Record Cleaning - part 3: Ultrasonic machines: The HumminGuru - should you buy one? My verdict 

So I clicked to see if I should invest in this machine, an hour later it's clear as mud!

Dave... I happened upon your channel. I am a lucky Man. You have a perfect way to explain in clear concise language the facts, and that in itself is no easy feat. Kudos!

This is probably the most useful test of the Humminguru on RU-vid. Your past experience cleaning records and a system (as well as a set of ears) capable of resolving the differences between the various methods puts this review well above the pack. Looking forward to the Degritter review :)

Thanks Dave. Very thorough review. Looking forward to the next part!

That makes sense. Thanks.

For filtering, when putting the "water" back into the tank, i use a kind of duble filtering, by using the filter from and older Discwasher manuel record cleaner, sitting on the top of the HG slot, when poring down the "water" for a new cycle. It will keep the HG filter from ware out and keep it prety clean, before using a new one. I think all these things has to be concidered, when using the HG, as Dave does so good here. A good starting point, you can reach by reading the manual. But to come up with new ways of doing this, can be very rewarding (imo). I thank u Dave, for taking your time with this subject, which is always an on-going process for all Audiophiles and record collectors. I started 6 years ago, experimenting on cleaning records. From my own solutions, to well known chem solutions, like L´art and MOFI cleaning liquids. Wen´t from the cheap Discwasher to a Project VC, and now i´m trying out the HumminGuru. I also found out, that doing it in steps, involving the Project as a kind of "headcleaner", and finishing of with a rinse on the HumminGuru, seems to work best for me. A 2 min cleaning cycle on the HG, is not enough (at all). Even new records doesen´t really benefirt from the 2 min cleaning. So i´m close to have experienced the same as u Dave. But always good to be comfirmed ;-) Cheers from Denmark.

Thanks so much for this video Dave. Your results were much as I expected.

Great review again Dave! I do a very similar routine but in reverse. I use the Humming guru first with surfactant and then clean with surfactant on a vacuum machine and rinse on vacuum. Works great

Really grateful for the time and effort you spent on this. I found the info invaluable. Thanks 👋

I’ve has a KLaudio LP200 since late 2003. It is industrial grade and hands free Done over 4000 lps Wonderful low noise floor, removes static, brings out low level details and microdynamics Many used records go up a grade in condition and new records benefit greatly as well

spot on David--I have the H'Guru and use distilled H2O only--does a good job for the $$...JG

that was a in-depth review. Thanks for taking the time.

This is so helpful to me. Thank you so much.

Dave, I’m really impressed with your thoroughness of testing in this video and agree it’s the best review of its kind so far. This must have taken you a huge amount of time to undertake all the testing you described. I purchased the Humminguru (HG) through the Kickstarter and think it’s great value and performs very well at it’s price point (I do believe it’s unfair to compare it against much more expensive Degritter, KL, etc). Through trial and error my cleaning routine aligns with your recommendations pretty closely. For a complete clean I do an initial clean with a a SpinClean using their wash solution, then one 5 min clean in the HG with distilled water with surfactant (routinely I use G-sonic US cleaner but I have tried Tergiklean & Kodak Photoflow which also work well) and a final 5 min rinse in pure distilled water with the 10 min dry cycle (I source my distilled H2O from hardware store which although not pharmaceutical grade is sufficiently pure for record cleaning and much cheaper in comparison). I batch my records for cleaning as you suggested and typically wash ~5-6 in one batch where I rack them after the first surfactant clean and then run them through the rinse dry cycle individually. I also use a second HG tank so I simply swap tanks between surfactant and rinse cycles. This for me is the most efficient way to clean. It typically takes a few hours to get through 12-20 records. One more thing I do is to let the records air dry in a rack for a couple of hours after the final cycle in the HG. I was warned by a cartridge rebuilder of the risks to your cartridge of playing a record that wasn’t completely dry. I really enjoy your channel. Keep up the good work.

Hi Dave great video. Got my loricraft came from avid audio. Very pleased with it. Having had cheaper machines. I’m just using my own tincture until it’s finished might go on to the clearaudio solution.

I still don’t have a record cleaner, been looking into it for a good while now, at least 30 years, but I just get discouraged by all the trouble it takes. I once rented a VPI from my dealer, my wife took the kid and left to her parents place for the weekend. I watched your last hummingguru video and the noise it made sounded like it was going to break any minute and you now confirm that it needs a pre chemical wash for it to be really beneficial. Until they find something simple I’ll stick to diamond cleaning. I’m pretty certain that if a stylus did not work with a diamond, let’s say it’s only a metal rod as before, someone would of invented this amazing record cleaner that uses a pure diamond at the end of the stylus. Also a chorus of people would scream; “IT’S DAMAGING YOUR RECORDS”. Thanks for your videos though it’s good to be informed. You basically came to the same conclusion as your compatriot, the audiophile man. Actually I owe the audiophile man an apology, I thought the guy was exaggerating with the length of cleaning time it needs to be really efficient. Thanks again, very appreciated.

Thanks for all the work in this video! I have the Project, the Kirmuss and the Humminguru. I found the Kirmuss method ineffective. I then started using homemade fluid in the Kirmuss. 6 liters of distilled water, 300ml of 99% iso alcohol, 3ml of Triton X-100, 3 ml of Hepastat 256. I followed that with a distilled water rinse on the Project. This yielded excellent results but I felt like it could still be better. I now follow the Kirmuss/homemade fluid with a distilled water rinse in the Humminguru. I don't think it can get much better at this point. BTW the Hep 256 neutralizes the static issue.

