@jasonbourne71 I have sprayed records with brake cleaning fluid and soaked them in denatured alcohol and the label always survives just fine as does the record. Think of the stuff people dump down their PVC drain pipes to unclog them! PVC is really tuff stuff.
Record cleaning and realistic expectations
I recently purchased some Audio Intelligence solution #15 enzymatic pre clean to use on my VPI 16.5 prior to my usual cleaning with Disc Doctor cleaning solution followed by 3 distilled water rinses. I picked a record that came from a collection in a particularly moldy house.The record had faint white splotchy marks all over that I assumed were mold. Pretreated with AI #15 for 5 min per AI’s instructions. After cleaning and drying, the record was cleaner, but the splotches remained. Did I do something wrong? Could the splotches be something else?
A second record had inner runout marks I assumed were from the old plastic inner sleeve, but going thru the same process these as well did not clean up as well...Hmmm?
Would an US RCM like a Degritter do a better job?
Thanks for any assistance on this.
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@jasonbourne71 : Tap water is bad for records! It is loaded with minerals! Use only steam distilled water! I buy mine at my nearby supermarket - $1.39 a gallon. About dogs - they shed not only hair but dandruff. It’s there even if not easily visible. I’d keep the dog out of the listening room.
Yes it is, but you will have noticed I rinse twice and wash 3 times. Any residue from the tap water will dissolve in the RCM. I make my own distilled water - mostly for the espresso machine :-) but also for the RCM. When TDS gets to about 8 or so, I re-fill. One of the reasons I added the rinse step was all the junk inside the RCM when going from scrub to wash. TDS would almost double. Adding the rinse step washes all the residue from the scrub step and the RCM water stays relatively clean for way longer. We have had dogs for >30 years and I have had some of my records longer. Any time I hear any snap, crackle, pop on an album - which is almost never - it goes in the RCM. Some of my fav albums from the 80's are still dead quiet. Each record gets a brush with a carbon brush before and after each play. The stylus gets cleaned with Onzow Zerodust after each play. I just replaced my Sumiko. Blackbird after 10 years and checked under a magifying glass - it was surprisingly clean. |
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