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Part One... Likely the most
significant analog tweak is cleaning! While an excellent phono
stage, cartridge, different arm or a remote power supply can
provide significant improvements in sonics, they are all rather
modest in comparison with proper LP cleaning and care.
Obviously, anyone who buys
used vinyl will find a Record Cleaning Machine indispensable as even
the shiny mint of near mint disc’s will quite often provide serious
levels of surface noise, sometimes serious enough to preclude
acceptable listening.
While our personal
sensitivities to surface noise will vary greatly, anyone armed with
a solid understanding of vinyl cleaning and an RCM (record cleaning
machine) or at the very least a system like the Disc Doctor that
allows cleaning without an RCM, will derive not only amazing
reductions in noise but even greater significant increases in the
dynamics and detail that is buried under the racket and the layers
of crud, as well as dramatically extended stylus service life.
Your collection will be
preserved since the abrasives and general crud will be removed from
your stylus resulting in better tracking of the grooves and
significantly less heat generation and abrasion. So if you go to the
minor amount of effort to clean your stylus regularly, set up your
cartridge properly, use a dry carbon fiber brush before and after
each side (which takes a second or two) and use poly-lined sleeves,
your LP’s are essentially immortal - at the very least they’ll out
last you!
Personally I find it hard to
believe that anyone could derive much enjoyment listening to their
analogue front end without clean software – even those folks who
only buy new recordings and are otherwise scrupulous about the
subsequent care and handling of their LP’s, cartridge alignment,
stylus cleaning etc, as just about any LP (even the expensive 180 or
200 gm) audiophile LP’s do to one degree or another carry silicone
based mold release agent in the grooves. This is due to the fact
that the precision mold dies which form the grooves and shape the LP
will be ruined by vinyl adhering to them, so before the mold’s are
seasoned properly (not unlike cast iron pans), so the MRA (mold
release agent) is sprayed over the them which will prevents the
first few disc’s that are pressed from sticking. Any LP from this
initial period will be noisy and distorted from the MRA clinging to
the grooves and even once the molds are well seasoned, there is
still going to be some of this residuum, and while those discs may
seem fine, a proper cleaning with a solvent designed to remove MRA
will provide subtle and sometimes not so subtle sonic improvements,
and perhaps even more important, is the fact that any of this MRA
residuum that isn’t removed is going to congeal and harden as well
as bonding with dust and debris over time and become progressively
more problematic sonically and more difficult to remove. I believe
some of the MRA is going to be picked up by the stylus as well, so
when you’re looking at a technology that involves stylus movements
as small as less than a billionth of an inch, this gunk in any
quantity will prove problematic.
In the not so distant past,
Freon and Freon derivatives were used to remove MRA very
effectively, however it’s use has been severely limited and even
banned in most country’s. Fortunately, there are now several
commercial solvents designed to remove MRA. Some are reputed to do
the job as well or even better than Freon, one in particular is
Premier Micro care or it’s identical (or nearly so) product -
contact cleaner
http://www.microcare.com/ from the
same firm, Micro Care. They are both based on Dupont Vertrel, aka
HFC-43-10, other alternatives are LAST power cleaner
http://www.lastfactory.com/Products/power_cleaner.html.
I’ve personally used both
the Vertrel based aerosols and the Last Power Cleaner and they do in
fact do an effective job of MRA removal. There are several other
products either designed specifically to remove MRA or general
purpose RCS (record cleaning solvents) which claim to remove MRA.
Personally, I feel removing
MRA immediately and completely is important enough to get a solvent
designed specifically for the purpose, and unless one is well heeled
and the cost is a negligent consideration, MRA solvents are in my
experience all rather expensive. The aerosol Vertrel based products
have a very fast evaporation rate, so if you use the products
according to the manufacturers instructions “Spraying it directly on
the LP and then wiping it off” you’ll find an $18.00 to $20.00 can
be expended quickly.
I’ve found it considerably
more efficient to do several LP’s at a time and using ether a lint
free clean Cotton or Micro duster cloth or pad and then spraying the
first LP as per instructions and then wiping it off, the cloth or
pad will absorb and hold the solvent allowing the subsequent LP’s to
be cleaned by either spraying a very small amount of the solvent on
the LP or directly on the cloth with fine results and a dramatic
reduction of wasted solvent.
On new or recent mint LP’s,
I’ll generally automatically clean them with the Micro Care and If I
can’t wait to listen to the particular recording I’ll do it on my
Table immediately prior to playing the record as it’s very fast,
easy and convenient and the evaporation is so quick there is no
problem with excess getting on the plinth, etc. The manufacturer
claims the solvent can be used as a stand alone RCS, but a secondary
normal wet cleaning will often result in the optimum clean LP. I
think the jury is still out on what residue remains after the Micro
Care, but I’ve noted no problems either of a sonic nature or any
type of subsequent build up of crud or deterioration. Anyone with
specific questions regarding Micro Care products can contact
mikej@microcare.com
There are also a few DIY
approaches none of which I’ve tried. One in particular would seem
somewhat destructive - straight (or nearly so) Ethanol and one
formula calls for warming the alcohol which I’m virtually certain
will prove detrimental to vinyl as far as removing some of the
plasticizers etc. As the destructive aspects of the various types of
alcohol is a subject of great debate, the most compelling material
I’ve encountered was from a professional chemist who stated that
alcohol is basically safe until you are using a nearly straight
ethanol heated to a certain point which is then extremely
destructive to vinyl.
