Would work better if you weren’t required to flip the record over on to a dirty surface. At this moment I cleaned two records on my Pro-jest VC-S2 using the Phoenix Deluxe kit for the first time, minus the jig-saw pad and cloth. Will need the wife to go to bed before any listening tests. I like the idea of alcohol and enzymes in the mix which would get a lot of the crud out of the grooves. Surfactant level seems fine as I saw no beading of liquid and minimal suds.
Sometimes after cleaning an lp on my Audio Desk, there are water droplets still on the record. If I wipe them with the micro fiber cloth, there is a ton of static reintroduced back onto the lp. I now let cleaned lps air dry. I find the carbon brushes introduce static onto a freshly Audio Desk cleaned lp. My Mapleshade static zapper is the best thing I've used for getting rid of it unless I run through the Aduio Desk again.
I've been having an issue with this system. Many times after I clean off a record I put it back on the turntable and as it spins the needle picks up tons of lint that clumps up, affecting playback. I notice I'm not using nearly as much of the spray that the man in this video is using, could that be the problem? Let me know how to avoid this lint buildup situation.
Common mistake when drying, the technique in this demo turns the cloth one rotation per revolution, cutting across the grooves. We do not wipe our records by going around and around. Think of the cloth as a moon tidally locked to the record label. One side of the cloth should always face the label. The hand must be lifted once per revolution, to keep the cloth oriented in line with the groove.. (since otherwise we'd twist our arms into pretzels) Wipe half a revolution, stop and reverse your hand so that your fingers face the label, wipe the second half (actually 3/4, then complete the remaining 1/4 is easier) Proof: mark one side of the cloth with a dot (magic marker) Orient the cloth so the dot faces the label. At any point that dot does not face the label, you're doing it wrong.
It's obvious, Sleeve City doesn't know how to clean records. They take a dirty record, lay it on the cleaning mat, clean on side, flip it over and lay it on the same mat that the dirty side of the record had been laying and clean that side. Now they have one freshly cleaned side and one formerly cleaned side that just picked up the residue from the previously unclean side. As with any record cleaning process, dust both sides of the record first, clean one side, dust the cleaning surface, clean the other side of the record. Now you have a cleaned record. It's a good idea to put the record in a clean, unlined sleeve. The plastic lined sleeves tend to build up static!
Harley, There are many cleaning methods. This is a nice, affordable, and easy way to clean records. You have your own method, which is cool. However, all methods and cleaning machines with the exception of the $4000 ultrasonic cleaning machines have their drawbacks. You should try the GEM Dandy cleaning apparatus, which we have a video of. Then use a Spin Clean for a distilled water bath. BTW, if you wet clean a record and put it in a new anti static sleeve, you should not have any static. Paper sleeves are terrible for records. They are too abrasive and leave scuff marks, and dirt and dust WILL adhere to the sleeve and transfer on to your records.
Sleeve City Whatever tools you use to clean a record is OK. I use a VPI HW-17 and a toothbrush. I've used Discwasher for years, but they don't sell the D4 cleaner in a large size, and I have so many records that I'm NOT going to work with small bottles, can't afford it. What I am saying is you don't lay a dirty record on a cleaning surface, clean one side, flip it over and clean the other side. The dirty record will possibly leave dirt residue on the cleaning surface, won't it? At least dust the record before you lay it down. That's what I do with my VPI. AND, I dust the turntable on the VPI before cleaning one side, and again before I flip the record. I have been a record collector for well over 50 years and have records in perfect shape that have been stored in their original paper sleeves, older than me. Ofcourse, a dirty record in a sleeve makes a dirty sleeve. You've got to blow those paper sleeves out before you put the cleaned record back in it. The static in a plastic sleeve makes the dirt stick to it. It usually can't be just blown out, you have to rinse and/or wipe them out. I've purchased new records on the MFP label and have many records pressed by RTI. Both come in either plastic or plastic-lined sleeves, as well as other later HQ pressings. I've literally had to peel the plastic sleeves off of the records due to static. Cleaning on the VPI removes a lot of the static electricity.
