We can all argue or, rather, debate, 'till the cows come home, whether vinyl LPs, even new ones, benefit from cleaning, ultrasonic or otherwise. Be that as it may, I choose to put my faith & confidence in what the experts on this subject, including scientists, have to say and one other important factor = my own experiences. I hasten to add here that what I'm about to share is in no way scientific or meant to be construed as a fair A/B comparison(s)! Too much water has gone under the bridge in these past many decades. Also, like most mortals, I am just as susceptible to Presbycusis as the next person. However, I haven't had an audiological examination since Christ was a corporal and my friends tell me they're surprised by my hearing acuity when we go to equipment auditions. Since scheduling an audiological examination, just for fun, is not something on my itinerary, I choose to remain blissfully ignorant on this point, for the time being.
I won't go into details here in order to keep this as brief and to the point as I know how. For those of you who may yearn for more detail, check out a post I created 8-24-21 labelled "Record Cleaning Machines". I'm not trying to toot my own horn, here, but merely offering this because Mr. Neil Antin, himself, contributed many, many times in this post and I, for one, learned a great deal in the process. Mr. Antin definitely helped me improve my LP cleaning regimen a great deal! God Bless Him!
In days of yore, I cleaned a good portion of my LP collection (purchased new in the 60s & 70s and only played on my trusty old Phillips 212) manually. Definite sound improvement! More recently, after having purchased and put together my own lash-up US cleaning system employing a 40kHz frequency sweep machine and a Knosti for final rinse, I cleaned several of those same records again and treated them with Last record preservative. Another significant improvement! Admittedly, though, I have a new, and much better TT & cart now. This is, of course, a definite mitigating factor and completely invalidates any fair A/B comparison in this regard. However, much more recently, I took several of those freshly cleaned LPs to a high-end shop and had them cleaned, once again, using a Degirtter. I re-treated those with Last before playing them again on my TT, although I'm not sure that was necessary because my understanding is that Last works on the molecular level. If there was any sonic improvement after a run-through with the Degritter, I can't honestly say. This is why I ultimately decided not to part with three grand (more, now) for the Degirtter. Regardless, I just may change my mind about that, at some point, because the Degirtter is just so darn convenient and much less labor intensive than my US cleaning system.
With regard to dust, I would never dream of spinning my LPs without the dust cover down. Yes, I know some purists fiercely disagree with this. However, I've done this both ways and don't hear any difference in fidelity either way. Plus, there's just dust in any room.
Record brush? I use the Audioquest Anti-Static brush, both before AND after every play. I also use an Onzow ZeroDust before & after every play, regardless of what Mr. Fremer had to say in what I and many others consider to be a hatchet job of reporting on this in Analog Planet. Where's the follow up, Mikey? I communicated with Onzow Corporation on this and got a prompt response? Did you? Did WAMM Engineering? There was promised follow-up. Where is that? I'll probably add a liquid stylus cleaner to my regimen, occasionally, as well. As with most things, there is a right way and a wrong way to use these things. Some purists eschew the notion of using any brush(s) and, instead, use puffs of air, like the kind generated from a small bellows you'd use for camera lenses. These folks don't think anything other than a stylus belongs in those precious record grooves after a proper record cleaning.
Stylus pressure gauge? I still have my old and trusty Shure Precision Stylus Force Gauge SFG-2, which is surprisingly quite accurate when compared to my Audio Additives digital stylus force gauge.
Equipment placing? I'm a firm believer in placing a TT, especially low mass designs, on rock solid foundations and keeping the amplifier as far away from the TT & cart as possible. I also would not place components of any kind on top of one another.
That's just some of the ways I roll. There are many others, as well, to be sure. To each, his own! Live and let live! Vive la difference! Like most things in life, there are trade-offs between how meticulous or compulsive you want to be when spinning your LPs and how much you want to spend just listening to the music. After all, when all is said & done, isn't that what we all really do this for ... for the love of music?
May the music be with you all! Enjoy!
