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RE: Loricraft record cleaning machine vs. ultrasonic cleaner

Posted by Monchi (A) on July 31, 2019 at 04:54:16

In Reply to: Loricraft record cleaning machine vs. ultrasonic cleaner posted by gonzo on July 16, 2019 at 15:21:17:

I think you need both, that is a wet cleaning system and an ultrasonic one. The Loricraft (and the other vacuum based rcms) will remove most of the gunk and detritus from the record grooves and on its own is a very effective cleaning system. However, the ultrasonic system can remove contamination and factory manufacturing residues that the wet system simply cannot. Side by side though these systems compliment one another wonderfully well.

Consider too, that ultrasonic devices do not clean the dead wax area effectively at all, in my experience. This, I presume, is a safety feature. That, certainly is the case with my KLaudio unit. Wet cleaning resolves this issue without any difficulty whatsoever. The ideal solution is to have both systems on hand and to pre-clean on the Loricraft/Monks/VPI/Hannl/Clearaudio etc. first and then rinse. Follow that up with a cycle in the Ultrasonic device and you will have the cleanest, quietest records you have ever heard.

I had experience cleaning an original U.K. copy of The Beatles' White Album which hadn't been touched in nearly 40 years. It was strewn with mould on both discs but otherwise stone mint. The KLaudio did not do a thorough job cleaning these discs on one cycle alone. My advice to my friend was to do a pre-cleaning on his VPI HW-17F but he didn't have the patience for that! The wet cleaning would've solved all of that mould contamination in a pre-cleaning allowing the KLaudio to do an effective job later. I should say that the mould was pretty extensive on both discs so perhaps a second five minute cycle on the KLaudio would have yielded satisfactory results.

Finally, I think it is important to place clean discs in the ultrasonic device so as to avoid clogging up the filters in those machines and that is why the pre-cleaning on the wet systems is so important. I have unbelievably quiet vinyl replay with 95% + of my collection of 3k records sounding as quiet as Japanese vinyl. It's a costly solution but if analogue is your thing, it's a worthwhile expenditure, in my opinion. This cleaning methodology has most certainly changed my opinion on the quality of vinyl LPs produced in the 60s/70s/80s. We didn't have the technology to thoroughly clean those discs back in the day and as a consequence couldn't hear them at their best, sans ticks, pops et al!

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