Harley Davidson I can't disagree with most of what you say. However D4 is a detergent cleaner that if you look microscopically at the grooves you will find residue. This residue will become baked into the grooves through stylus friction. Alcohol can damage grooves if it's left on the record for too long in high concentrations. A formula of 3 parts distilled water (of your choice) 1 part 90% Isopropyl, with two drops of photoflo (which helps it spread evenly) is a safe formula. Glad you use a toothbrush to scrub. Records need to be scrubbed with whatever formula you use. If you believe paper doesn't scratch your records more power to you. I've found the opposite, especially with frequently used records. I use MA recording inners for my special records and Sleeve City Ultimate's for everything else. To each his own. Do you use outer sleeves?
Hel Gar As far as sleeves go, if the original inner sleeve is too good to through away, but looks nostalgicly cool, I slip it inside the record cover. Many times I will use a new paper sleeve, which I have purchased from a local record shop, Bags Unlimited and the latest purchased from Sleeve City. The record in the sleeve is kept outside the cover with a plastic sleeve covering everything. As far as paper sleeves go, being in the radio DJ field for years, we kept the singles in those heavy green paper commercial sleeves without a problem. In my personal promo record collection, most are in new regular weight white sleeves, or in good company sleeves. For my picture sleeves, I remove the record, place it in a new or company sleeve and put everything in a plastic sleeve. My acetate records are kept in the manufaturer's sleeve that they came in, just like the record companies do in there record libraries. Never had a problem. I've got a few Disney records from when they cleaned house and got rid of their file copies and they were all in company sleeves, new, for 40+ years. Your fomula sounds pretty good. I always wondered about the use of photoflo. But you can't use alcohol on 78's. I do those by hand using warm tapwater with a couple of drops of Dawn dishwashing detergent. I use the toothbrush to clean the grooves as well as a terrycloth washcloth. I rinse the record in warm water and dry it just like you would do with a dish. Never had a problem either, unless I got the label wet. Eventhough my VPI machine has it's own brush mounted, I also use the tooth brush to spread the fluid and to get the outside grooves. The machine then vacuums everything off the record and leaves no residue.
Harley Davidson Good cleaning methods. When I had a VPI 16.5 I would clean each record gently scrubbing with the VPI brush, vacuum, then rinse that side with distilled water. Turn over and repeat. Eventually the bottom of the VPI became dessicated. It served me well until then. Just last year I bought an Audio Desk and I sent the VPI to audio heaven. I clean each side and place it into one of the above mentioned sleeves. Many records whose covers have split I place into new white outers, place that behind the cover (with the original sleeve in the original cover). I like resealable sleeves specifically those sold by Sleeve City (man I sound like a shill for these guys). I personally believe Michael Fremer when he says no brush has bristles smaller than a records grooves. Therefore every brush merely pushes the dirt into the grooves. He has shown this microscopically. He says ultrasound cleaners removes everything to the bottom of the groove (again shown microscopically). I also know the sound of a record cleaned with a brush (or thread cleaner) is inferior to an ultrasonic cleaner. The caveat is of course the price. Also UC's don't clean 45's or 78's
Some people are concerned that the cloth might be a bit abrasive to their records, so I specifically mentioned that to allay their fears. If you are wet cleaning your records, you should not have a static problem with the cloth. If you do, there are any number of brushes that will help discharge static. Also, the Zerostat gun, while expensive, will always get rid of any static.
Sleeve City has been sending me emails claiming FREE shipping if someone spends $75. I have $120. in my cart and they won't let me checkout until I select a shipping option. There is NO FREE shipping option! I have emailed them about this and they have NOT responded for close to 2 hours now. Maybe they'll wait until the offer expires 7/18 before they respond to me?
Harley, the free shipping offer is completely valid and you will NOT be charged for shipping. Our customer service rep does not recall a message saying the coupon does not work. We are very easy to contact, email, live chat, or phone. Make sure you enter the COUPON CODE to get the free shipping.
Sleeve City I didn't realize that there was a coupon code. I clicked on chat and they told me about entering the coupon code, I found it on the email, went back and entered it. I had to create a new account, eventhough I have bought from you recently and you have been sending me promotional emails for some time now. Everything is OK now, Thank you.
just bought this kit.works great!I love the cleaning mat!
Would work better if you weren’t required to flip the record over on to a dirty surface. At this moment I cleaned two records on my Pro-jest VC-S2 using the Phoenix Deluxe kit for the first time, minus the jig-saw pad and cloth. Will need the wife to go to bed before any listening tests.
