i would recommend a 2nd rinse with only distilled water. there is a chance you are leaving behind a layer of solution that can not be seen. Adding distilled water to the solution while on the record only diluted it some. Depending upon the concentration of the solution, that may not be enough to remove all of the product. It does remain and will effect playback. The 2nd rinse ensures most if not all is gone. it is an extra step but worth the time to do it. I am using 2 spin washers. One for wash and one for a a rinse, then I will vacuum once I get the vinyl vac. As many people well know, a record can look mint but play poorly. You really want to make sure all the detergent is out of the grooves too. Great before and after on the vid!!
I have the original Vinyl Vac which has worked well. Nothing on this new version, for me, is worth replacing the old one except perhaps replacing the felt on the vacuum wand. Thanks for the demo. I originally bought the Vinyl Vac since it was a low cost solution to vinyl vacuum cleaning like the high priced vacuum and ultrasonic machines. The one thing I don't like about the system is dealing with the wet shop vac and its long unwieldy hose flopping around with the wand attached to it and kicking around under the table. You also need a fair amount of table space for cleaning your records with the hose/wand, lazy susan, spray bottle, brushes, tub of distilled water, label protectors, a place for the record jacket and sleeve to sit, etc. It's a process. But when you see and hear the results, it's all worth it. Also take note: cleaning several hundred vinyl LPs takes a damn long time. I cleaned about 100-120 of my classical collection discs and burned out. Consequently, my VV has been sitting unused for a while but now I'm re-inspired to use it again. When you get fluent with using the system, I'd say it takes 5-7 minutes per disc.
Great video. I highly recommend the vinyl vac. I’ve cleaned over 500 lps. I use an old turntable to spin the Lps after I have run them through a Spin Clean.
This is the first time I've ever heard anybody suggest wet cleaning them before dry cleaning them. Everything I've ever seen suggests the opposite. As a matter of fact I was only looking into this as a pregame for my ultrasonic cleaner as a way to keep my distilled water cleaner for less refills. Anybody else under the same impression?
I usually brush them off when I open the album but the advantage of the vacuum is sucking up all of the debris on the album and at this point I don’t want to over invest time cleaning my albums twice
This seems to to be a solution in search of a problem. I have just cleaned 32 records +/-, and I wiped them dry with a microfiber towel, and let them air dry, and excepting for physical scratches in the records themselves, the cleaned disks sound perfectly clear.
have you compared this to, say a Record Dr. V or VI? I am wondering if the shop vac has the same pulling power. I imagine it does but i'll look for a side by side comparison. Either way, i was planning to order one. This vid helps support that decision.
Have you ever scratched an LP with that paint edger tool? Seems like there is a lot of hate on-line for that tool. Have you ever tried an "official" vinyl wet brush instead?
The key is to not press the edger down. you let it glide on the grooves. People who seem to have issues with it are probably putting too much pressure on it while cleaning. Also, the pad needs to be replaced regularly but they are really cheap.
Now that i have owned this for a while i think everyone on the internet has the same question and i'm not personally dropping money on a microscope to answer it lol. Is it better to vacuum the solution off first then wet it with distilled then vacuum again. OR are the returns on the double vacuum method so insignificant that vacuuming only once doesn't matter.
Or, you can jut buy a Disco Antistat, for less than $30 second hand that does a wayyyy better job and also critically reviewed. It uses goat hair brushes to clean records with their solution, or do your own solution. It's absolutely not necessary to vaccum records. Absolute BS and i'm tired of it in the audio World.
I use the Disco Antistat and have been wondering if I need to upgrade to a vacuum system. The argument for vacuum systems seems to be that dislodged particles are removed by the vacuum rather than swimming around in the bath of the Disco where they may reattach to the surface. You don’t find that is a problem for Disco?
