Guys,
I thought that I might chip in on this since I may have about as much experience using the HW-16.5 as anyone. It has been used regularly for our extensive laboratory testing.
First, I have no affiliation whatsoever with VPI other than being a customer for just this one product. I am a competitor of theirs in other product lines.
For the development and testing of our products, and for my personal use, the HW-16.5 here has now recorded in excess of 150,000 cleaning cycles without any parts failures. The only issue that I have had to date is realigning the platter shaft in the motor arbor because the screws worked loose. It took about 30 minutes total to fix it.
Being in the business, one of our development projects has been to "build a better mousetrap" in regard to record cleaning machines. I can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the engineering that went into the functionality of the HW-16.5 is beyond reproach.
For instance, using the physics of vacuum and moving fluids, the pickup tube on the HW-16.5 is exactly the right size and the slot is exactly the right size to ensure that the spent record cleaning fluid is removed rather than dried on the surface of the record. Only someone with the ability and willingness to do the math could have worked this out.
Using the cloth strips to drastically reduce the venturi effect at the pickup orifice was also no accident. This is a result of Harry's knowledge of physics, and it also helps prevent dirty fluid from being dried on the surface of the record.
Concluding, I don't think you can find anything that will do the job better, and certainly not for the price. It's one of the true values in high-end audio.
Jim Pendleton
Osage Audio Products, LLC
I thought that I might chip in on this since I may have about as much experience using the HW-16.5 as anyone. It has been used regularly for our extensive laboratory testing.
First, I have no affiliation whatsoever with VPI other than being a customer for just this one product. I am a competitor of theirs in other product lines.
For the development and testing of our products, and for my personal use, the HW-16.5 here has now recorded in excess of 150,000 cleaning cycles without any parts failures. The only issue that I have had to date is realigning the platter shaft in the motor arbor because the screws worked loose. It took about 30 minutes total to fix it.
Being in the business, one of our development projects has been to "build a better mousetrap" in regard to record cleaning machines. I can tell you, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the engineering that went into the functionality of the HW-16.5 is beyond reproach.
For instance, using the physics of vacuum and moving fluids, the pickup tube on the HW-16.5 is exactly the right size and the slot is exactly the right size to ensure that the spent record cleaning fluid is removed rather than dried on the surface of the record. Only someone with the ability and willingness to do the math could have worked this out.
Using the cloth strips to drastically reduce the venturi effect at the pickup orifice was also no accident. This is a result of Harry's knowledge of physics, and it also helps prevent dirty fluid from being dried on the surface of the record.
Concluding, I don't think you can find anything that will do the job better, and certainly not for the price. It's one of the true values in high-end audio.
Jim Pendleton
Osage Audio Products, LLC