I like the idea of alcohol and enzymes in the mix which would get a lot of the crud out of the grooves. Surfactant level seems fine as I saw no beading of liquid and minimal suds.
Sometimes after cleaning an lp on my Audio Desk, there are water droplets still on the record. If I wipe them with the micro fiber cloth, there is a ton of static reintroduced back onto the lp. I now let cleaned lps air dry. I find the carbon brushes introduce static onto a freshly Audio Desk cleaned lp. My Mapleshade static zapper is the best thing I've used for getting rid of it unless I run through the Aduio Desk again.
Yes, droplets are occasionally a problem. After cleaning with and Audio Desk always allow a minute or two before playing.
I've been having an issue with this system. Many times after I clean off a record I put it back on the turntable and as it spins the needle picks up tons of lint that clumps up, affecting playback. I notice I'm not using nearly as much of the spray that the man in this video is using, could that be the problem? Let me know how to avoid this lint buildup situation.
I have same setup, but i use 50/50 water isopropyl alcohol solution and spray it on liberally the mix will dry quickly.
Common mistake when drying, the technique in this demo turns the cloth one rotation per revolution, cutting across the grooves. We do not wipe our records by going around and around. Think of the cloth as a moon tidally locked to the record label. One side of the cloth should always face the label. The hand must be lifted once per revolution, to keep the cloth oriented in line with the groove.. (since otherwise we'd twist our arms into pretzels) Wipe half a revolution, stop and reverse your hand so that your fingers face the label, wipe the second half (actually 3/4, then complete the remaining 1/4 is easier)
Proof: mark one side of the cloth with a dot (magic marker) Orient the cloth so the dot faces the label. At any point that dot does not face the label, you're doing it wrong.
It's obvious, Sleeve City doesn't know how to clean records. They take a dirty record, lay it on the cleaning mat, clean on side, flip it over and lay it on the same mat that the dirty side of the record had been laying and clean that side. Now they have one freshly cleaned side and one formerly cleaned side that just picked up the residue from the previously unclean side. As with any record cleaning process, dust both sides of the record first, clean one side, dust the cleaning surface, clean the other side of the record. Now you have a cleaned record. It's a good idea to put the record in a clean, unlined sleeve. The plastic lined sleeves tend to build up static!
Harley,
There are many cleaning methods. This is a nice, affordable, and easy way to clean records. You have your own method, which is cool. However, all methods and cleaning machines with the exception of the $4000 ultrasonic cleaning machines have their drawbacks. You should try the GEM Dandy cleaning apparatus, which we have a video of. Then use a Spin Clean for a distilled water bath. BTW, if you wet clean a record and put it in a new anti static sleeve, you should not have any static. Paper sleeves are terrible for records. They are too abrasive and leave scuff marks, and dirt and dust WILL adhere to the sleeve and transfer on to your records.
Sleeve City
Whatever tools you use to clean a record is OK. I use a VPI HW-17 and a toothbrush. I've used Discwasher for years, but they don't sell the D4 cleaner in a large size, and I have so many records that I'm NOT going to work with small bottles, can't afford it.
What I am saying is you don't lay a dirty record on a cleaning surface, clean one side, flip it over and clean the other side. The dirty record will possibly leave dirt residue on the cleaning surface, won't it?
At least dust the record before you lay it down. That's what I do with my VPI. AND, I dust the turntable on the VPI before cleaning one side, and again before I flip the record.
I have been a record collector for well over 50 years and have records in perfect shape that have been stored in their original paper sleeves, older than me. Ofcourse, a dirty record in a sleeve makes a dirty sleeve. You've got to blow those paper sleeves out before you put the cleaned record back in it. The static in a plastic sleeve makes the dirt stick to it. It usually can't be just blown out, you have to rinse and/or wipe them out.
I've purchased new records on the MFP label and have many records pressed by RTI. Both come in either plastic or plastic-lined sleeves, as well as other later HQ pressings. I've literally had to peel the plastic sleeves off of the records due to static. Cleaning on the VPI removes a lot of the static electricity.