Terrific review and analysis of the HG. You deserve a white lab coat with a VU meter on the back. Looking forward to now listening to your review of the DeGritter. Well done👍👍

Great stuff Dave, as thorough an analysis as it gets. I’d like to add a slightly different perspective though. While you’re looking for the absolute best cleaning available, my reasons for getting a Humminguru were different. I already owned a Pro-ject vacuum cleaner, but only used it rarely. It’s huge, heavy, ridiculously loud and you need to be attentive for the entire cleaning which I find to be about 5 minutes for both sides of a record - or about 6 lp’s in 30 minutes. The Humminguru on the other hand I can pull out and have it running while I’m doing other stuff and just change the record being cleaned every time I notice one is done. The goal for me is not to get a perfectly cleaned record. As a person with small kids I simply don’t have time to clean every record I buy - never mind cleaning them perfectly. But I do love having the option to clean used or noisy records. And at an entry level price I find the Humminguru to consistently deliver improvements in that regard. After all it’s an entry level product and should be judged as such.

Thats exactly my routine.l use a loricraft with cleaning fluid then a 4 min.bath in the humminguru with a drop of photoflow.l also use a SPI workstation ioniozer on a tiltable tripod directed at the vinyl record while spinning.l now never have a static charge unlike in the past.Less than a $100.

I built a vinyl vac rig and do a final rinse/dry with the guru. Seems to work well.

Thanks Dave!! I really appreciate the detailed assessment. I personally do something very similar, I use a VPI 16.5 Vacuum machine (with A1 One-Step enzymatic cleaner) ; distilled clean (with a little ifutol to spread). Then I do the Humminguru with the “small bottle” product they recommend. This seems to work really well in most situations. Recently I bought the products to make the solutions that the Audiophile man recommends (IPA, Propyene glycol, tergikleen) to try, but I haven’t started the experiments yet. I’ll be real curious to see what improvements the Degritter 2 provides over the HG.

Did you ever try vacuuming dry the ultrasonic cleaned records Vs using the air drying cycle? Wonder if that would be helpful?

Dave - Humminguru now officially recommend using their surfactant. ('The small bottle'). Is it worth retrying with that? (I did note your comment at 34m)

Great detailed analysis Dave. I’m very happy with my Pro-ject VC-S2 it’s been an excellent machine and I’ve cleaned over 3,000 records on it. I had been wondering whether a 2-stage process involving an ultrasonic machine would be even better ie a deep clean on the ultrasonic then a clean/rinse/dry on the vacuum machine. I am very interested to see your Degritter review. Take care cheers

So chemical clean 18 times then ultrasonic 26 times and then 12 rinses and it may be clean?

Great video Dave, again. One question, is distilled water the same as deionised water as I’ve been using the latter without any issues?

This is a great analysis, thanks for taking the time. I bought a Humminguru and agree that, on its own, it doesn’t clean everything. I use the Disco Antistat for a first step with IPA cleaning mix (recommended by the Audiophile Guy), then into the Humminguru for a rinse with Ilfotol diluted 1:200 in distilled water. Given your comments about the veil left by solutions, I’m thinking of adding another HG rinse in pure distilled water. Would that be worthwhile? Like you, I’ve noticed some static build-up from the HG drying cycle. Are there any problems with leaving the rinsed records to air dry?

I have a Nitty Gritty and moving on to this. We shall see how it holds up.

Hi Dave. I have a bunch of records that were kept 10 years in a storage. They are full of dust, grime and some have what it looks like small spots of mould. I am guessing HumminGuru or any other ultrasonic system will not clean these records. Should I just invest on a Vacuum machine with fluid, will that do the job?

Not trying to be the one to spoil the party: Did you also consider cleaning the stylus? I’ve been using the ‘Flux Hifi Sonic’ for about a year now, cannot life without it anymore. For record cleaning I’m using the simple yet ‘disco-antistat’. Combination of both is 🎉

Question. If you were to apply cleaning solution manually and did not have a vacuum, could you go directly to ultrasonic, followed by drying?

The Humminguru isn’t as powerful as the other ultrasonics you’ve used. Also, a surfactant added to the distilled water will also help an ultrasonic do it’s job. Most people can’t afford two different record cleaners. If a record has visible dirt on it, especially used records, a pre rinse or wash by hand is a good idea. I’ve seen other videos about the Humminguru, and because it’s not as powerful as the others, it’s not as thorough. So, like you said, multiple cleanings might be necessary. You’ll enjoy the Degritter for sure. What I do when I use my Vevor machine, is add surfactant to the water. After cleaning I then rinse and then vacuum the record. And I’m sure that many Humminguru owners use surfactant as well.

What vacuum machines are recommended at about the same , or less, price point as the HG?

If Pink Floyd was teaching a science class...

No good using with pure distilled water you need a surfactant to get into the grooves

Three videos and this one is over 50 minutes, come on mate. I just skipped to the end to hear you say what I already know. $500 For something that looks like a cheap piece of plastic? Never mind 10 minutes to dry and it doesn't clean 7" records. If it breaks what do you do, send it back to China? Totally agree with you that you would be better off with a Vacuum machine instead. Maybe next time just one video about twenty minutes. LOL

No you shouldn't buy one. Broke after two years. Expensive china crap.

Excellent david,degritter it is then ... Great detailed vid