tolerant of LP noise, although still desirous of
removing it. I guess that a click or pop isn’t
quite the disaster as it was when it affected a
record that cost one a week’s full income.
So, with the approval of our editor, I
decided to test some cleaning solutions.
One dates from back in my youth. This is
a simple cleaning solution bath and brush,
conveniently designed for effective operation.
The second is a record cleaning machine.
The third is an Australian development,
and it takes a very different approach. And
the fourth is a high-tech device which uses
ultrasound.
LIMITATIONS
Now, before we start cleaning let us under-
stand a few things.
First, cleaning many not improve your re-
cords at all. When I started cleaning records,
the results were distinctly disappointing. The
little ticks and tocks characteristic of vinyl
were still there afterwards. Along with always
promptly returning albums to their sleeves,
and always playing them with the turntable
lid closed, it seemed that my record-playing
hygiene had been effective. The noises in the
grooves of those forty year old records were
perhaps inherent in the pressing, or perhaps
as a result of other damage. But they didn’t
seem to be the result of dirt.
So I went searching for ‘new’ old records. I
found some at an antique shop. I found some
more at a second-hand record dealer.
And then I found the mother lode.My
local recycler had four shelves of LPs,mostly
classical, and they were cheap, so Iboughta
few dozen of them.
Second thing to understand: evenif a
record is dirty, cleaning may not bethesolu-
tion. The predominant record playerupuntil
at least the 1970s, and perhaps later,used
a ceramic cartridge tracking at 10 ormore
grams... and often one with a badly-worn
stylus. All too often the cartridge wasmono,
which meant no vertical compliance,which
meant increased wear and a brute forcecon-
version of the groove itself to mono.
The combination of those thingsshows
up most in highly modulated sectionsofthe
recording. It isn’t subtle. The orchestraswells
and, as it does, it gets rattly. The onlysolu-
tion for those LPs, really, is the garbagebin.
Digital noise reduction can help withclicks
and pops, but not that kind of modulation
damage to a groove. If it’s a performanceyou
love, search for a new copy.
Other records may have been otherwise
poorly treated. Cleaning isn’t goingto
remove scratches or anything else whichhas
impacted on the physical form of thevinyl
itself.
That said, visual inspection oftendoesn’t
help. Yes, if you see a deep scratch youcan
be certain you’ll hear it. But surfacescratches
often don’t reach down to the pointofstylus
contact with the groove, and so canoften
escape audibility.TheLPsI bought,especiallytheonesfrom
therecyclingplace,coveredquitetherange.
Mostwerescuffedandsomeweresimply
filthy,otherslookedpristine...butnotone
ofthemsoundedpristine.Andnoneofthem
wasfullyrepairedbyanycleaningmethod.
Someweren’timprovedatall.Butquitea few
weremarkedlyimproved.
Theproblemis thatyou’renotgoingto
beabletotellwhichwillbenefitinadvance.
It’sverymucha matterofcleaningfirst,and
thenseeingif it worked.TESTING
I didnotwantreaderstohavetotakemy
wordforanyimprovements.And,indeed,in
someinformaltestsI didbeforegettingright
intoit,I foundmyselfquitedisappointedby
thelackofeffectivenessofonecleaner.Then
I realisedthatI wassimplyhavingtrouble
comparingthecleanedrecordtomyrecollec-
tionofwhatit hadsoundedlikebefore.
So,I startedrecording.I useda RegaPla-
nar3 turntablewithRegaExactmoving-mag-
netcartridge,andtheniftylittleRegaFono
MiniA2Dphonopreamplifier.Thepre-amp
hasananalogue-to-digitalconverterbuiltin.
I pluggedit intotheUSBsocketofmycom-
puterandrecordeda lotofLPs,immediately
beforeandsoonaftercleaningthem.Ineach
casetheonlycleaningI didbeforethefirst
recordingwaswithanoldcarbonfibrebrush,
justtoremoveloosedust.Andofcourse,I
cleanedthestylusaftereachrecordplaying.01
This is an Australian development,
and a decidedly non-traditional approach.
There’s fluid, but no water. You can do a little
brushing and working in of the fluid if you
like, but that’s not really how to use it. Here’s
how it works: you apply an amber fluid—no,
not that amber fluid—over the groove area of
the album. Then you let it dry. It forms a thin
film, thinner I’d hazard, than Glad Wrap.
Then, after it’s dried, you pull it off. The
idea is that all the foreign matter in the
groove will have stuck to the film, perhaps
been encompassed by it, and so come off
with the film.
Now, you may have seen talk on the
internet of doing the same thing with wood
glue. I myself did try it on one old LP, just to
see if the glue would come off again. The glue
suggested in the US-centric discussions can be
found in Australia, but it’s not all that easy to
get. I tried plain old Aquadhere. It did come
off, and it did seem to remove a few loud
clicks, but it also added some because it was
hard to apply consistently and thusdifficult
to entirely remove. Feel free to do yourown
experiments.
The basic concept of the VRCS issimilar.
But the basic concept of cutting downa tree
with a chainsaw is similar to cuttingit down
with a handsaw. The former is ‘wayeasierand
more effective.
The VRCS system is a well thought-out
package. The fluid—it’s called EasySpread
n’ Peel, or ‘ESP’—has been designedforthe
purpose. It’s thicker than wood glue,more
controllable when you’re spreadingit,and
it dries much faster. But it’s the extraparts
of the package that make it all work.First,it
comes with a turntable that goes aroundona
bearing. That makes it easy to applythefluid,
because you can put the LP on theturntable
and rotate it with one hand while wielding
the application brush with the other.Two
spacers the size of an LP’s centre labelare
provided. These hold the LP clear oftheturn-
table and clamp it in place.VRCS - THE VINYL RECORD
CLEANING SYSTEM
RECORD CLEANERS
Australian Hi-Fi 61