Australian HiFi – May 2019

Onsome,the

improvement was

modest,butwiththe

messiest records,the

resultswerehuge

Whenyou’vedoneoneside,youflipthe

LPoveranddotheotherside.

Alsoprovidedis a placetoputthealbums

todry.Thisis a simplya spindle,about

160mmtall,thatsticksupfroma stand.The

standis,cutely,madefromanoldalbum.

Therearetenspacersprovided,soyoucan

treattenalbumsata time,andthenjustlet

themdry.Alsosuppliedis a smallcupfor

pouringthefluid,plusa brushtoapplyit.

Theinstructionssaythatwitha fan

forgoodairflow,theycoulddrywithinan

hour,butthatwilldependontemperature,

humidityandhowthickyouputthestuff

on.It’snotinexpensive,soyou’llbetempted

tousetherecommended5mmoffluidper

side.Onceit hasdried—it’svisuallyobvious

whenit has—youputa bitofstickytape

onthefilmandpullit up.Dryingtimewas

ratherlongerthananhourforme,butI’m

inCanberraandI wasdoingthetestingin

winter.Bepatient.

I foundthat

with5mlper

side,therewasa

tendencyforthe

filmtotear,and

thatmeant

dab-

bingatthesurfacewithmorestickytapeto

getupstrandsleftinthegrooves.I found

twowaystodealwiththis.Onewastousea

bitmorefluid,whichmadethefilmthicker

andthusstronger.Thebetterwaywasto

usetherecommendedamount,andwhenit

haddried,putplentyofstickytapeoverthe

filmbeforepullingit up.I used50mmwide

packingtape.It tooklongerbutit provided

verysureresults.If youdouse5mloffluid

perside,the110mlofESPprovidedwiththe

systemwilldoelevenLPs.Themosteconom-

icalwaytodomoreis topurchasetwoofthe

larger(275ml)bottlesofESPata timefor

$94.95.Thatwillworkouttoa marginalcost

ofa littleover$1.70perLP.

VRCSPERFORMANCE

Andyouknowwhat?It worked.Well,it

workedonrecordsinwhichtherewasaudi-

bledirtinthegrooves.It madenodifference

totherecordsfrommyowncollectionon

whichI triedit.It can’trepairdamage.It can

onlyremovedirtanddebris.

Insome,theimprovementwasmodest.

Butwiththemessiestrecords,theresults

werehuge.Takea moviesoundtrackalbum

I pickedupcalledExodus.Thesamplein

Graph1 aboveis a tensecondsectionfrom

themiddleofthetitletrack.Thereareall

mannerofloudclicksasthissectionplays.

Aftera turnthroughtheVRCS,it retained

somesmallclicks(andtherewerestillsome

bigoneselsewhereontherecord),butmost

wereeliminated.Don’ttakemywordforit.

Lookatthewaveformimagesandplaythe

soundfilesusingthelinks.

AnotherwasLeonardBernsteinconduct-

ingHolst’s,‘ThePlanets’.Playthesample

showninGraph3 andyou’llseethatit’sto-

tallyunlistenable.It’sstillprettyunlistenable

aftera treatmentwithVCRS,butonlyabout

a tenthasunlistenable.Eveninthehigh

modulationsectionatthestart,theclicksand

noisesarepoweringthroughintheoriginal.

VCRStamesthem.Thequietbitfollowingis

particularlyrevealing.

I gavethisonea secondtreatmenttosee

if perhapstherewereanystubbornparticles

thatcouldberemovedsecondtimearound.I

didn’treallynoticeanydifference,although

somewerevisibleonthewaveforms.Soclear-

lytherewerea fewspecksofdirtremaining

fromthefirstapplicationthatcameoffwith

thesecond.WhenI listenedforthemspecif-

icallyI couldtell.Butoverallit madelittle

difference.

VinylRecordCleaningSystem

$189.95

(02) 90436267

http://www.vinylrecordcleaningsystem.com

ON TEST

62 Australian Hi-Fi ˹˹˹ƖŘˁʊǒǔǞƖƋɁȧ

Graph 1. Exodus movie soundtrack prior to cleaning.

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