When Cleaning Records with...

for the VERY best cleaning, steam is the ONLY way to go. Try it you'll like it.

Learsfool, I agree 100% with your approach. Probably because I've been following it myself :-) My first manual Nitty Gritty was in regular service for 20 years. The second one (actually a Record Doctor clone) I bought here on Audiogon for $80 and have used for 4 years. The first one is in the closet, still functional, but I figured it couldn't last forever. And the Audio Intelligent stuff is great. Dave

I do the steam cleaning on the ubiquitous 16.5 and AI fluids and generally have a 50% reduction in noise, often more.

Agree with the Learsfool and Dopogue. AI fluids beat Disc Doctor or the old RRL fluids hands down IME.

Do you need a RCM? Well, how clean do you want your records?

IME it takes more than toweling to get scummy cleaning solutions out of the grooves. If you let any residual fluid just evaporate, suspended contaminants are left behind, right where they started. I've recleaned many hand-washed records on my Loricraft. The liquid that ended up the collection bottle was anything but clear. That's not to say you need a $2K RCM. Even a home built RCM is better than nothing. In the end it's a matter of how clean you want your records and how much time and money you're willing to spend to get them there.

How do you steam clean?