The downside of vinyl....

[Alberto]

Originally Posted by two dot

Stephen,

I think that I'll order a spin and clean. I HATE cleaning records. I did @ 10 yesterday took an hour. I hate the noise, I forget what step I'm on...

HATE IT!!!!

It is worse now that I've been convinced to use a 2 step process per side....

It makes me wish I had a $100 Dual TT with a $10 needle..

Stephen,

I'd make sure you wear some earplugs when running one of those infernal machines. I once borrowed one to clean some records and I could not stand the sound of it without earplugs. I can't imagine listening to music after a cleaning session without some hear protection.

I love your comment about the $100 dual with a $10 needle ... those were the days. I did not even know or worry about imaging, alignment, cables, speaker positioning, etc. Just played my music (usually with a bass and, in those days, treble boost).

Since I don't want to mess up my $1K Clearaudio Maestro with some of my older records, I have something pretty close to the $100 dual with $10 cartridge that I use from time to time:



I use either a Shure M97 or an Audiotechnical 440mla on the Empire 398 - $200/each, give or take, which is the equivalent of the $10 needle when we were younger.

Alberto

[blacsno]

I guess after cleaning 1100+ LP's in 2.5 yrs, converting to lossless. I can say I understand but rewards are much higher! Now my Lyra Dorian may feel different about it! So I have to replace the ole girl.... for the newer cart. Playing LP's is a dirty business, and a few innocent carts will get hurt along the way.

Ken

[cmalak]

Ken...what are you thinking of replacing the Lyra Dorian with?

[Rilands]

My VPI is quick & easy.

VPI - The HW 16.5 Cleaning Machine

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Rilands

My VPI is quick & easy.

VPI - The HW 16.5 Cleaning Machine

The VPI works well (I have one, too), but if like Cyril and me, you're buying a lot of used records from the shops, they are often in good shape with respect to scratches, etc, but very dirty. I find that to get them sufficiently clean, they take 3-5 passes per side, with different fluids, to get them sufficiently clean. One pass with the VPI solution is generally not sufficient. For example, for dirty records, I was doing a pass of AIVS #15, a pass with MoFi Super Record wash, a pass with VPI, and two DI water passes. At one minute of brushing per pass, that's 10 minutes per record. I find my Spin-Clean does a better, faster job of deep cleaning of very dirty records; one pass through the Spin Clean, including letting the fluid rinse off the record, takes less than 2 minutes, including drying the record with the cloths. 80-90% of these records are dead quiet after the Spin-Clean. For the few that are not, I will be putting those through some passses with the VPI for that extra bit of cleaning. I went throught 3/4 of a large stack of records I had waiting to be cleaned last week in just about 2 hours at the Spin-Clean. This would have taken me about 10 hours with the VPI.

[blacsno]

Originally Posted by cmalak

Ken...what are you thinking of replacing the Lyra Dorian with?

Staying with the Lyra line of products, with cart exchange:

1.) Lyra Delos 1050.00 (USD)
or
2.) Lyra Helikon 1700.00 (USD)

Tossing those two around in my head.....

[Rilands]

Originally Posted by Puma Cat

The VPI works well (I have one, too), but if like Cyril and me, you're buying a lot of used records from the shops, they are often in good shape with respect to scratches, etc, but very dirty. I find that to get them sufficiently clean, they take 3-5 passes per side, with different fluids, to get them sufficiently clean. One pass with the VPI solution is generally not sufficient. For example, for dirty records, I was doing a pass of AIVS #15, a pass with MoFi Super Record wash, a pass with VPI, and two DI water passes. At one minute of brushing per pass, that's 10 minutes per record. I find my Spin-Clean does a better, faster job of deep cleaning of very dirty records; one pass through the Spin Clean, including letting the fluid rinse off the record, takes less than 2 minutes, including drying the record with the cloths. 80-90% of these records are dead quiet after the Spin-Clean. For the few that are not, I will be putting those through some passses with the VPI for that extra bit of cleaning. I went throught 3/4 of a large stack of records I had waiting to be cleaned last week in just about 2 hours at the Spin-Clean. This would have taken me about 10 hours with the VPI.

I have about 700 lp's that I've picked up all over the place, i've seldom had any problem. I guess if the LP looks like S%*+, I usually pass on them. You must get the one's i leave...hahaha..Just kidding

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by blacsno

Staying with the Lyra line of products, with cart exchange:

1.) Lyra Delos 1050.00 (USD)
or
2.) Lyra Helikon 1700.00 (USD)

Tossing those two around in my head.....

Have you thought about the new Lyra Kleos?

[Puma Cat]

Originally Posted by Rilands

I have about 700 lp's that I've picked up all over the place, i've seldom had any problem. I guess if the LP looks like S%*+, I usually pass on them. You must get the one's i leave...hahaha..Just kidding

Just to clarify on a few points. I didn't say the VPI didn't work well, it does, it's just time consuming. Also, I'm not picking up albums that look like S%*+, they all are in very good to excellent condition physically, it's just many are dirty and need a thorough cleaning. FWIW, many people store LPs with the slot of the inner paper liner facing out of the slot of the album cover, and it's possible for LPs to get dirty this way just from sitting in folks collections or record stores for a long time. The best way to keep your albums clean is to put them in the cover with the liner slot vertical, and then in a resealable clear Japanse album covers.

Given our locations, I doubt we are competing for the same LPs.

[MC352]

I am going to try that Okki Nokki RCM, that along with the Spin Clean, should put me in good shape for a while.

Cleaning records is a drag, but the results are worth the effort.