The Mighty Quinn
05-02-2014, 04:39
Hello Everyone,
I received my new VPI HW-17i in the mail today.
As you might imagine, I have been practicing cleaning records for the last few hours. I am using the 8 oz bottle of VPI cleaning solution that came with the unit. I also have a squeezer bottle with high purity (18 Mohm) reverse osmosis/de-ionized water at my disposal. Here are my first impressions of the machine:
1.) I have to say that I am extremely impressed with the apparent build quality of the HW-17. I was thinking that this was going to be an overpriced, flimsy plastic box that somehow got the job done, but this appears to be one solidly built unit.
2.) When I saw the results of my first cleaning, I was nearly giddy. I have never seen a record gleam like that.
3.) Upon playing my first "clean" record, I noticed the expected lower surface noise and frequency of "ticks and pops". Surprisingly, I also noticed a bit more bass extension. I was not expecting the additional bass. It might be that I increased the volume a bit upon hearing the lower surface noise, but I cannot be sure.
Ok, that was the good stuff. But I am having a couple issues with the HW-17:
1.) The cleaned side of the record seems to pick up an unacceptable amount of dust and debris from the cork pad. How can this be avoided? It seems impossible not to transfer dust and debris from the dirty side of the record to the cork pad, and then back again to the cleaned side. How do you guys deal with this?
2.) When following VPI's instructions, I notice a distinct line of residue on the dead wax that coincides to the location where the vacuum brush separates from the record surface. I found that I can eliminate this by repeating the wash cycle using high purity water applied using a squeezer bottle. Does anyone else perform a final "rinse" cycle?
3.) The VPI solution does not appear to adequately wet the surface of the record. A few inches after departing from the dispensing brush I see regions of "dry" vinyl surface forming. It seems like the surface tension of the VPI solution is too high. Anyone else see this? It seems to me that if there are localized areas of non-wetting on the record surface, the solution is probably not penetrating the grooves in these regions and not cleaning thoroughly. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
4.) Anyone use compressed air in a can to pre-dust the surface of the record to minimize dust transfer to the cork pad?
5.) How do you guys clean the dust and debris from the cork pad?
Thanks everyone!
Cheers,
Quinn
I received my new VPI HW-17i in the mail today.
As you might imagine, I have been practicing cleaning records for the last few hours. I am using the 8 oz bottle of VPI cleaning solution that came with the unit. I also have a squeezer bottle with high purity (18 Mohm) reverse osmosis/de-ionized water at my disposal. Here are my first impressions of the machine:
1.) I have to say that I am extremely impressed with the apparent build quality of the HW-17. I was thinking that this was going to be an overpriced, flimsy plastic box that somehow got the job done, but this appears to be one solidly built unit.
2.) When I saw the results of my first cleaning, I was nearly giddy. I have never seen a record gleam like that.
3.) Upon playing my first "clean" record, I noticed the expected lower surface noise and frequency of "ticks and pops". Surprisingly, I also noticed a bit more bass extension. I was not expecting the additional bass. It might be that I increased the volume a bit upon hearing the lower surface noise, but I cannot be sure.
Ok, that was the good stuff. But I am having a couple issues with the HW-17:
1.) The cleaned side of the record seems to pick up an unacceptable amount of dust and debris from the cork pad. How can this be avoided? It seems impossible not to transfer dust and debris from the dirty side of the record to the cork pad, and then back again to the cleaned side. How do you guys deal with this?
2.) When following VPI's instructions, I notice a distinct line of residue on the dead wax that coincides to the location where the vacuum brush separates from the record surface. I found that I can eliminate this by repeating the wash cycle using high purity water applied using a squeezer bottle. Does anyone else perform a final "rinse" cycle?
3.) The VPI solution does not appear to adequately wet the surface of the record. A few inches after departing from the dispensing brush I see regions of "dry" vinyl surface forming. It seems like the surface tension of the VPI solution is too high. Anyone else see this? It seems to me that if there are localized areas of non-wetting on the record surface, the solution is probably not penetrating the grooves in these regions and not cleaning thoroughly. Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated.
4.) Anyone use compressed air in a can to pre-dust the surface of the record to minimize dust transfer to the cork pad?
5.) How do you guys clean the dust and debris from the cork pad?
Thanks everyone!
Cheers,
Quinn