Glad to hear your troubleshooting was a breeze. I concur with your assessment, 10 plus treated records and Orbit continues to impress. It’s a very smart design and so easy to use..worth every penny, IMHO.
HumminGuru Orbit Vinyl Record Static Remover
What do you guys think?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gniWKQfqCs8
https://humminguru.com/pages/humminguru-orbit-vinyl-record-static-remover
37 responses Add your response
Follow up... Humminguru promptly returned my email and asked me to send a video. They recommended reseating the fan cover and the unit worked as advertised. My initial impressions are very favorable. I have only used a Zero Stat before- the Orbit is a significant improvement from a sound perspective. It does take about 30 seconds or so to complete its cycle, but it's very easy to use and seems to work well. You are supposed to clean the fan and "elements" after each use with a provided brush. I will likely clean it after each session- takes less than a minute. |
@lewm +1 |
I received my Orbit and gave it a go last night and… Nada. The unit is dead as doornail. I made sure it was charged, turned it on, placed it on the spindle, pressed start and the unit does absolutely nothing. Not a sound, certainly not a rotation. I guess I’ll see what their customer service looks like? |
Late response to bdp’s post of 9-19. Static charge, great or small, will instantly distribute itself evenly across the exposed surface of an LP, the side that is in play. Therefore the concept that the Hudson brush neutralizes the LP surface that it is traversing or has traversed, while the untouched grooves between brush and label remain fully charged is faulty. The better way to think of it is that the brush, as it travels, is constantly reducing the average charge on the surface taken as a whole. So when you’re done, the surface would measure no or low static charge, but during play there was gradual reduction in charge as the brush moves from outer to inner grooves. But charge wouldn’t have been neutral throughout play at any time. |
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Further thoughts: Considering it’s extremely low price, the Hudson Arm/Brush is certainly worth a try. As I thought about it more, a couple of things occurred to me.
1- If the Hudson Arm/Brush is used alone (with no other anti-static device), playing a disc with a static charge would mean as the LP is playing, the area not yet having come into contact with the Arm’s bristles will still have a charge, and therefore be attracting dust. That is especially true if records are played with no dust cover in place. 2- I never play an LP until I have deep cleaned it, whether new or used. And I don’t necessarily immediately listen to every LP I have just cleaned If only the Hudson arm is used to address static, and deep cleaning has created a static charge on the disc (or it already had one, which the cleaning did not remove), that would mean the disc would be put into an inner sleeve clean but with a static charge. Not a good idea.
But there is no reason the Hudson arm cannot be used in conjunction with any other anti-static device. So treat the disc with a, say, Destat III, then play it with the Hudson arm in place. In the late-60’s/early-70’s I used the Cecil E. Watts Dust Bug, which differed from the Hudson Arm in that it had a round barrel of bristles in place of the goat’s hair/carbon fiber bristles, and had no grounding wire. I was amazed by how the Dust Bug tracked the LP at the same speed as did the cartridge. I assume the same is true of the Hudson arm.
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FWIW, the key to the Hudson Hi-Fi LP Record Cleaning Antistatic Arm Brush (hudsonhifi.com) is that the goat hair brush has carbon fiber bristles at the center. That's why it can work with the ground cable to attached to a good ground. If in doubt, just take a digital multimeter and measure the resistance from the carbon fibers to the end of the ground cable. |
@harpo75: There is a way to use the VSS Double Pocket sleeves on a triple gatefold jacket, I’ve done it.
You put a Double Pocket sleeve on both the two outer gatefolds, with the tape strips on the flaps on the back of the jacket (you MUST use the version with the tape on the flap, rather than the body). But before you put them on, take a Multifunction sleeve, cut off both flaps (I lay a sleeve down on cardboard, place a straight edge across the sleeve right where the flap meets the pocket, and slice with an Exacto knife), then slide the sleeve past either of the gatefolds until the sleeve covers the middle section of the jacket. Then secure the two Double Pocket sleeves to the Multifunction sleeve with the tape strips on the flaps. If you don't want to cut off the two flaps on the Multifunction sleeve you don't have to, but in that case the sleeve must be used with the flaps on the inside of the gatefold jacket. You then have a pocket on the inside of the front gatefold for one LP, and a pocket on the inside of the rear gatefold for the second and third LP’s. That might sound confusing, but once you have the Double Pocket sleeves in hand it will become obvious.
