Ultrasonic record cleaners


I have a modest lp collection, mixed bag of original college age purchases, used records before the current renewed interest, and some newer albums to replace some older issues from the p mount needle days.  Have a vpi 16 machine and audio intelligent form 6 fluid. I’m not finding a significant improvement on my noisier issues.  The price of ultrasonic cleaners have come down to a price I would consider.  Appreciate the experiences of those who have purchased the ultrasonic machines, are they superior to my vpi and are the less expensive models effective?

TIA

tennisdoc56

I own a  Degritter and have used an Audio Desk and a KLaudio.  I have not tried the Acoustic Sound revamp of the KLaudio but will say it's a bit pricey.  I cannot say that one machine cleans better than the others, but I will say that the Audio Desk break down and require more attending to, expensive parts replacement, and KLaudio, well they went out of business.  My dealer sells or sold all of them and when I visit them, especially the large, used record department they have, I would see broken down Audio Desk and KLaudio machines not working, and in need of repair.  And the Degritter?  The same one since they first received them.  It has cleaned thousands of records without a hitch.  It's the most reliable, cheapest to run (almost nothing), and as effective as it gets.  It tells you when to clean which is simple, replace the water, and you don't even need to use their filters.  You can cut your own from cheap filter material you can purchase at the local hardware, or building supply store.

   Most of the tank type based machines, built around a generic jewelry cleaning cavitation machine that has the ultrasonic emitters on the bottom of the tank as opposed to the four, two on each side of the tank, facing the record.  The frequency of these ultrasonic emitters has also been optimized to clean vinyl records.  As far as the inexpensive machines go, I've never heard of any good results with them outside of websites that cater to inexpensive products.  

   Lastly, I own an opera set that has been in my family for 65 years and I thought it was pretty damaged but what a performance of Boris Godunov (Mussorgsky), the clarity of the voices, the cathedral bells, the best I have ever heard.  I thought I would never see another copy until a friend found it on Discogs and I bid on it and got it.  It was very clean but it was mono, mine stereo and while pretty much the same in a lot of respects, the stereo version is just better.  After cleaning the stereo copy several times on the heavy setting, I started to like the old banged recording over the cleaner mono version.  I'll say this again; I thought who would spend three plus grand on a record cleaning machine?  Now, who would not want own one of these machines?  And I have owned a VPI and a Record Doctor and grew up cleaning my lp's on a Keith monks machine at a local dealer that was free to customers. Degritter takes cleaning lp's to another level, it's the easiest to use, and frankly, if you don't purchase something like this, buy a Spin-Clean.  I own one and frankly I never really found the vacuum machines much, if at all better.

@lewm  I have done that test. I cleaned most of my collection with a VPI 16.5. Then I bought  a German Elmasonic 80KHz US cleaner and built an RCM around it. Then I cleaned my entire collection on the US setup.

Using the few uncleaned, but carefully handled since new, records to calibrate the test, I noted how much gunk was present after US cleaning 50 records. Visual observation only, of residue and colour of fluid. No accurate measurement, no photos, sorry.

Then I cleaned 50 more records, in new fluid, which had previously been cleaned on the VPI. About the same amount of amount of residue as before, colour less changed. A second US cleaning in clean fluid produced essentially no more gunk, although in problem cases multiple US cleaning improved sonics..

Cleaning with US improved sonics over VPI. The improvement was about equivalent to upgrading a major component. An added benefit is stylus wear.

I  had a photomicrograph taken of a Koetsu after nearly 1000 hours of play, and it showed, according to the dealer, "minimal wear", which is what I thought. He went on to note that I should not even consider rebuilding it, "unless I had a whole lot more money than he thought I did." So it looks like my cartridges are wearing very slowly, and the US cleaning is not only paying for itself, but paying dividends.

I am careful to do heroic rinsing, 2 rinses in pure running water, followed by a distilled water bath and then distilled water spritz. I also use a lab grade detergent from Fisher which is especially formulated for plastics. 80KHz. New sleeves. With other regimes, such as diluted alcohol (Danger !), I have no idea, so YMMV.

 

So maybe your US RCM is superior to the one I used for my little comparison. My VPI certainly removes a lot of gunk based on looking at the effluent from its waste tank.

Should have added that not all US machines are created equal. The Elmasonic is a lab grade machine which can be expected to meet spec. Lab stuff has to meet spec or there's hell to pay - consumer stuff, not so much.