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Cal Blacksmith

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  1. Actually, simple green is organic and is completely drinkable. No alcohol. We sold it when it first came out and part of the demo of the product was the salesman trying to get us to buy it to sell retail would drink some. I don't advise drinking cleaner but it made a good demonstration!
  2. I have cleaned over 100 records so far. Everything from brand new to one that had mold starting to grow on it. On that one I pre cleaned with a nano carbon fiber brush. So far everything has been fantastic. I also have a good quality ultrasonic cleaner from China for general cleaning and for clock movements. It is so noisy that it needs to be 2 rooms away. My Isonic by comparison is nearly silent. I also love that it has a spin cycle to dry the records, it truly is an easy way to go from gross to great. I have well over a thousand records so the ability to clean 10 at a time is important to me. The total cycle time for 10 LPs is about 40 minutes but that includes removing them from the sleeves. Loading the cleaner, 12 minute wash cycle and 15 minute dry cycle and putting everything away in archival LP sleeves and jacket sleeves. All in the same room I am listening or relaxing in. I looked into diy and that indeed costs much less but for me, the benefits of a quality pre engineered system by professionals especially for records is a worthwhile investment. In my younger days I likely would have done 3 or 4 DIY setups but I am at the stage in life that I can afford to go the way I did and I am thankful for it. Good luck with the DIY, it can be a fun and rewarding journey 😀 Oh, one more thing. Isonic says that tap water is just fine and actually cleans better than distilled as long as it doesn't have a high mineral load and leaves deposits when it air dries. They explain that the reason they say distilled water is that they have no idea what water comes out of your tap and that distilled is the safest instruction to use to avoid complaints. I also use their low foaming solution. It is inexpensive at " from memory " around $10 for a small bottle. As you only use 1 to 2 caps to 2 gallons of water a bottle lasts a long time. YMMV!
  3. Shawn, welcome to the club. I have the data ......somewhere. I moved from CA to Georgia a couple years ago, a lot of my stuff is still packed up and I have no idea where it is. I still use my VTL most every day. I have it in my den/ listening room along with my Sonic Frontiers power amp and khorns which I use for serious listening as well as TV audio and gaming. The VTL is still going strong and I can't see any reason to nor do I have any plans to replace it. Sure it is getting up there in age but it still is just as awesome as it was the day I bought it. If I find the documents I will digitize them but right now I'm not in a big hurry to find them. Enjoy the pre Amp!
  4. What are your thoughts on it? I love my Planar 3 but years ago I settled in my cart.
  5. Those are KG 1.5, and KG2.5S. value? I have been out of the market for a while.
  6. Those are nice looking! All the internals of his old set are good so I think we will give building new cabinets a try. The worst that can happen is we waste a bit of wood. It will be a little while before I get around to making them though, I still need to build a shop building..... so a while lol.
  7. Thanks, I would take you up on it but I am in NW Georgia. About 60 miles NW of Atlanta. I will keep looking but when my shop building is built, I have some decent wood working stuff, making new cabinets won't be real hard but they won't say Hope Arkansas on them either and that isn't good for resale though I doubt he would ever part with cabinets built by his old man.
  8. I have been looking but the last pair here sold for $700/pair. As far as salvage parts, everything inside is good 👍
  9. No, just fat fingers and the wrong button, working on it
  10. Sorry for being away for awhile, stuff. I took to heart the advice given in my thread asking for help. I looked at so much information, videos, reviews etc. Until m e brain hurt. I decided that I was going to do this once and done. The price range is from $150 to $5k and more. Everything from China DIY to boutique units with twice the snake oil of $5k RCA interconnect cables. How to choose? I went with a company that has been making ultrasonic cleaners for many decades, they make and sell over a million cleaners a year for medical, industrial and personal use. They developed a cleaner just for LPs, it can clean up to 10 at a time in 45, 10 and 12 inch formats then spin them dry.. That company is Isonic. The unit I went with is the https://isonicinc.com/products/cs6-2-pro-isonic®-motorized-ultrasonic-vinyl-record-cleaner-for-10-records-with-filter-and-spin-drying-2x-ultrasonic-powerful-than-cs6-1-pro?_pos=3&_sid=7525c2758&_ss=r&variant=47413687222555 And I purchased the drain tank to go with it. https://isonicinc.com/products/psr01a-isonic®-pump-station-with-reservoir-and-filter-for-p4875ii-mvr10-pro-or-cs6-1-pro?_pos=1&_sid=7525c2758&_ss=r I am very pleased with the results. I have thrown my worst at it and they came out sparkling clean. This includes one LP that had mold growing on it. I dusted it off with a carbon fiber brush and into the cleaner with 9 other LPS. When it came out and was dry I put it on the TT, shot it with Zerostat because I could and dropped the needle. It sounded better than a new record. OK, I am impressed. It wasn't inexpensive but it is built like a tank and it does an excellent job. I have it setup on a spare equipment rack I had in the listening room and thats where it will stay. It isn't silent in operation but it isn't bad either. Fan and motors are the loudest things and a moderate level on the stereo will all but cover most of the sound it makes. Thanks for the guidance!
  11. He had a flood in his basement and they were sitting upside down (in storage in cardboard). A pipe froze and they were in 4 or 5 inches of water. Are there any plans to make him new cabinets or am I going to need to measure and remake what he had?
  12. Thanks everyone for the condolences. I agree that it seems that the posts have slowed down quite a bit. I am mostly helping the son and his wife take care of daily life lol. I have picked up a lot of music on vinyl, still considering what cleaner to use. Listening and enjoying retirement!
  13. I have a few cleaners, a record adapter with motor is about 150 give or take. What solutions do you use? How do you dry the record, microfiber? The cleaning machines vacuum them dry. I have a few cleaners, a record adapter with motor is about 150 give or take. What solutions do you use? How do you dry the record, microfiber? The cleaning machines vacuum them dry.
  14. Thanks. I am slowly getting used to being alone. Playing music anytime and any volume I want is nice though.
  15. That sounds great. It would be awesome to get some face to face time with some of the names I have talking with for now, decades 😀
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