Humminguru record cleaner

@tablejockey Great! I hope you are as happy with the HG as I am.

I had the Humminguru for awhile. I was impressed so much that I went for the Degritter. Both are good Degritter much easier to use, just put in a record hit the button and walk away. Six minutes later viola, clean record. Of course like everything in this hobby, there is the price consideration. 

@muzikat ease of use aside, how well do each clean?

Moonwatcher, to your post of 2/13, please re-read my post about “ultrasonic “ STYLUS cleaners. They are not ultrasonic. They operate at around 500 Hz. Of course, US cleaners for LPs are ultrasonic. That’s all I was saying.

Well of course I would have to give the nod to Degritter. I didn't have the Humminguru very long at all, hard to remember exactly. It was very close though.  If money is a concern then by all means go with Hummingguru

@muzikat thanks for the feedback. No doubt the Degritter is a very nicely designed machine.

@daveyf  "The ’Guru’ is an excellent machine, However, it does benefit greatly from having a surfactant added to the water ( as do all US machines). Without a surfactant and DS, I found the machine to clean ok, but there was still a certain amount of hash, even on relatively clean LP’s."

Apparently, you’re not familiar with how an ultrasonic machine works. Explain how a surfactant improves ultrasonic machines. It’s imploding bubbles, small enough to get to the bottom of the grooves that do the cleaning. You can say water is a carrier for the bubbles. The detergent that comes with the Degritter breaks down oils and dirt in the water. But you don’t need to use the stuff. Even KLaudio don’t recommend adding anything to the water and will void the warranty if you do.

"@moonwatcher if you look at the price difference between the Guru and the Degritter, it is, at least imho, impossible to assign said difference to the build quality and the higher power of the DG. Instead, what is going on…is that the usual suspects are involved with the DG. As such, there is a lot more ‘upside’ built into the DG to support all of the ‘middle men’. Luckily, the Guru offers a great option to those folks, like myself, who are happy to see a machine brought to market with a great deal of value -and less impact from the ‘middle men’!."

Tell that to my neighbor Alex who purchased a Humminguru I think in September about the build quality of it. When I spoke to him on New Years it had stopped working. Looking at it, well I guess you get what you pay for. Look, I’ve cleaned records already cleaned on a Humminguru. You hear the difference. A local dealer who has a rather large record business has several customers who own a H-guru and the overall impression is it’s okay, fine for what it is. The Degritter used in the store has cleaned thousands of records with several days of heavy use without a hitch. Simple to maintain, basically clean the filter, change the water when it tells you, and good to go. Customers of the Degritter love them. In my case, I’m still on the first filter after a couple of years. It’s inexpensive to own. And their service is excellent. When I first saw the price of one I thought, who would buy this? After owning a VPI 16.5( noisy, ugly, and takes up much space) I tried one. Now I say who wouldn’t purchase one?

@rvpiano If you have not seen this video, it might be worth your time:

How does one start w two identically dirty records to conduct a “ shoot-out “…. silly…

AND i should mention, i’m on Degritter #2 as is a fellow heavy user ( 500 + cycles )…. like anything built by man, i wouldn’t say it is invincible….

Would i buy another ? ….. in a heartbeat….

@tomic601 cover one side in painter’s tape, clean record in first machine. Hope tape stays on during cleaning cycle! Remove tape, tape up cleaned side, clean in other machine. Remove tape, play both sides of record. Not perfect by any means but not bad either.

@vitussl101 Apparently it is you who does not know how a ’Guru’ works, or for that matter how the cleaning process works in general with US. With the ’Guru’, the issue is that ( and this is like most US machines, including the KL that I used to own, albeit less so here), the water does not get the record sufficiently wet unless a surfactant ( to break down the water/vinyl interface) is utilized. Without the surfactant, the cavitation aspect is far less effective. YMMV.

@muzikat I thought the HG was pretty much a hit the button and go operation as well?

Have one. Very happy with it! I also used their support one time. Very responsive. 

@aberyclark been a little while since I had it. I didn't have it very long. I liked what it did more than my VPI, so that's a high endorsement. Since I liked the result so much I went for a DG.

I just recall it seemed a bit more finicky. Record fits into the cleaning slot much nicer/tighter on DG, process is a lot smoother.

Again, HG is a fine machine at the price point. I recommend it. Not everybody wants to spend the $$$ on DG for similar results 

Moonwatcher, to your post of 2/13, please re-read my post about “ultrasonic “ STYLUS cleaners. They are not ultrasonic. They operate at around 500 Hz. Of course, US cleaners for LPs are ultrasonic. That’s all I was saying.

@lewm Though just to be confusing, what you say is perfectly true for the Hudson, Flux and similar devices (all seem to be the same mechanism in various plastic shells), there is one actual U/S stylus cleaner on the market, and it is made by Humminguru! The S-Duo. I have one but hardly dare use it for fear of getting water inside a cartridge. One has to lower the tip of the cantilever into the shallow bath of D/W, so no good for my Deccas. I did try it out on a new Cadenza Bronze, and took photos of the stylus cleaned with a brush, and then with the S-Duo.

Plainly, it does work! I'd estimate the Hudson as running about 100Hz, and it does a mechanical clean, but not an ultrasonic one.

It looks like the Kirmuss 'In the Groove' Ultrasonic Record Restorer - Upscale Audio Anniversary Edition (going for ~$1200 now) might be the ticket to a "better" machine that provides the necessary higher power for cavitation bubbles without all the bells and whistles of the far more automatic (and significantly more expensive) Degritter.  I'll have to look into one of these. While I love vinyl, my collection is only a couple hundred albums, (sold or gave away most of my vinyl in the 1990s - ouch!) so I can't justify $3K for a cleaner.  I'd be better off putting that money towards a better streamer or DAC for my digital front end. 

 

I looked up the video instructions for the Kirmuss record restorer.  All I can say is, if you’ve got a lot of time on your hands this machine is for you. There are at least 10 steps in the process, every one of them time consuming.  Undoubtedly the results are better, but is the improvement so much better as to spend half a day cleaning a few records worth it?

I’ll stick with the Humminguru.

+1 @rvpiano 

In addition to cleaning better than anything I’ve had prior, the HG is fast and easy to use which makes it an even better value. Have yet to have to run a record through more than once.

I demoed a Kirmuss, was not that impressed with it. On a couple of occasions the record was off center in the slot and nearly did damage. Plus, the Kirmuss does not dry the record, a disadvantage, imo. I think the ‘Guru’ is a much better machine.

@mapman agreed! It’s so easy to use that if one wanted to, you could clean every record before every play. It takes less than one side of a record to complete a cycle, so while you listen to a record, the other is cleaning and ready when the side is finished. I have my rack and cleaning equipment in a separate equipment closet and can’t hear the HG while music is playing. I recognize not everyone has this sort of setup, and the HG is still noisy enough that I wouldn’t want it in my listening room, but it’s still an option if you have a nearby room to run the HG.

I’m going through my 2000 odd record collection that I had given up for dead and am rediscovering gems because I'm using the Humminguru. I never knew how good many of them really sounded. They’ve come to life.

So is the HG so easy a caveman could use it?

Provided your cave has an electrical supply and clean water is available in a nearby stream, yes.