Home brew cleaning solution

I must say that although I was sceptical at first, I most certainly agree-- RRL products are by far the best I have tried.

There is a significant difference! I absolutely notice a much lower noise floor and blacker background. (I also use DD brushes and a VPI RCM with my RRL products.)

Galen Carol is certainly a pleasure to deal with, and provides awesome service too.

Not affiliated, YMMV etc--

Happy listening,

Richard

I agree with Richard & Doug. After countless threads here & on VA, RRL seems to be preferred by a significant margin. I like it. The only time I use anything else is when I have to sink clean an LP before it goes on the 16.5. I also like dealing with Galen; great prices & service.

As much as I like to tweak, I like to listen to music more. Screwing around trying to make a better mousetrap is fun for some things, but it does get ridiculous.

PS. Vodka will not work, send it to me!

Has anyone used the RRL fluids with the Allsop Orbitrac? I'm generally happy with the Orbitrac until I can afford a vacuum cleaning machine, but I'm about out of the OEM fluid. If the the RRL fluid is a suitable match I'd go that direction, given all the recommendations here

Armstrod,
I haven't used the Orbitrac, but I believe RRL would be at least as suitable as other solutions and more suitable than some.

Vacuuming is best of course, since any liquid that's not quickly vacuumed away will evaporate and re-deposit the crud it was holding in suspension back onto the vinyl. Given that (hopefully temporary) scenario, you want to use a liquid that is benign to your vinyl. RRL contains nothing that could harm vinyl if left on the record. It contains no detergents that could leave a residue of their own. It might actually be one of the better choices for an Orbitrac or other non-vacuuum method.

I have been doing A/B comparisons of RRL with my homebrew (distilled water with about 10% isopropyl and a few drops of detergent - no photoflow in the last batch). I must say that after 50 or more cleanings I don't hear any significant difference. This is not a knock on RRL products which seem to do an excellent job - but so does the homebrew.
One difference I did note which I would be interested in comments on is that the homebrew seems to disperse more easily on the record. A few drops wipped with the record brush dissappear into the grooves. The same amount of RRL seems to bead up more and sit on the surface. Has anyone else noted this? Again, I doesn't appear to matter since RRL does a good job. On dirty records, I have taken to doing a double cleaning with my homebrew first then an RRL rinse. I think the power of the vac is more of a factor in sucking out the dirt ... just my opinion.