Australian HiFi – May 2019

COnclusion

Tomethisexplorationofrecord
cleaningoptionshasbeenbothrevelatory
anddepressing.Thelatterbecauseit has
forcedmetoacceptthatmuchofthenoise
onmyLPcollectionshallremainthereforev-
ermore,orperhapsgetworseovertime.
Butit hasbeena revelationthatif a record
trulyis dirty,it canbecleaned.Andit canbe
cleanedinwaysasdifferentasthatofferedby
theSpin-CleanortheVRCS.

Andallfourofthesesystemsworked.

Butdoesoneworkbetterthananoth-

er?I followedupontheSpin-Clean-ingof

severalrecordsbysubjectingthemtoVRCS

treatment.Theimprovement?Minimalto

nothing.I followedtheVRCScleaningofan

albumwitha decentgoontherecordclean-

ingmachine.Thedifference?NothingI could

see.Eachofthesystemsseemedtobecapable

ofdoingthejobonitsown.

Allthatsaid,if you’vetenderlycaredfor

yourrecordsovertheyears,practicingeffec-

tivevinylhygiene,thennoneofthemmay

doanythingforyou.If youareuncertain,

giveit a try.Somerecordshopsoffercleaning

services.Payfora coupleofyourrecordsto

becleaned,andseeif it makesa difference.

Orsenda fewLPstotheVCRSpeople(check

thewebsitefordetails)forcleaning.It costsa

fewbuckseach,butyoucanseewhetheryou

findit worthwhile.

Finally,if youdostartcleaningyour

records,investinnewinnersleevestohold

them.It makessensetokeepyournewly

cleanedrecordsclean. StephenDawson

Thiswasa monodiscandseemstohave
been released some sixty years ago. Again,
most of the clicks and pops were eliminated,
revealing a glorious performance (Graph 16).
Another little treasure I found in a charity
shop, and which the Kirmuss cleaner recov-

eredforme,wasana cappellaarrangementof

Nicolas Saboly’s ‘Douze Noels Provencaux’.

Again, the noise was mostly removed,as

was one giant spot of something-or-other.

I helped get rid of that when applyingthe

surfactant between blasts of sonic power.

Onceit wasgone,whathadmadethestylus

jumpbackcontinuallyleftnohintofsound.

KirmussAudioKA-RC-1Ultrasonic

RecordCleaner

$1,999

TelosAudioDistributors

RECORD CLEANERS

Australian Hi-Fi 67

Graph 13. Crosby, Stills & Nash prior to cleaning.
®ŭƯŢēǠŗěðƧLJLJLJ̻ðdžļƯċ̻ČŭŠ̻ðỨI ̆ ̊®'

Graph 15.ěěƧļŭdžěŢ͕ÙŁŭŗŁŢ ŭŢČěƓƧŭŁŢ'͕ƐƓŁŭƓƧŭČŗěðŢŁŢĴ̻
®ŭƯŢēǠŗěðƧLJLJLJ̻ðdžļƯċ̻ČŭŠ̻ðỨI ̆ ̃®'

Graph 17.®ðċŭŗǍ͕'ŭƯǗěuŭěŗƛ£ƓŭdžěŢČðƯnj͕ƐƓŁŭƓƧŭČŗěðŢŁŢĴ̻
®ŭƯŢēǠŗěðƧLJLJLJ̻ðdžļƯċ̻ČŭŠ̻ðỨI ̆˞®'

Graph 14. ƓŭƛċǍ̶®ƧŁŗŗƛϽuðƛļðijƧěƓČŗěðŢŁŢĴLJŁƧļgŁƓŠƯƛƛƯēŁŭg͘¦ ͘ ̻̆

®ŭƯŢēǠŗěðƧLJLJLJ̻ðdžļƯċ̻ČŭŠ̻ðỨI ̆ ̨®'

Graph 16.ěěƧļŭdžěŢ͕ÙŁŭŗŁŢ ŭŢČěƓƧŭŁŢ'͕ðijƧěƓČŗěðŢŁŢĴLJŁƧļgŁƓŠƯƛƛƯēŁŭ

g͘¦ ͘ ̻̆®ŭƯŢēǠŗěðƧLJLJLJ̻ðdžļƯċ̻ČŭŠ̻ðỨI ̆ ̋®'

Graph 18. ®ðċŭŗǍ͕'ŭƯǗěuŭěŗƛ£ƓŭdžěŢČðƯnj͕ðijƧěƓČŗěðŢŁŢĴLJŁƧļgŁƓŠƯƛƛƯēŁŭ

g͘¦ ͘ ̻̆®ŭƯŢēǠŗěðƧLJLJLJ̻ðdžļƯċ̻ČŭŠ̻ðỨI ̆˟®'

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