Harley Davidson
I can't disagree with most of what you say. However D4 is a detergent cleaner that if you look microscopically at the grooves you will find residue. This residue will become baked into the grooves through stylus friction. Alcohol can damage grooves if it's left on the record for too long in high concentrations. A formula of 3 parts distilled water (of your choice) 1 part 90% Isopropyl, with two drops of photoflo (which helps it spread evenly) is a safe formula. Glad you use a toothbrush to scrub. Records need to be scrubbed with whatever formula you use. If you believe paper doesn't scratch your records more power to you. I've found the opposite, especially with frequently used records. I use MA recording inners for my special records and Sleeve City Ultimate's for everything else. To each his own. Do you use outer sleeves?
Hel Gar
As far as sleeves go, if the original inner sleeve is too good to through away, but looks nostalgicly cool, I slip it inside the record cover. Many times I will use a new paper sleeve, which I have purchased from a local record shop, Bags Unlimited and the latest purchased from Sleeve City. The record in the sleeve is kept outside the cover with a plastic sleeve covering everything.
As far as paper sleeves go, being in the radio DJ field for years, we kept the singles in those heavy green paper commercial sleeves without a problem. In my personal promo record collection, most are in new regular weight white sleeves, or in good company sleeves. For my picture sleeves, I remove the record, place it in a new or company sleeve and put everything in a plastic sleeve. My acetate records are kept in the manufaturer's sleeve that they came in, just like the record companies do in there record libraries. Never had a problem.
I've got a few Disney records from when they cleaned house and got rid of their file copies and they were all in company sleeves, new, for 40+ years.
Your fomula sounds pretty good. I always wondered about the use of photoflo. But you can't use alcohol on 78's. I do those by hand using warm tapwater with a couple of drops of Dawn dishwashing detergent. I use the toothbrush to clean the grooves as well as a terrycloth washcloth. I rinse the record in warm water and dry it just like you would do with a dish. Never had a problem either, unless I got the label wet.
Eventhough my VPI machine has it's own brush mounted, I also use the tooth brush to spread the fluid and to get the outside grooves. The machine then vacuums everything off the record and leaves no residue.
Harley Davidson
Good cleaning methods. When I had a VPI 16.5 I would clean each record gently scrubbing with the VPI brush, vacuum, then rinse that side with distilled water. Turn over and repeat. Eventually the bottom of the VPI became dessicated. It served me well until then. Just last year I bought an Audio Desk and I sent the VPI to audio heaven. I clean each side and place it into one of the above mentioned sleeves. Many records whose covers have split I place into new white outers, place that behind the cover (with the original sleeve in the original cover). I like resealable sleeves specifically those sold by Sleeve City (man I sound like a shill for these guys). I personally believe Michael Fremer when he says no brush has bristles smaller than a records grooves. Therefore every brush merely pushes the dirt into the grooves. He has shown this microscopically. He says ultrasound cleaners removes everything to the bottom of the groove (again shown microscopically). I also know the sound of a record cleaned with a brush (or thread cleaner) is inferior to an ultrasonic cleaner. The caveat is of course the price. Also UC's don't clean 45's or 78's
why would a micro fiber cloth hurt a vinyl record?
It doesn't - microfibre cloths also come with the SpinClean systems
It doesn't hurt vinyl, just adds tons of static electricity.
that is for sure...
It doesn't add that much static electricity - but that can be mitigated with a brush (carbon fibre).
Some people are concerned that the cloth might be a bit abrasive to their records, so I specifically mentioned that to allay their fears. If you are wet cleaning your records, you should not have a static problem with the cloth. If you do, there are any number of brushes that will help discharge static. Also, the Zerostat gun, while expensive, will always get rid of any static.
Sleeve City has been sending me emails claiming FREE shipping if someone spends $75. I have $120. in my cart and they won't let me checkout until I select a shipping option. There is NO FREE shipping option! I have emailed them about this and they have NOT responded for close to 2 hours now. Maybe they'll wait until the offer expires 7/18 before they respond to me?
Harley, the free shipping offer is completely valid and you will NOT be charged for shipping. Our customer service rep does not recall a message saying the coupon does not work. We are very easy to contact, email, live chat, or phone. Make sure you enter the COUPON CODE to get the free shipping.
Sleeve City
I didn't realize that there was a coupon code. I clicked on chat and they told me about entering the coupon code, I found it on the email, went back and entered it. I had to create a new account, eventhough I have bought from you recently and you have been sending me promotional emails for some time now. Everything is OK now, Thank you.