What type of cleaning fluid is preferred for cleaning your records? Record Time Musical Surroundings is the brand being utilized with this record cleaning machine. It appears to work well. A bottle of Mofi record cleaning fluid is on standby when this bottle is finished. Interested in what the consensus is from the fine people of Audiogon.
I've been trusting LAST Factory products, for maintaining styluses and vinyl, since the very early 80's.
Using their LAST RCM Fluid, with my VPI 16.5, hasn't reduced my trust in the least. Seems to do an excellent job and leaves nothing behind (that I can discern).
I would have stuck with VPI's Concentrate, but for having to find water that's clean/deionized enough for the purpose (trust issues and lazy, I suppose). VPI's stuff seemed to work well, in both my first VPI HW-16 and the 16.5.
My applying Last Record Preservative, soon as the vinyl's side is dry, might be considered a, "second step".
Walker Enzyme. You can use the full Walker 4 step, or whatever you want for the first step but then use the Enzyme and rinse. Or if your records are already clean then just the Enzyme. But however you do it just use the Enzyme. Buy the refill instead of the kit and save a lot.
AIVS n°6 and L’Art du Son. Easy to use and very effective. L’Art du Son needs 2 minutes rest on the record before drying. Walker at least 3 minutes. Fir the very dirty records, 3 steps AIVS. The 4 steps Walker is very effective too but it seems to raise the minds a bit.
Over the last 6 weeks I've been listening/comparing 3 different fluids. VPI, L'Art du Son and Monks discOvery. While all did a good job I felt the discOvery was clearly better in that I heard less ticks and got a blacker background. This wasn't done very scientificly but would do side A of an LP with one fluid then side B with another and repeated this process. My listening notes were always consistent and the discOvery always came out first. Just one persons perspective.
It’s make my own using alcohol, water, simple green, and alconox (liquinox) then clean using the Gem Dandy. It’s amazing and powerful but makes a mess :)
I can say that you can make your own that will work as well as any out there because they all work about the same and all of them usually have about the same ingredients. You just save a lot of money making it yourself sometimes 10 to 20 times less.
This is one of those audiophile angst questions that isn’t that hard. I use the Audio Intelligent Vinyl Solution. It’s a one step formula. Easy for me. I think as long as you use something, pick a brand and follow their regime and move on.
Not to be sarcastic but I went down this path once. Must have been a 12 to 15 ideas about fluids, both commercial and homemade. But in the end what I deduced was that everybody liked their system and their fluids and it worked for them.
I read the reviews, figured out what is readily available at a reasonable price and is not a new tangle idea. Then I bought five or so different bottles and just tried them with my Okie Noki cleaner.
Soon I realized that it wasn’t so much the fluids used, as was the cleaning method. Which got me on a cleaning machine methodology quest. Long story short I settled on an Audio Desk Systeme and I’ve been amazed at how good some records from high school sound.
The Audio Desk Systeme has its own cleaning fluid, to answer the OP question.
Everyone has their thing that works for them. And its because the process of working with that fluid on their machines make sense.
I've been using L'Art du Son for several years. Read good things about it, and figured out a process that works for me with the fluid and my Okki Nokki. Three wash cycles, each with a 3 min soak and different brushes. Then three rinse cycles, again with different brushes.
They sound great!
Having said that, as I am buying more old records, have been looking in new options to help deal with mold...
Audio intelligent #6...when using RCM...otherwise, for a quickie it’s the old discwasher d4...the original, not the new junk....red bottle. Also, Vinyl Revival for a quick manual scrub down.
Keith Monks discOvery with the KM RCM works for me. If good enough for the Library of Congress, BBC, etc. … When I apply the fluid with a brush I can see the whitish decavitation. And then the arm and nozzle suck up the dirty fluid one grove at a time. I understand that Better-Records also uses the KM RCM as well (wt the Walker).
I think most products designed to clean or home made formulas used in record cleaning machines all work well within reasonable expectations. The caveat here is not the effectiveness of your choice of cleaning solution..... but the effectiveness of the rinse and its ability to remove both the cleaning fluids and the crud loosened when soaked with those fluids plus no recontamination. I've owned a Loricraft for decades....with out a doubt the rinse cycles are the most critical for the greatest result.....wash....rinse, rinse,rinse.
Since my LP's do not get touched in the groves, I just squirt my old disc washer with distilled water, just in case a piece of dust got into the equipment room (EX-Laundry Room.)
A lp placed on a soft folded towel.The dishwasher brush,water depending where you live ,if you have a lot of rust or mineral in it ,the bottled water.Put the water in a spray bottle...you dont need anything else...Spray and wipe ,your lps plastic is very hard and doesn't scratch, the felt pad...clean the brush with the brush it came with .Wipe it clean with terry cloth .A good cleaning, I have done this hundreds of times .The records unless deeply scratch,sound like new again...
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