What is the best way to clean Vinyl?

Ultrasonic seems to be the best. I use a wet vacuum system, which I think are most popular because they work well and a less trouble. I use a German made Nellie after 20 years with a much more budget oriented VPI.

@fleschler

Wow! That is an incredible number of albums. I have been collecting since the late 1960’s . I have 2,000. I remember about 35 years ago making nearly daily trips to a record store next to campus (after college… I had money) and then 25 years ago taking a year and a half off and riding my bike down to what was then thought to be the best used record store in the country (it was in Tucson) and buying a couple records every few days.
 

I have come to realize that it is going to be difficult to listen to all my albums once before I die… but 28,000. Wow. 40 hours per week would take 18 years to listen to them all… and that is not including the cleaning time. That is a really impressive collection.

@fleschler

Thanks for your remarks. I just can’t imagine. I guess, while misic has been a really central theme of my life… and at its core… the music I collected… I can’t conceive of the numbers you are talking about.

But then, I have travelled extensively,.. and spent time in between trips getting music… for instance, onto cassette tapes (Dolby C) to go on my three weeks trips every month to isolated parts of the SW US each month as a Geologist. I took about 144 albums with me in two brief cases. I listened to music about eight hours a day. I did this for years.

Then I became an executive and traveled globally for decades… with my music, CDs, battery powered head amps, ear speakers, headphones… you name it. In planes, across Europe… around the world… living in Scotland, China, Japan, Mexico, and across America for weeks and months at a time. I had at one point 4,000 albums (1/2 Cd). Music has been the central theme of my life. So, let me say, your story is amazing!

@clearthinker 

Yeah, that is hard to miss that. I thought the current number was 18,000… which would take about 2.5 years to listen to once if you listened 24 hours per day. it is easy to be a bit sloppy with numbers… but those are some large numbers.
 

I am somewhat intimidated by my 2,000 albums and me being 70 years old… can I listen to them all in my lifetime. 

@jjbeason14

Sorry to hear your frustration with record cleaning.

Surface noice is very dependent on your turntable, this is the primary determinate of surface noise. If you have a high end turntable, tone arm and cartridge… you are not going to hear them much. That is the first defense against noise. I have a very good system. Noise is almost non-existent. For me, it would be silly not to have a relatively  good cleaning machine… so, I own the Nessie.

First of all, cleaning and maintaining vinyl is like all of high end audio… it cost money. A basic quality cleaning machine is going to cost at least a couple thousand plus or minus. I own a Nessie… around $3K. It does a very good job, but about 5% of albums do not get rid of the pops and crackles. I have always wondered if a ultrasonic would clean these… not sure… but I am ok with tossing 5% or living with a little poping.

What you hear is dependent on your TT, tone arm, cartridge and cleaning machine. I have a $50K analog end including cleaning machine… pops and crackles are basically non existent on my 2,000 album collection.

My point is that the sound you get is the result of all your analog components and pops and crackles are not just cleaning. I don’t remember if you showed your system, but until you get into a high end turntable noise is a problem and record cleaning is also cost dependent.