We Vinyl Ultrasonic or Vacuum Cleaner?


I have been working at rebuilding my Windham Hill collection. Many times I can find sealed copies versus used. My preference is for sealed if the price is sane. 
 

The question is with new copies, is there any advantage of running them through a CleanerVinyl 132kHz ultrasonic tank versus my OkkiNokki vacuum cleaner? 
 

Any thoughts on the subject are appreciated.

neonknight

@neonknight 

I would find a good carbon fiber brush, not like those audioquest ones and all their clones. I used to like the Hunt EDA MK6 but MusicHall bought the rights to produce it and goofed it up! I don't know if they corrected the problem since because I never bought another one. I replaced that brush with an Ersa Major which is just seven rows of carbon fiber bristles in a solid aluminum and hardwood handle. Combine something like it with a silicon roller to use on new records. I know there is a lot of chaff on new records from the inner and outer sleeves but its easily removed with the above implements. Don't believe the lore about mould release or residues from the stamping process because you're dealing with images as small as a micron or less cut in to the lacquer that if there were any foreign matter were present on the stamper it would create intolerable levels of noise. The only thing that's going to reach down into the groove and bring foreign matter to the surface is your stylus and is easily removed with the silicon roller after a side is played. Clean your stylus before every play and give the stylus one swipe with the dry stylus brush before playing the second side.

As for used records get a Spin Clean, follow the manufactures instructions implicitly and only use the products included in the package as well as only distilled water. Clean the brushes thoroughly under warm running water after every use and allow to air dry. Discard the distilled water/cleaning solution when you're done. If your unit comes with the large bottle of cleaning solution, it'll probably last for decades.

You don't have to go overboard because vinyl is inherently quiet!

I clean ALL my records, new and used. New ones come with all sorts of gunk from the pressing process in the vinyl. Used ones I assume are dirty. I also purchased a very cheap vinyl vac for my vacuum cleaner. 

I set my USM at 50C - hot, I know, but after much trial and error, it works!. 10 minutes at 50C and then vinyl vac it. If it's still dirty, then another 10 minutes in the USM, give it a good scrub with cleaner and brush of your choice, rinse with hot tap water, and 2 minutes in the USM and vinyl vac again. If that doesn't work, get a new copy!

New records CAN be dirty and noisy - I have experienced this first hand, so now I just clean everything. BTW, check the bottom of your water tank after you have cleaned 10-20 of your new, sealed records. You will be amazed at the gunk there.

Enjoy!

@vinylshadow 

my friend has the loracraft and I have used it. It does a great job but a high quality ultrasonic tank produces a record like a clean piece of jewelry when it comes out of the bath.  A rinse with distilled water then air drying gets great results with little to no surface noice but it is vinyl so you can’t avoid imperfections pressed in the grooves.  Regarding ultrasonic damaging the grooves the only way that happens is if the water temp gets too high    The cavitation bubbles certainly will not damage anything as they just burst.  
Hope this post helps you 

thanks 

Thanks @willy-t 

What do you think of this idea- Use the Degritter Mark II first then, instead of a rotisserie dryer, use the Loricraft to suck the grooves dry. Would that accomplish the best of both worlds for cleaning and drying? 

The Loricraft would turn into an expensive pump drier but it would reduce the overall cleaning time and the record is ready to play. 

@vinylshadow The downside of that sequence is that the record is wet on both sides when you place it on the Loricraft platter. You dry the top side, flip it over and it lands on the wet platter, and gets wet again! I have gone as far as using cork platter mats (left over from my days with a VPI 16.5) to have a dry surface to place on the platter for drying the second side, but it gets messy. That's one of the reasons why I use the Loricraft before the Degritter.