Audio Desk Record Cleaner

I second Wntrmute. DIY for less money.

I spent half the potential savings on an industrial grade 80 KHz machine, which puts more energy into tiny crevasses (like record grooves). The improvement over the 16.5 is huge - one Archiv record went from unlistenably noisy to averagely quiet.

Can't bear to think of what those (relatively) filthy records were doing to my expensive styli before - but never again.

sounds great...DIY.. drip drying records not my idea of a complete solution.

I do have a sort of DIY ultrasonic cleaner. I don't really know the Hz or how many watts it has. A local ultrasonic manufacture made one for me after I told them how big a bath I want. Basically big enough to submerge the whole LP with label cover. All I know is that it has 4 ultrasonic heads as the guy told me that I would need 4 for the amount of water capacity in the bath. It does a pretty good job in comparison to standard vaccuum machine but still a pain to have to take the LP out and use my record cleaner to dry the LP then use Furutech antistatic fan at the end.
For whatever reason, KLaudio unit which arrived a few days ago did a much better cleaning job than my DIY ultrasonic unit in less than half the time and is actually quite a bit more quiet. So my lesson is that not all ultrasonic bath are created equal unfortunately.
Now I have a giantic ultrasonic bath that is still really good to clean my glasses and wrist watch strap but not for my LPs anymore :)

My US cleaning process is:
1. ultrasonic bath, 15 minutes
2. reverse osmosis rinse
3. distilled water rinse
4. air dry

A simple frame with slow motor provides for the cleaning of 4 records at a time.

Total cost: a bit more than 2K.

Suteetat, the fact that your unit is noisy suggests that it operates at a lower frequency. Have you considered asking your manufacturer to increase the frequency to 80 KHz or more? Also, have you considered moving the record in the bath with a motor, so that no part of the record sits in a low energy dead spot for very long?

I have the Audio Desk and the KLaudio, both do a great job but to be sure exactly how much they differ, I must do more testing.

My overall impression with only a few days experience and half a dozen LPs, the KLaudio seems to be a bit more effective. By effective I mean the sound is a bit more transparent and background noise and pops are diminished.

Construction of each is good but the KLaudio is industrial strength and quality and after setting it up I understand why it has those super duty handles on each end. Very heavy, very well made and very fine finish.

The KLaudio is louder than the Audio Desk. I can actually hear the water being churned by the ultrasonic action, a high frequency vibration that hints at the power at the heart of the cleaning mechanism.

A couple of LPs I tested had previously been cleaned with VPI 17F, Odyssey RCM (German Keith Monks) and the Audio Desk became quieter after running through the KLaudio.

I also tested a couple of new LPs, fresh out of the jacket with the Audio Desk and KLaudio to see if the results repeated.

Both the clean and dry cycle times are adjustable on the KLaudio and when it's complete there is absolutely no trace of moisture. In fact the dry cycle can be run by itself, so if you clean an LP with the Audio Desk and it comes out with drips, you can run it through the KLaudio dry phase and it comes out spotless.

I'll likely have a stronger opinion after more LPs are cleaned but I think the Audio Desk and KLaudio are the best record cleaning machines on the market.