What is the best way to clean Vinyl?

For me, it's a Loricraft PRC-4 Deluxe point-source vacuum cleaner, followed by a Degritter U/S. If a record isn't scratched, it will usually come out as silent as a CD.

You have two choices with a $500 limit. If you don't mind the effort, a SpinClean and a long read of Neil Antin's pamphlet* will be one way. The second is a vacuum machine that might need to be used to fit in the limit. It will get you 80% of the way to the best any of us can do. An ultrasonic cleaner gets you the rest of the way to what is currently achievable.

This is worthwhile, and likely should come before more esoteric upgrades of cartridge or phono stage in my view. It not only can make an LP as quiet as a CD in many cases, but it will prolong the life of your stylus remarkably.

*the PDF is at this link:

A question: Can playing dirty records ruin the needle/stylus? Or is it safe?

Yes, it is safe, but it does cause more wear on the stylus. When a manufacturer tells you you might get 250 (Nagaoka doesn’t tell the truth) to 1000 hours, they are talking average record cleanliness. Super-clean records add hundreds to another thousand hours to stylus life. Not so important to an MM user, but a very expensive issue for MC users.

I’m on board with the SpinClean, but what do I pair it with specifically?

Time to read that PDF I linked!

Wet cleaning generally reduces static. However, if you dry a disk with a microfibre cloth you may introduce static then. I don't worry about it as I always treat a record before playing it with either a Zerostat gun or, lately, the Furutech Destat III.

As for your question about a Spin Clean, U/S and vacuum machine for <$500, you'd need to find some used bargains and I don't think you'd easily come in under budget! You could get a Humminguru for $375USD. Once you have tasted the convenience of a machine it is hard to clean manually, unless you are as saintly as pindac! But a Spin Clean is relatively cheap and if you don't mind the effort there is little to lose by trying it out.

It seems like one cheap enough to fit your budget, and would certainly do a creditable job.

Sure we can throw criticisms at the Humminguru, but for the price it does more than anyone has a right to expect. Lots of people use it alone, with no mechanical/vacuum cleaning beforehand. There's a trade off between cost and effort on the one side, and how clean you get things on the other. You need to find that spot where you are comfortable with what you pay, how much effort and time cleaning takes, and the results. There is no one "right" answer. You gets what you pays for, and the law of diminishing returns certainly applies.

That's your choice - more effort with maybe slightly better results, or less effort and perhaps less good. As I said, lots of people use an U/S machine alone.

You can't actually go wrong with a SpinClean. You certainly can with an ultrasonic machine. The cheapest one that we know to be safe and effective on LPs is the Humminguru. If you want to repurpose one of those devices used in the (admittedly fascinating) YouTube videos about cleaning carburetors, you would be out on your own.

You do seem to be going in circles! Yes, you can get a used record as quiet as a CD, but it depends on the record. Dirt can be removed, scratches cannot.

As for vacuum vs. U/S, you've already had my thoughts on that.