Do you make your own cleaning solution? Would denatured water and isopropanol work? Is that bad for vinyl? I'm using a cheapo Discwasher brush with D4 fluid. I want to make my own fluid! Thanks for any info.
1 part isopropyl alcohol to 7 parts distilled water (volume based). 1 drop Dawn detergent per 1 liter of the above. Actually, I do one drop Dawn per 200 mls total volume. I use this as the preliminary wash followed by steam cleaning and 2 steps of Audio Intelligent (enzyme and neutralizer) followed by a final steam cleaning. I use a record cleaning machine in between all steps (e.g., in between AI enzyme and AI rinse.
High purity isoprpopyl alcohol is really an ineffective or unnecessary cleaning agent with about 99% of dirty records and I have easy access to it along with ultrapure water with my wife being a researcher.
The best commercial record cleaning solutions have absolutely no alcohol in them and are followed by a high purity water rinse (usually a couple of rinses with high purity water as this is just as much of a "cleaning" step as the initial cleaning solution).
Alcohol is really only necessary and beneficial if you are dealing with a particularly "greasy" record to cut the grease and it doesn't happen very often.
DIY cleaning solutions are not worth the time or money invested. Buy a high quality commercial first stage cleaner (the AIVS 15 is very good, combining both surfactant/detergent and enzyme stages) and follow it with a high purity water rinse (the high purity waters available from the scientific supply houses are excellent and 1/8 the price of ultrapure from the record cleaner companies) and you will be set.
All cleaners do is emulsify dirt, so the rinse is the key, right? Please correct me if that is mistaken. Commercial products are so concentrated, it's almost hard to use up a bottle; at $35 (or whatever), every year or three, why bother with a likely inferior diy cleaner?
Hdm, "High purity isoprpopyl alcohol is really an ineffective or unnecessary cleaning agent."
Exceptionally good advice. We take this stuff WAY too far.
Speaking as a chemist/material science engineer, when alcohol comes in very high purity, it does so with commensurately high cost. As soon as you open the bottle, that is money wasted. Why? With that high a concentration of alcohol, simply opening the bottle causes it to absorb such a high amount of water it will actually appear to be smoking. And, again, what is the impurity? Yes, it's water, absorbed from the air. That's why a product like Everclear is 190 proof, and not 200. Unless the precautionary steps are taken all the way through, including the end user, 95% (190 proof) is as good as it gets in the natural world.
So, since you're going to be diluting the alcohol in water anyway, let's apply a bit of common sense to the formula. Then again, this is high-end audio...
I personally like to steam clean my records and then dry them with a microfiber towel...well its only an alternative. :) if you're worried about residues.
Anything with alcohol is a mistake. Go to an online medical supply house, and buy a gallon of their deionizing liquid cleaner, which is used by hospitals to clean surgical instruments. If it cleans scalpels used in brain surgery, you can trust it doesn't leave any residue, LOL. You can mix the cleaner with distilled water in any ratio you like, I use ten parts water to one part cleaner, but you can experiment. In any case, this is the best cleaning agent available, as good as any sold by audiophile companies and your cost will be very, very low in comparison.
Balthus, what is a deionized liquid cleaner? Do you mean an enzyme cleaner? Also, the cleaning of surgical instruments is more concerned with sterilization i.e. the killing of all forms of life, thus eliminating the possibility of infection.
I have a question for you a response you made regarding a ARC sp-5. You mentioned your sp-6 that you had modified with the protective circuitry removed. I have a sp-6 paired with an ARC d-110b. Curious how removing the protective circuit affects the sound. Thanks, - Charles
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