Doug, absolutely correct.
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?
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?
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Keith Monks, Loricraft and Albert's RCM Mk5 all use the same principle. Loricraft is the least expensive of the three, though still around $2K+ depending on the model. My PRC-3 is no-frills, but built like a tank and capable of cleaning dozens of LP's in a session without a hiccup (I once cleaned 37 in a single go, the vacuum pump ran for 9-10 hours non stop.) I agree that records cleaned on these machines sound cleaner than on vacuum wand style machines like NG, VPI, Clearaudio, etc. The only downside, other than the cost, is that it's notably slower. Each vacuum pass takes a bit over a minute, so if you use multiple fluids the time per side adds up. The results make it worth it, for us, but that's a personal decision each of us has to make. |
It was a Keith Monks system and the shop was dB Audio on Shattuck (at Blake). FYI, another Berkeley shop "Music Lovers" has moved just behind where dB used to be. The address is 2106 (I think) Blake. It's a good shop with great equipment (and some used stuff). I learned this from the guys at "The Soundwell" on University. who are moving soon after many years in the same location due to the recession. Very sad! |
Thanks for solving that mystery for me, gentleman! I had been wondering about that for years. One of the albums I had cleaned on it is the CBS Masterworks' half-speed pressing of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The horn section on the title track sounds awesome on that LP! I'll have to check out the Stereophile article. Cheers! -jz |
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 |