Klaudio

[cleeds]

I considered calling this thread "Cleeds clarifies Klaudio cleaner clamor" or something like that, but I thought that might be either too clever, or not clever enough. So I didn't. But I did buy a Klaudio ultrasonic record cleaner from Ivan, and want to share what a terrific machine this is.

I have thousands of LPs and decades ago lusted after the Keith Monks record cleaner. It was a little pricey for me at the time, but a local dealer who had one then was willing to let customers use it for a modest price per disc. That was a nice arrangement but a little inconvenient, so I jumped at the chance to buy the more modestly-priced first generation Nitty-Gritty cleaner as soon as it became available.

The Nitty-Gritty was simple and effective, but anyone who's used one can tell you that it's a messy process. To add insult to injury, it's also a noisy little devil and for those reasons, I never used it nearly as much as I could have. I tended to use it in spurts ... clean a bunch of records, and then put it away until I was again ready to deal with the nuisance of it. In between, I'd sometimes play records that weren't pristine.

That experience should explain the allure of the Klaudio to me. Here's a one-box, one-step remedy for cleaning records: Just push a button and walk away. It cleans both sides at once and dries them without any tedious attention or chemistry. And with the silencer box, it's really not obtrusive in use.

Of course, there's a lot of debate as to which is the "best" record cleaner and when the subject is ultrasonic cleaners such as the Klaudio, a lot of controversy about ideal transducer frequencies. But I think the "best" record cleaner is the one that you'll actually use, and for me that means Klaudio. I don't mind keeping it in my listening room where it's easy to clean an LP before it goes on the turntable. What could be more convenient?

The Klaudio appears to be built with great precision and gives the impression that it will have a long and serviceable life. The packaging is first-rate and it has so far worked for me without a single hiccup. If you're like me and want clean records without the nusiance, I can't imagine you doing any better than a Klaudio purchased from Ivan.