Record brushes

[rowooo]

Guys.....need some help. I'm just looking for an everyday brush for some cleaning of my records. Been looking at the Discwasher D4, Audioquest carbon fiber brush, decca brush, Hunt brush, and the Orbitrac kit. Does anyone use any of these and with what results. Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.....

[Mighty Favog]

rowoo! Sounds like you got that turntable you were in quest of.

I've been using a Discwasher D3 (told ya I was old-) for about 20 years with what I would call decent results. If mass LP's were still on the market (outside of these 180 gram things going for $25 and up) I would get one of those machines that do professional job. But then again A) Where whould I put it? and Can I account for the $300 to $400 expense?

Anywho, the $25 cost for the Discwasher is a good investment. I just can hardly ever remember to wipe the record before I play it.

Good luck!

------------------

Tom

KLF-20 Mahogany

McIntosh C33

Rotel RB-1080

Yamaha PF-800 Turntable/ Sure V15 Type V Cartridge

Ortofon VMS-30 mkII Cartridge

Stanton 999SS Cartridge

Carver TL-3100 CD

Yamaha K-1020 Cassette

dbx 1231 EQ

H.H. Scott 830z Analyzer

Monster Interlink 400mk II

Monster Interlink 300 mk II

Studio Tech U-48RW Cabinet

Monster Power HTS-5000

Original 12ga. Monster Cable

Enough empty boxes for a fire hazard!

[rowooo]

tblasing.....Yes, finally....I picked up a Music Hall MMF-5 a couple weeks ago and am really happy with it so far. Just tonight I was listening to some Fleetwood Mac and wow, it was just incredible. How anyone can sit through lovely Stevie belting out Dreams and not have every hair on there arms stand straight up is beyond me. That's one thing I've noticed the most with this table compared to my C.D. player, the vocals on vinyl are just more spacious and real. Anyway, thanks for the response.....

[JoshT]

Congratulations on your MM-5 acquisition rowoo!! I have a Rega Planar 3 in one system and the NAD 533 in the other.

Over the past two years I have gradually started to listen to vinyl more than CDs. In my mind, there is simply no comparison. I remember my first CD -- Thomas Dolby's "The Flat Earth" which I bought in 1986 in college. My roommate owned the LP, which we listened to CONSTANTLY. I was sooo excited to now have a CD player. I popped in the CD, hit play and . . . two minutes into the song said to my roommate, "errr . . . this sounds a bit mechanical, eh?" He disagreed, thinking it sounded "cleaner," but I have never fully enjoyed CDs, despite the convenience factor.

On July 4 I found a used copy of "The Flat Earth" for one dollar. Wow. My impressions of 15 years ago hold. It sounds A LOT better than the CD (and it ain't a bad CD)!

Oh, yeah, your question. Unfortunately, I don't think any brushes are that great. I have the AudioQuest, the Hunt and the Discwasher. But I also own the VPI 16.5 vacuum record cleaning machine, which is a beautiful thing!

Generally, if I buy a used record, I wash it on the VPI. Then later I use a carbon brush to reduce static and pick up some dust. If a record that is generally clean has a lot of dust, I use the Discwasher, since the carbon brushes pretty much just line up the dust. People get pretty nuts about this stuff though.

I guess if I were to have only one choice, and didn't want to spend $$$, I'd get the discwasher brush.

Enjoy your music!!!

-JoshT

[Ray Garrison]

rowooo,

If you intend to get serious about buying records, particulary used records, I'd suggest seriously considering a machine from VPI or Nitty Gritty. There's no way that you can clean records that have been subjected to years of abuse without using a machine or spending a lot of time at the kitchen sink with a scrub brush, detergent and elbow grease.

right now, there's a VPI on EBay for a couple hundred bucks...

http://cgi.ebay.com/aw-cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1253698521

Short of that, there was an article in Listener a few months ago in which their entire staff of reviewers described their own method for cleaning records. Very much worth the effort to get the issue. check out

http://www.listener-magazine.com/index.html

for the particulars.

I use a VPI 16.5 and I couldn't do without it. Compared to the Diskwasher system I used for years, it's sort of like comparing washing you car by parking it outside in the rain (diskwasher) vs taking it to a professional detailer (VPI).

Ray

------------------

Music is art

Audio is engineering

[Allan Songer]

I listen to vinyl about 85% of the time and have developed a terrific system for cleaning records.

First off, I HIGHLY reccomend the "Disc Doctor" cleaning fluid and pads--I have found nothing that works as well and I've tried everything, believe me!

My system for cleaning a newly acquired LP (new or used) is as follows:

Thoroughly scrub with Disc Doctor fluid and pad and then vacuum with Nitty Gritty. Flush with distilled water and vacuum again. Follw this with another scrubbing with a 3:1 mixture of distilled water and 99% pure isopropyl and then another vacuum. Scrub again with pure distilled water and then a final vacuuming! I know this sounds like a pain in the butt, buy you can clean a record in about 8 minutes this way and IT WORKS!

After this prcocedure I zap the LP with a zerostat and then into a anti-static sleeve it goes.

Every time I play a record I brush it with an AQ carbon fiber brush and I always clean the stylus (again with the Disc Doctor stylus cleaner--it's the best) between records.

And remember--once a record is cleaned throughly, you will more than likely NEVER need to clean it again if you take care of it and your stylus.

[Charles Turner]

About a year ago I bought a new Rega 25 turntable and Micro Benz Glider AND a Nitty Gritty 1.5 record cleaning machine. In retrospect, I think the Nitty Gritty may have made more difference in the sound improvement than the turntable/cartridge. It's amazing what this record cleaning machine can do to records. On really old, dirty records I augment the machine with a $25 brush from Nitty Gritty.

I can now haunt garage sales and Goodwills and, if there are no visible scratches on the vinyl, clean it to the point there is negligible background noise.

I would strongly recommend saving your quarters for this $450 machine...VPI also makes a line of similiar products. The main value add is these machines vacuum off the residue after the record is scrubbed.

[rowooo]

Guys....thanks for all the great suggestions. While I will pick up a vacuum cleaner eventually, and will be watching for a great deal on one, right now my budget is limited considering I just bought this new table. I would like to stay under fifty dollars for some adequate cleaning. It sounds like everyone kind of has there own way/method of doing this, so for know I going to have to experiment with some cheaper methods till I get the cash for a VPI-Nitty Gritty. I'm thinking maybe some Disc Doctor fluids and pads and a carbon brush. Thanks again for all your help.

[JoshT]

Allan,

Where do you get your 99% isopropyl? I've heard it's hard to get in the U.S. (cuz folks might drink it).

I'd really like to add it to my VPI cleaning fluid, but don't know where to get it.

Regards,

JoshT

[Allan Songer]

My brother-in-law is a high shcool chemistry teacher and has access to pure (well, 99%) alchohol and he gives me a pickle jar full every now and then (kind of like moonshine?). I think they might actually distill this stuff in the Chem lab, but I'm not totally sure.