Do I need a record cleaning machine

New vinyl needs to be wet-vacuumed cleaned especially to remove any mold-release agents. Your record cleaning fluids should address that problem also. It does make a difference. also many times sealed records have some dust/dirt on them although audiophile labels seem to be cleaning right out of the bag.

I tend to agree, but am too lazy to clean new records. If yoy buy second hand, it is a must. cartridges are'nt cheap these cdays and will last lnger with clean records. They need'nt be that expensive, particularly second hand

Consider a steam cleaner ( $50 ) ..You can do a great job with one without scrubbing...Save your money,they do work great............

It is imperative that new albums get a good wet cleaning and vacuum dry before a stylus ever meets the grooves. I recommend a good three step process like Audio Intelligent or Walker products. Those enzymatic agents work miracles.

nearly 20 years ago i had a cleaning machine, but always found that cleaning manually was at least as effective, and sometimes more effective. if you try to salvage old records which are really dirty then i'd say one is necc. otherwise its a coin toss. anyone who has done it manually, usually developes 'a manual system' that works, and isn't terribly painful to do.