Snap, crackle, pop

IME, an enzyme-based cleaning solution is the best cure for most snaps, crackles and pops. I have a $2K Loricraft RCM (one of the best) but cleaning with just surfactants ("soap") and rinsing does not remove everything.

The grunge in LP grooves provides a breeding ground for microbial growths. Many of these (or their carcasses) are not easily dissolved by surfactant action alone.

Enzymes, however, are chemically designed to break down organic matter. They will attack and help dissolve stuff that soap and water will not.

Having compared 4 brands, my best results come from AIVS solutions, with their Enzymatic being the most effective for removing snaps/crackles/pops.

BTW, having dissolved all the gunk in the grooves you still need to remove it. A Spin Clean, while economical, will not remove all the grunge-laden liquid before evaporation begins. Allowing the grungy liquid to evaporate leaves the grunge behind, probably broken into smaller particles that may be even harder to remove.

A vacuum-based RCM is the only way to quickly remove grungy fluids before evaporation undoes the work you began with the cleaning steps. You needn't spend $2K, but if truly clean records are your goal, you need to do more than spin.

My experience and $.02...

The audible improvements from thorough record cleaning go well beyond the reduction of clicks and pops. Noise reduction is only the first benefit of cleaning, not the last.

As I've posted numerous times over the years, a completely clean record is (in a sufficiently revealing system) actually *slightly noisier* than a less clean one. Removing the last, thin layer of grunge allows a (sufficiently resolving) stylus to reproduce lower levels of detail, higher order harmonics and the subtlest micro-dynamics... and also any slight irregularities in the vinyl surface. In my system, these are the sonic indicators that a record is entirely free of contaminants and they (or their absence) are very audible.

These things (including irregularities that can cause a subtle groove rush) are masked in every uncleaned record I've ever heard. No record has ever failed to improve in these areas by being properly cleaned. Sometimes the improvement is so shocking that visitors barely believe it's the same record.

If one doesn't hear or care about these things then perhaps cleaning isn't necessary. But some of us can and do. Speaking only for myself, I didn't invest $25-30K in a vinyl front end to hear anything less than all of the music that's in the grooves. Both common sense and proven experience inform me that removing *everything* that could degrade the stylus-groove interface is essential to my enjoyment of the medium.

The cleaning rarely solve pops.

My experience (owning a similar number of records) is that cleaning with AIVS Enzymatic removes at least 90% of them... much better than "rarely".

The remainder are probably due to flawed or damaged vinyl. I don't have static problems, so can't speak to how often that's a problem for those who do.

Fully agree with Atmasphere that the phono stage makes a huge difference in the ability to avoid over-amplifying sudden transients.