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I have tried… using the ZeroStat gun (1 - 3) by instructions for decades ( I have purchased four over time, and brought one out periodically) with no positive results. I lived in Tucson for 25 years… static head quarters. The Hudson works on the size of the album that is playing. I read about and see the small grounding wire / fiber in the middle of the spray of brush bristles for catching dust. I haven’t delved into the physics… but it both eliminates static and catch’s dust on the playing side of the album. Eliminating to problem. So, for me the Hudson works great. |
Hudson Hi-Fi provides no proof that the goats hair bristles of their anti-static arm "discharges" the negative charge on the surface of the LP (or even a technical explanation of how that discharging is accomplished), transfers "something" into the arm, and then into a ground wire, and that signal in the wire is then sent to ground. Color me dubious. The static charge is a very well understood phenomenon, as is the means required to neutralize it. Anti-static brushes have been in use in film labs for decades. I see no technology in the Hudson Arm that seriously addresses the static charge. The Arm looks like a toy to me.
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@ghdprentice has the right idea. The Hudson HiFi brush discharges static to ground and sweeps incidental dust out of the way of the stylus. I use one and my record cleaning solution has Larostat 264A in it which totally prevents static build up. The effect is long lasting. Using plastic sleeves is important as paper sleeves will assist static build up. |
There ya go @harpo75!
VSS offers the double sleeve in a variety of different configurations. I recommend getting one packet (25 sleeves)---or even just a single sleeve---of each model that looks interesting, to learn what works best for you (there is also a $5 sample pack). For instance, the Double Pocket sleeve has a flap that encloses the outer cover, and you have a choice of a flap with no tape (just tuck in the flap), a flap with a strip of tape on it, and also a version with the strip of tape on the body of the sleeve rather than the flap. For single-LP gatefold jackets, VSS offers a "Multifunctional" model, which you use in conjunction with the Double Pocket model (for reasons which will become apparent when you put them on, it must be the Double Pocket with the tape strip on the body, not the flap). There is also a double-LP gatefold model, or you can do what I have done and just use two regular Double Pocket sleeves. The standard sized sleeve is about 12-5/8" (+ or - a coupla millimeters) tall and deep, but there are also 12-3/4" and 13" versions available (for MoFi and Analogue Productions-sized covers). VSS also offers plain old single pocket outer sleeves (with or without a flap), and inner sleeves as well. At least as good as the MoFi sleeves (VSS offers a thicker version), and cheaper. Orders of $55 or greater (U.S.A. dollars) ship free. And I may as well get this out of the way: No, I am not on the VSS payroll.
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Thanks for sharing resource for double sleeves. I have been looking sleeves for boxed sets and jacket fold LP’s. Transit platter can be found here ⬇️ …I have been using one for sometime now and find it very handy when I am cleaning records or swapping them off my TT. |
@lalitk: Oh sure, the platter one uses with the Orbit need not be the one on which you play your LP’s. I’ve never seen the term "transit platter" before. What’s that mean?
@lewm: My mention of using a static removal device directly after cleaning and drying with a vacuum-style record cleaner was not made to imply that the device should not also be used directly before each play, but merely as an example of one way in which a hand-held static removal device has the advantage over the Orbit. But if only one side of the LP is played (not unusual for me), perhaps the unplayed side should also be "sprayed" with the Orbit before returning the LP into it’s inner sleeve.
Speaking of sleeves, but this time of outer ones: Has anyone else tried the "double" sleeves from Vinyl Storage Solutions of Canada? All too often I find myself struggling to return the LP into the outer jacket, the inner sleeve and LP being only barely smaller than the interior of the jacket. A clever Canadian came up with an ingenious idea: an outer plastic sleeve with two pockets, one for the outer jacket, a second for the LP/inner sleeve. I’ve double-sleeved all my LP’s, and love it!
