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Ultrasonic LP Cleaning vs. “Thread Type” Cleaning (Keith Monks/Loricraft/etc.)

Many dealers now tout ultrasonic record cleaners as the ultimate, yet companies like Loricraft and Keith Monks continue to introduce new “thread type” (or “string”) record cleaners.

There was a recent discussion in one of Michael Fremer’s on-line columns (https://www.analogplanet.com/content/sme-loricraft-introduces-upgraded-thread-type-vacuum-record-cle...) announcing a new thread type record cleaner from Loricraft. In the comments section, several owners of thread type cleaners praised them and one person stated a “thread type”was better than their own ultrasonic cleaner.

I’m interested in hearing from those of you who have experience with BOTH types of record cleaners, and what you perceive to be the pluses and minuses of each.

As for myself, I’ve been plodding along for years with a VPI 16, and I would like something that is faster to use and that will run for more than an hour without overheating. 😎
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Showing 2 responses by lewm

lewm
12,543 posts
 
What is “hospital grade vacuum”?
lewm
12,543 posts
 
I thought long and hard about a US machine and decided against purchasing because of all the potential issues and "work" involved, at least as I see it. I would worry about US actually damaging LPs, as rightly or wrongly claimed by some others. One wants to avoid that, so what frequency for what amount of time is really harmless? What amount of heating is harmless to an LP? Can you use detergents in the bath water? Some do; some don’t. The effluent from my VPI HW17 is filthy, which makes me think I would want to change the US bath water very frequently and/or filter it via an external circulation. When all is said and done I decided to stay with the HW17, which by the way never overheats. I also use Walker Audio enzymes for really dirty LPs and combine that with a distilled water rinse using my VPI. This is purely to illustrate my own thought process and not to say that anyone else’s choice is "wrong". I also had an opportunity to purchase a string type Loricroft cleaner and was put off by the maintenance issues as described to me by a Loricroft owner. I don’t see why it would necessarily be superior to the HW17, and the HW17 presents fewer headaches. I clean my LPs in my basement workshop, well away from either of my two systems, and don’t care a fig about the noise from the HW17.
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