Kirmuss Ultrasonic vinyl cleaner


I've seen lots of discussions on here regarding ultrasonic vinyl cleaners and specifically the Kirmuss.  After reviewing and researching a lot of forums, articles and videos on record cleaning ,I've came to some good conclusions and great results with my Kirmuss Ultrasonic cleaner and Okki Nokki vacuum vinyl cleaner.  I've tried a couple different chemical solutions and after more research have finally come to my best results. I've been using Tergikleen as my go to cleaner and adding 20 drops into the Kirmuss water to good results and using the Kirmuss solution to spray on and do a couple rounds of the manual cleaing/multiple ultrasonic 5 minute cleaning. Then vacuum dry with ultrasonic pure rinse from Mofi. Great results but still some pops and ticks on some, even brand new records.  Now after researching I've found the best way. Here's the best results yet.

First add 2 ounces of Audio Intelligence ultrasonic cleaning fluid to the Kirmuss tank as its an enzymatic cleaner and leaves zero residue. 

Second add 2 drops of Tergikleen to the full bottle of the Kirmuss cleaning solution ( which has 2% ratio of propylene glycol) and use this for the  manual  cleaning steps. The propylene glycol makes the ultrasonic bubbles attract to the vinyl and creates positive/ negative charge with the water removing all static and grime.

Do 1-2 rounds of cleaning in the machine with the manual step.

Lastly do a final rinse with the Mofi ultrasonic pure rinse or any similar product and vacuum clean off. 

Wow! Records i couldn't get rid of pops/ticks or noise are almost completely gone and the dynamics and openness of the sound now is phenomenal!  

This is the only way to go after many rounds of various methods. I love it and now almost entirely play vinyl. 

Good luck and cheers!

lnitm

Table jockey, I think have have did 4 steps/runs through machine on a couple stubborn records with good results, but not really noticeable over 3 steps /runs through machine. I also do not ever see the " toothpaste " results coming out of any records like Dr.Kirmuss says. I only see a very light residue which is slightly whitish. Mostly on brand new or already cleaned records I'll do 2 steps and sound is amazing. 

BTW associated equipment:

Pro-ject Xtension 10 Evolution turntable with Ortofon Cadenza Bronze cartridge. 

Ortofon st-70 step up transformer and Nordost Blue Heaven tonearm cable.

Mark Levinson no.526 preamp with built in phone preamp 

Mark Levinson no.534 power amplifier

Revel 228be speakers

All Cardas Clear interconnect and power cables 

Clarus concerto power conditioner 

Every little tweak or upgrade I can tell, so really clean , noise free records is a must. 

But is this method cryogenically sound? (LOL, I just use my trusty ol' Decca record brush before I play each side. 10 seconds, if that long.)

I use an Audio Desk Vinyl Cleaner Pro. It wasn't inexpensive that's for sure but when you have as much invested in LPs as I do, it's a worthwhile purchase. Takes 5mins to clean and dry a record and does an excellent job vs the quickie lightweight machines I'd tried in the past. Just my experience 

@lnitm 

"The propylene glycol makes the ultrasonic bubbles attract to the vinyl and creates positive/ negative charge with the water removing all static and grime."

I have a manual scrub/distilled water rinse/air dry setup 

Do you think adding something to my mix to get a positive/negative charge would be beneficial? If so, add how much of what?

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After meeting Charles at the NY Audio Show, I posted this discussion here

https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/who-uses-kirmuss-restoration-system