On the often contentious and
confusing subject of alcohol in it’s various incarnations, some feel
Ethanol is problematic (I’m not one of those) and others feel
Isopropyl is. Yet others feel Methyl is the way to fly. However, in
practice some of the Methyl alcohol offered for sale doesn’t even
contain Methyl alcohol and virtually all consumer type (70%) Methyl
alcohol is primarily Ethyl alcohol with various additional
constituents some of which I wouldn’t want anywhere near my records.
Same thing goes for Isopropyl never use the normal Drug store
variety as it contains lanolin, if you source Isopropyl from the
drug/discount store buy the 90 or 91% variety which is just
Isopropyl and water. If you’re really anal, get lab grade!
From everything I’ve read
after considering what I do know and from discussions with chemists,
I believe Ethanol and Isopropyl are both safe. I prefer Ethanol and
it’s readily available in the form of grain alcohol (Everclear) and
my use is restricted to some last resort serious stylus cleaning and
DIY record cleaning solvent.
I personally think that as
far as vinyl goes both Ethanol and Isopropyl are completely safe
when used in a reasonable fashion as first I think the primary basis
for the mythical destructive properties of alcohol are hangovers
from the day of the Lacquer or Shellac disc’s which you do not want
to go anywhere near with alcohol.
Secondly there is no need to
go beyond 30% IMHO to cut anything lipid based (naturally occurring
oils or greases) and the water itself is a far better general
solvent overall and in concert with quality surfactants, is doing
all the heavy lifting for the most part as the alcohol is merely an
additive.
And finally the fact that
you’re vacuuming off the solvent and then rinsing and vacuuming with
water as well as the limited dwell time the solvent is actually in
contact with the vinyl.
For Stylus cleaning, alcohol
has been very much the mainstay traditionally, but there is evidence
to believe that alcohol or alcohol based solvents will over time
undermine certain bonding agents with the resultant loosening or
loss of the diamond from the cantilever. In the case of an expensive
MC cartridge that is finis, unless you go to the considerable
expense of re-tipping
A number of commercial RCS
tout their products as being alcohol free, often however they do in
fact contain alcohol but it’s a form that isn’t one of the
aforementioned 3 common varieties (Ethanol, Isopropyl, Methanol) and
the fact that they market and formulate their products in this way
has more to do with popular misconceptions
held by many potential
customers or the fact that at some point there are bureaucratic
requirements where the solvent is required to be classified as a
flammable or volatile product which complicates shipping, handling
and storage considerations. For the most part however I think
at least traditionally any RCS will need some alcohol content to be
truly effective.
I believe the better new RCS
formulations are based on the better surfactants which are doing the
heavy lifting by allowing the solution to get under the crud and
lift it allowing it to be vacuumed away,
I believe that even with
the more basic RCS’s like my DIY RCS, the solvent is doing the heavy
lifting and so dwell time is doubtless a factor, and I believe that
this precludes the need for aggressive brushes and pads and
aggressive scrubbing as, after all, we are not dealing with pots and
pans with baked on grunge. I think that aside from the MRA most dust
and airborne contaminants are held by the vinyl from relatively weak
ionic attraction and the surfactants and static reduction by wetting
the vinyl will effect the grunge and crud removal effectively and
with minimal damage.
While there are no shortage
of commercial RCS’s some superb, RRL and other’s which are just
mediocre, making up some DIY RCS makes a lot of sense even if you
are also using the better commercial solvents. I feel just about
anyone can achieve good results as well as saving some money by
making up and using some DIY RCS. I’ve found my particular DIY RCS
superior to some of the commercial formulations, and a quick clean
scrub and vac with the DIY RCS is quite often all that’s needed. I
use the DIY on garage sale and thrift finds that are in great
condition where I’m basically just removing dust and minor crud if
the LP still proves to be noisy I’ll then do a 2nd
cleaning with RRL Deep Cleaner, or if the LP is really filthy I’ll
use the DIY to remove the Lions share of crud then do a follow up
with RRL Deep, as this allows a considerably more efficient and
economical use of the RRL as with the vast majority of crud already
removed. The RRL can do it’s thing on the really resistant crud in
greatly reduced volume and with greater effectiveness.
Often the actual differences
between the DIY and various commercial formulations are primarily
based on subtle sonic variations that serious audiophiles would
note, but many of us may be perfectly happy with. The DIY or
inexpensive Commercial products, where serious audiophiles with very
educated ears and higher end and more sensitive gear will likely be
considerably more critical, so everyone will have to determine just
how clean their LP’s need to be. Generally speaking, when it comes
to simply reducing or eliminating surface noise, static and greatly
extending the useful life of both their LP’s and Styli will find a
simple fast cleaning will suffice perfectly, but ultimately everyone
should experiment and reach their own conclusions.
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