Can anyone help identify this LP cleaning machine?


I am in the process of deciding which record cleaning machine to buy but I have a question. Several years ago, I used a machine at a hifi shop in Berkeley that customers could use to clean their albums. It was a heavy-duty commercial type but I do not recall the brand. What made it different from the designs I see for sale at Audio Advisor that use a vacuum "bar" (VPI, NittyGritty, et al), is that after cleaning, for the final drying stage it used a traditional tonearm with a small suction cup tip and a cotton string that would track each groove like a stylus for vacuuming out the cleaning fluid.

The record would spin backwards and you would start at the center of the wet LP and a very light spring tension on the tonearm and the record groove would guide it out while it vacuumed each groove dry.

The records I cleaned on it (they charged $.25 per side) are the quietest in my (modest) collection. Unfortunately, the shop has been gone for many years. Will the "consumer grade" designs work as well?
john_z

Showing 2 responses by albertporter

The German version of the Keith Monks is called the RCM MK5, it's sold by Axiss distribution in the USA, same people as Air Tight.

Here's a photo of the RCM from my system thread.

http://cgim.audiogon.com/i/vs/i/f/1184570880.jpg