time he had a scotch and soda.) Works great, dries fast. Play a record and look at the stylus under magnification. There should be very little if anything on there after just one side. If you have a glob on there you have a problem be it with just goopy records from exposure to smoke or cooking fumes or the stuff left behind by your record cleaner.
There is very little magic to cleaners and solvents. It seems to me all these "magic" formulas for cleaning records (Have you noticed how no one wants to tell you what is in there?) are just another audiophile scam.
If I were up for a record cleaner I would go for one of those distilled water only ultrasonic guys.
Tatyana69, get off the train. Mix 3/4 cup distilled water with 1/4 cup 91% isopropyl alcohol from CVS, Rite Aid or whatever pharmacy you use. Clean an old record with it and see what you think. Let us know.