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“Which brings me to the HumminGuru Orbit. It emits both positive and negative ions, and must be used with the LP on the platter.” Are you basing your statement off the demonstration video? Personally, I was thinking to use Orbit on both sides of the record by placing it on my transit platter and then move it to TT for playback. This way I keep my TT mat static-free :-) |
bdp, I am not sure what you are getting at when you say "Handheld guns may be used on both sides of the LP, for instance immediately after cleaning and drying on a vacuum machine." It's fine to do that but one cannot assume the LP is going to be free of static charge on the later occasion when you choose to play it, if that was your implication. Cleaning the LP only helps to eliminate dust and dirt; it does not confer immunity to static charge build up. Charge happens when you remove an LP from a paper sleeve, even if it was inserted into the sleeve in a presumably static-free state. Or it can happen in an instant when you yourself are charged up after walking across a wool carpet or etc, and you then first touch the LP. Dis-charging needs to be done just before play. (You probably know all this; I am just reacting to what you wrote.) As regards the Destat. I was prepared to buy one during our annual trip to Japan, last June. I found out, at least by inquiry in some of the major stores in Akihabara, the electronics mecca of Tokyo, that the device is not even sold in Japan. They'd never heard of it. |
Lewm. I only use the static fan for brief moments. I turn it on, pull the album out and let the fan blow on it to help the sleeve release from the record, I pull the record out and hold it under the static fan for a few seconds, flip it over and hold it for a few seconds and. Turn the fan off. Then put the record on the turntable. The static fan isn’t on very long. Also it has a dial on the front to clean the copper element. Periodically you just turn the dial back and forth once or twice and that’s it. Yes you can smell the ozone but it’s only on for maybe a minute or so total. No big deal. Seems to work well. |
I was an early adopter of the original Zerostat (I’ve had models with white, red, and blue plastic bodies), and suffered with it’s idiosyncracies for years (the pistol needs to be squeezed and released verrrrry slowly. Irritating!).
It was a relief when the Kilavolt No.103 by Nagaoka was introduced, as it is operated with a simple on/off button (3-5 seconds is all it takes). By the way @lewm, the Kilavolt emits only positive ions. Also worth noting is that for maximum effectiveness, Nagaoka advises "spraying" the LP with the disc held in one’s free hand, rather than on the turntable platter. One YouTube hi-fi reviewer (I don’t remember his name, but he is bald, bearded, and tattooed) verified that claim in his review of the Destat III (which I also own. I waited to buy until I found one at a very reduced price).
Which brings me to the HumminGuru Orbit. It emits both positive and negative ions, and must be used with the LP on the platter. It therefore treats only the play side of the LP, rather than both sides. Handheld guns may be used on both sides of the LP, for instance immediately after cleaning and drying on a vacuum machine. As they say on The Shark Tank, for those reasons I won’t be adding an Orbit to my LP maintenance kit.
As for the Hudson "Antistatic" Arm/Brush, it may have some value as a dust remover on LP’s being played, but is obviously incapable of negating a static charge.
As the Kilavolt had been out of production for many years, the Destat III would be my first choice for static removal from LP’s. Too bad it’s price is so unattractive to many.
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Harpo, That device you bought may be fine, but an alarm bell was triggered when I read that it has a copper element that needs periodic cleaning. Devices that work to produce ions such that there is a metal element that periodically needs cleaning or replacement often also produce ozone, which is not good for humans. They are usually used in "clean rooms" needed for manufacturing or other medical endeavors. Normally, they are turned on only when humans are out of the room. Although probably only a tiny amount of ozone is produced in the process of deionizing an LP surface, I'd advise you to be careful with it. |
Those responded with being in a location where static problem almost non-existent…well, I live in Texas and yet to use any type of static treatment. All of my record collection purchased new, even with thorough cleaning; I occasionally hear a tick or pop. So that tells me either I am doing a crappy job of cleaning or there is room for static treatment. I like automation so Orbit would be a welcomed addition to my TT setup. |
Good question lewm. I use an anti-static ionizing fan that produces both positive and negative ion air flow. I use it where i take the records out of the covers. I just hold the record up to the fan for a few seconds to discharge the static. Definitely works well. You can tell with a piece of paper that is statically attached to the record When you place it in front of the fan upside down (paper down), after a few seconds the paper falls off as static dissipates. Fast, easy, and fairly inexpensive. |
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I bought an electrostatic charge meter in order to determine for real what goes on with these devices. The meter tells me that my 50 year old Zerostat still works fine, if used properly as per instructions. Vinyl accumulates a negative charge. So you need to flood the surface with positive ions in order to neutralize the LP surface. The Humminguru, and nearly all others, emits both pos and negative ions. I have asked myself why those two oppositely charged ions don’t combine and neutralize each other before the charge on the LP can be neutralized. But apparently it works. |
it's nice, would like to have one, but not for $250! I usually just use my cleaning spray when static is an issue. Or a Zerostat, sadly they are also overpriced at $100. now that I have a good cleaning procedure, with also using new inner and outer sleeves on all my vinyl, static is much less of an issue. |
I already have a destat III and use it on every record takes about 30 seconds per side. I had no idea of the veil that static produces until I got the destat at one time I had so much static my rubber platter Matt came off the spindle with the record! Good luck Willy-T |
