Steam Cleaning - RCM or not?


I posted a couple of times yesterday about this over at AudioKarma, but thought I would ask here as well since Audiogon seems to be at the center of the steam cleaning information.

I tried steaming in earnest a few nights ago; I did an LP I've had for years that had had some minor mold on it, which I removed a long time ago with my RCM, but the spore pattern remained. It was gone in a minute with the steam, which I somewhat expected. What I didn't expect was how lifelike this 3rd pressing, orange-label Dynaflex LP suddenly sounded. Amazing!

My question is this; I'm really drawn to the idea of not using my 20+ year old RCM at all because of the noise, which I'm getting tired of hearing after all these years. I'd really like to be just steaming, lint-brushing with my home-made fluid I've been using a while, steaming again and wiping with a couple of microfiber cloths. That seems to work very well, except that I seem to be getting some gunk on my stylus now and again which may be lint from the cloths.

Is this a concern? I actually did this routine a couple of times to one side of an LP and then did the same thing but RCM'd and not microfibered the other side, and I would swear the non-RCM's side sounded slightly more real in each case. Sonically I'm completely okay with the cloths only, but am a little concerned about possible residue and whatever that is showing up on my needle—although my ears are telling me this is the way to go. Anybody else come to this conclusion?
vanmeter

Showing 1 response by funkwrench

Vanmeter - for what it is worth I have been experimenting with Pledge dust and alergen unscented dry cloths available at Target and at my local supermarket. These disposable cloths appear to me to be without any obvious chemical additives like scent or aloe. I am using them as a dust and lint remover just before I drop the needle. Perhaps they can solve the gunk problem you are experiencing from (you suspect) the other micro-fiber cloths. I have also seen some random material residue when using the Wal-mart or auto detailing cloths. I am not suggesting you stop using the cloth-cloths - they seem to work very, very well - I am only saying that you might add a simple extra step. For the moment, I have replaced the carbon fiber record brush I WAS using with the pledge wipes. So far so good, with NO static issues.

Please carry on with your steam experiments and report back to the this thread or the steam-cleaning thread.

regards,

Joe