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Any opinions on Record Doctor VI?

I am in the process of cleaning my brother (in-law's) vinyl collection and refurbishing his kit to pass on to his son.  I'm also cleaning my vinyl collection which brings the total to between 400-500 records.  I've been using Neil Antin's method which provides great results, however it takes far more time than I can allocate to accomplish the task.  I have done a significant amount of research on RCMs and am leaning towards the RD VI which seems to be at good intersection of cost and performance. 

I would greatly appreciate input from any RD VI users in this community as to its effectiveness, ease of use, longevity, or any other salient points.  The records are mostly from the 60's and 70's and while "cleaned" before playing, the method was the famed DiscWasher brush and fluid.

marchmikeman
joeycastillo
277 posts
 

OP

I have the RD VI and works for me. As others have said, it is loud. and if you're going to clean bout 200 records, then that will take some time as this is a manual drive. but yes, it cleans well. I have to say, it takes about 2 passes per side to clean well. I have not tried any Ultrasonic, but as others have posted, that may be the correct solution for you if your records are dirty. 

if you are going to buy new, I suggest that you look into the RD X which is auto mated. OR look completely into an Ultrasonic. 

steverrino's avatar
steverrino
23 posts
 

I recently bought a RD VI off eBay. It was barely used - I saved about $100 compared to buying new. I’m very pleased with the results. What a vacuum does is suck out all the gunk that the brush and cleaning solution loosen. I don’t think you can really get the record clean without a vacuum, but I’m not that familiar with how some of the more expensive ultrasonic RCMs work. I bought the Disc Doctor Brush and Miracle cleaner from Acoustic Sounds. I can’t compare it to other products, but it seems to work very well.

marchmikeman OP
12 posts
 

Thanks for all of the responses and advice - really helpful and much appreciated.  I'll probably go with the RD VI and the worst that can happen is if it doesn't clean as expected I'll at least have a drying solution to go with an ultrasonic cleaner.  Hope everyone is having an enjoyable and safe Independence Day holiday.

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