Record Care Regime can i do better ?

[Swann36]

Record care regime

What i do….can it be improved ? have i missed a trick somewhere ? or am i doing this ok ?

All records get a wash using Knosti Disco Anti-Stat with their own brand cleaning fluid, I do 10 rotations each way…. I then spin them again in a 2nd Knosti bath filled with de-ionised water (4 rotations each way) and leave to air dry (often overnight) in the rack that Knosti provide.

Then they get a new anti-static inner either Nagaoka 102 or Spincare Hikari 12" Anti Static Inner Vinyl LP Record Sleeves.

I intend to do this “wash clean” once a year …having now cleaned my smallish collection of some 300 LPs plus cleaning any new or new to me discs I acquire as I go along, prior to playing.

For the Stylus Prior to each session I use (a newly acquired) Flux hifi electronic stylus cleaner along with its supplied liquid for the pad.

After each record has been played I dip the stylus into Vinyl Passion DustBuster gel.

Prior to playing each side I use a carbon anti-static brush upon the record.

I’m also considering getting some Big Fudge Vinyl Record Outer Sleeves 12" LP, crystal clear & made from High-Density Polypropylene, 3 mil Thick, 12.75” x 12.75”

I have seen somewhere on you tube about taking the records out of gatefold covers so the vinyl doesn’t warp in them near the fold and basically putting them inside the album cover rather than inside the slot they usually reside in and then the new outer sleeves around all of that …thoughts ?

I use NEO-100LP Aluminium Storage DJ Cases to keep my albums in, but other suggestions are welcome..the house has coal fires plus a cat so not sure about on shelves although i'd like to have some displayed

For info my kit is Atmo Sfera TT with Ortofon Quintet Black S cartridge, Chord Clearway cable to Pathos in the Groove phono, MCRU Pure Silver semi balanced XLR cables to Minute EL34 integrated amp, Tellurium Q Ultra Black II speaker cables to Klipsch Quartets, whilst Tannoy Berkeleys are being worked upon.

If i have posted this in the wrong place kindly move for me Mods ..

[AJSki2fly]

Hi, seems you have done what most people do who care for and love vinyl and want to get the best out of it. I went down the same route and used a Knosti Disco Anti-Stat kit, initially with their fluid and then I tried various others, but never felt it fully worked.

I did lots of investigation I ended up making my own manual cleaning turntable and a modified wet/dry vacuum to remove fluid from records after cleaning, and I use a 3 stage cleaning process, first with a mix of 25% of Isopopryl Alcohol 99.9% pure, 75% distilled Water, and Ilford Ilkitol release agent (1ml to 1Lt of mix), then hoover off, then a L'Art du Son mix(an enzyme cleaner), then vacuum off, then rinse with distilled water and vacuum dry. Records go into new polypropylene sleeves. This process works reasonably well on records that are not too bad(dirty) in the first place, I have noted that sometimes 2 or 3 cleans are needed. However it has become clear to see that it does not always remove grease from finger prints and probably not tobacco/smoke grime.

So I am about to invest in a £350-400 ultrasonic record cleaner. Which after asking on several forums many have said this is the way to go. I will combine this with a rinse with distilled water and vacuum dry after being in the U/S bath.

I hope the helps.

Spider on WAM makes and sell an Ultrasonic cleaner see https://velvetvortex.com and https://www.hifiwigwam.com/forum/topic/127148-homemade-ultrasonic-vinyl-cleaner/page/6/

[graham67]

A proper record cleaner will be an improvement, I started with a knosti which TBH was a pain to use and made the centre label wet.

I use art du son and purified water which cleans many hundreds of lps and only needs one clean to get the record looking and sounding great.

If the machine works well you are less likely to put it off!
And I wouldn't worry about cleaning once a year, just do it when it looks dirty under a revealing LED light.

And of course new sleeve liners as mentioned above.

[Manicatel]

I would step up to a ProJect wet/vacuum record cleaner. It really does a great job. I agree that if the records are clean & kept in decent liners, you don’t need to do this every year.
If the records are clean, I wouldn’t bother cleaning the stylus with fluid before every session.
I use a light sweep with an anti-static carbon fibre record brush before Playing a record & every few sides, probably a light brush with a stylus brush such as the Ortofon one. At the end of a long session, or maybe once a week, I use an AT637 vibrating stylus cleaner. I do have some Lyra SPT fluid but rarely use it.

[chrisph]

Sounds like you have a very thorough and no doubt effective process. Your collection should be in tip top condition.

Have heard very positive comments about the ProJect wet/vacuum record cleaner.

I have one of Spider's Ultrasonic cleaners and that does a very good job, albeit very noisily.

[Caber10]

I have a project record cleaner and use home brew 25% IPA and distilled water and a few drops of photo wetting agent. I think it works every well even getting finger prints at unexplained muck off.

I buy quite a lot of second hand vinyl and always clean and re sleeve before playing. The only unsuccessful clean is on a disk that I think was used on a wet play system, several cleans later it still crackles but looks shiny and clean.

So far I have never felt it necessary to re clean a disk however they don’t get played that often. I do tend to
Use a carbon fibre duster before playing if I see any hint of dust and use an ortophon brush on the stylus about once a session and after any very noisy disk just in case!

I am currently using a goldring 1024 on a rega arm on a Dunlop systemdek this is all working well for me to listen to the music rather than obsess over the system[emoji2]


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[RobbieGong]

Always a good thread - Stylus care / keeping your vinyl clean :thumbsup:.

For those like me who presently cant afford an RCM, this link https://thevinylfactory.com/features/8-easy-and-affordable-ways-to-clean-your-vinyl-records-by-hand/ has some bits I think some will find useful.

A regime using a combination of some these, coupled with decent anti static sleeves works well too IMO / IME and doesn't cost the earth :)

[Caber10]

At £20 for a new LP a record cleaner and buying second hand and charity shop LPs nicely cleaned you can soon recoup the cost[emoji1787][emoji1787][emoji1787]


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[Swann36]

Thanks for all the replies so far .... I'm a bit time pressured this weekend so this is simply to say a quick thank you and i will as soon as i get some time respond in a much fuller way to the specific replies ....if others want to put their thoughts thats great i'm very open to learning from those who are much further on in this hobby ...:)

[Andy Weston]

This was all really informative & I will be investing in a few items mentioned. Thankyou

[The Vinyl Adventure]

The new model Knosti MKII + is a vast improvement over the original model in the red box, the rinsing kit is what I recommended to many people over the years its a no brainer.

For 300 LP's no sense wasting money on a Pro-Ject machine IMO.

The best RCM fluid is called The Right One (based on the fact I have used every RCM fluid known to man over the last 30 years (MoFi/Monks/Moth/L'art du son/etc etc)

Many people make up their own, I would rather get it right as I treasure my vinyl collection and these home brew mixtures never seem quite right to me.

Knosti's own fluid does a good job also.

[Clarke]

Hi, I recently got the Knosti V2, which, although it was my first, thought it did a very good job.

However, one reason I went for the V2, was the rubber seal, so it was very disappointing to see that it was too small, leaving about 0.5mm of label showing. On most records this was not an issue as they dried ok, but one one it has permanently left a few marks. A basic error for a new design. I have seen that someone offers a fix with a larger, new rubber seal, so might try that.

Also, I had read that the supplied mixture leaves residue in the needle, so opted to buy another solution.

Just wanted to offer these tips.

Thanks