I’ve owned the excellent PHK (see below) Brazilian hand built RCM for about three years and though it works fantastically I found the extra hassle of connecting up a vacuum cleaner means that I do not use it as much I should but having said that it’s cleaned a few hundred records.
I’m now upgrading to a Nitty Gritty 1.5FI Record Cleaning Machine which has it’s own built in Vacuum and am hoping will get more use though it is apparently quite noisy.
Nitty Gritty approve the use of it’s own Pure 2 cleaning solution and I’m curious if anyone uses this or prefers another. I’ve been using home made fluid with distilled water, alcohol and a wetting agent but am thinking of buying a pre made solution so any advice is welcome.
Thanks @frenchrooster yes I saw the Humming Bird when it first came out and I was sent the kick starter link it looks really interesting but it’s sold out at the moment isn’t it? Have they given a time frame for shipping new units yet?
I’ve always wanted to try an Ultrasonic cleaner but this Nitty Gritty came up at a bargain price I couldn’t refuse.
Has anyone done a Humming Guru v DeGritter test. Huge price difference I know but they both seem compact and do everything in one box as far as I know.
The Degritter works at a higher ultrasonic frequency. Has some theoretical possible advantages, if in practice I don’t know. (Kuzma is a bit ambivalent about it when explaining the choice between their own 40 and 80 kHz machines). But I haven’t tried.
Of course the Degritter costs 10x as much, I doubt that it works ten times better than my HumminGuru, which I find really good. Someone who is in the market for a Degritter can nearly buy the HumminGuru for the small change and then compare
It’s called le art du son !! Needs diluting with distilled water.
I didn’t like the project fluid, too frothy!!
The VCS is a good value if basic bit of kit
Living with it very well now after using it for a few months. Regret-free. It’s no hassle to handle, I found an ok management with the water and liquid, and I think it’s cleaning very nicely. I posted comprehensively about the first impressions here:
This forum is full of great information. I was only pondering today how my LP collection could benefit from decent cleaning machine. My spit and polish routine has entered the law of diminishing returns.
But what is the optimum price point here? We all spend a significant sum on HiFi - and no doubt on vinyl et al. How much is a good, no faff (!) machine to buff our LPs to a pristine condition?
The HumminGuru is around 330 euros and really good. The Degritter is 2800 euros or so. The cheaper classic suction machines start around 500 or so, I believe. I find them (the suction machines) a hassle to use, and I don’t think you can go wrong with the HumminGuru ultrasonic for the price. It’s as faff-less as one can expect.
Very interesting Suedkiez - thank you. I plan to investigate further - is there a consensus on whether suction or a ‘wash’ is better, regardless of price?
There’s rarely a consensus on anything Some people use both, and it is very possible that they each have their strengths for different kinds of dirt. I believe the early fears of damage by ultrasonic have largely evaporated.
For records that are not super filthy, I can say that ultrasonic cleans very well. I also like that there’s a broader choice of liquid with ultrasonics, as you can use pure distilled water without additives as well, at least if the records are not stained with fats. Then the HumminGuru is as fully automated as it can get: pour 0.4 l of water into the slit at the top, tap button to clean, at the end the water is automatically pumped off, the record is dried with a fan, and all is done in 7-15 minutes. If you don’t clean a lot, simply discard the water.
Some additives like wetting agents (see details in the other thread about the HumminGuru linked above) can be helpful.
If you use the forum search function with “RCM” or “record cleaning machine” you will find lots of opinions
I have a Project VCS 2. Reasonably inexpensive, a little noisy and works well with a cleaning fluid called The Right One. The supplied Project fluid worked fine too but I thought I’d try something different when that ran out.
I have had a VPI 16.5 machine for over 15 years and it is still going strong. Other than changing the vacuum tube a couple of times its been well worth it. Like all vacuum machines I guess its a bit noisy but its not like its on for very long.
I used to use MoFi cleaning solution but its so expensive here (Canada) especially if you clean your records more regularly. I now also make my own (distilled water, a little alcohol and a surfactant) and to be honest I haven’t had any trouble using my own stuff.
