Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Record cleaning, at the machine level

I've been looking at the various record cleaning machines out there just to find something that might be easier on the ear and the clock than my standard routine of steam cleaner with VPI 16.5 (noisy and susceptible to dirty lips, if you get my meaning). Turns out, there's many out there, varying from the similar style vacuum designs (Nitty Gritty, Clearaudio, etc), the mainly manual (Spin Clean) and the esoteric (Audio Desk sonic cleaner) and more. I am in love with the Loricraft design of 'thread and suck' but I don't have $2500 or more to spend though I suppose this would be the last machine you'd need. Still, you can find lots of discussion if you search from people who are convinced that the type and make of record cleaner matters (what say you, surely a rinse of dishwasher soap under the tap and quick towel dry will work?), so take a look at these delights and wonder if you are really, at the end of the day, a fetishist:

TNT: Review of Nitty, VPI and Clearaudio machines, and they pick a winner.

Here's a riveting video the Audio Desk Sonic cleaner in action:



And here's a Loricraft:



Can you believe you just watched those? Update: I asked for a review model to examine for HiFiZine but Audio Desk told me they cannot keep up with demand so none are available for reviewers. Who would have known?

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