Quote Originally Posted by magiccarpetride View Post
I'm in the same boat -- never occurred to me that shrink-wrapped LPs would ever need cleaning. Until a friend explained to me that not only will new LPs sound much better after being cleaned, but the stylus will last longer etc.

When you think about it for a moment, record pressing plants are not exactly a surgically clean environment. There's lots of dust and other particles flying around, and any time you're handling vinyl, static builds up and attracts, like a magnet, those air borne particles. They then dive deep into the grooves, hence the sound on most brand new LPs is not always all it can be
Reporting that I have made up my first litre of cleaning fluid ( 800mL distilled water, 200 mL isopropyl alc, 5 mL Ilfotol)
Used on a China made VPI clone.
Absolutely super stuff. Brilliant on old grimey records and on new vinyl.
Yes, I will be cleaning all my recently acquired new vinyl.