Many people are now realizing that truly, the only way to enjoy music in the home is from vinyl. We are seeing a huge resurgence in vinyl sales and once again, vinyl is cool. But here at “Rebirth Of The Cool”, we know that “you just gotta keep it clean”.
Clean records, as audiophiles know, have an enhanced sound stage and provide a greater musical enjoyment. There are many products for vinyl cleaning on the market but which is the best? Well, we believe it’s our scientifically developed professional cleaning solution fluid, which is why we call it “The Right One”.
One of the foremost manufacturers of professional record cleaning machines is Loricraft Audio and our CEO (a former executive of a major multi-national Hi-Fi company), was a consultant to them, during which time he spent several months researching the best possible formula for a record cleaning fluid. “The Right One” professional record cleaning fluid is the result of that research.
It would be great if you could just use water to clean your records or one of those dry brushes, but there are problems with this approach. Taking the dry brush first, it simply cannot remove dust that has become electrostatically bonded to the vinyl and we all know records can carry a lot of static.
As far as water is concerned, there are two problems. Firstly, it won’t break down any oil based contaminants, such as cigarette tar from smoke and grease from fingerprints. Water and water/alcohol mixtures are, strange as it may seem, just not wet enough to get deeply into the grooves. The surface tension stops it from flowing into the microgrooves of the record. Using scientific research methodology, over a period of months, we arrived at what we believe to be the best proportion of distilled water, mild solvent and an anti-static wetting agent to breaks the surface tension and allow the fluid to run deep into the grooves. We use a 6 times purified distilled water, so there will be no mineral deposits left by the cleaning fluid after it has done its job.
All our ingredients are laboratory grade and include and our anti-static wetting agent, so unlike dry cleaning methods such as brushes or clothes used on their own, the record won’t re-attract dust as soon as it has been cleaned. Though we use a vacuum professional record cleaning machine ourselves, “The Right One” professional record cleaning fluid can be used by hand, provided the record is thoroughly dried with a micro fibre cloth after cleaning.
This is what we use at home on our 3,000 plus record collection. We also us it on all the records we sell, so you can use it with confidence because, like all our “The Right One” accessory range, we won’t sell it to you unless we use it ourselves.
andy.rawlins (verified owner) –
Virtually a Miracle Worker!
I recently acquired a number of second hand records, some of which had mould on. Plus I also have some records in my collection that I’ve had for decades and are well used and, in some cases, second hand and not in the best condition.
I have had a Disco Antistat machine for ages and it does a good job of cleaning off visible dirt and does reduce clicks but it also leaves a residue in the grooves which the stylus ploughs out on the first few plays. As some of the records that needed attention have some sentimental or monetary value I wanted to see if I could do better.
I bought 1l of The Right One. In fact 0.5l is enough to fill the machine but you lose some each time you use it. In use, it was much like the original stuff. It maybe took a little longer to dry but did so with no marks.
The results were a revelation. Not only was visible mould, fingermarks and grot removed and clicks massively reduced or eliminated, the background disappeared into an inky blackness such that, first time I put a record on, I thought the needle must have missed the groove as was silent. I wasn’t playing very loud, just normal volume, but it was a revelation and gives a much more CD like experience but with the warm enveloping tones of Vinyl. Sound was also improved , with more bass clarity and tightness in particular, though results differed by record.
I tried some good condition vinyl that had been crackly since I bought it (notably Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden) but it seems that these clicks really were pressing faults and it can’t do miracles. With a number of older, visibly good but crackly, well played disks I did see improvements though – in one case a pristine but very crackly double album became close to perfect. And for the first time I enjoyed listening to it (Dave Greenslade, the Pentateuch, bought for the book artwork)
So to sum it all up, this stuff works near miracles and I’ll be widening my cleaning to anything that doesn’t sound great to see what it can do. I don’t know how many times you are supposed to re-use it. I have filtered it each time but the dirt and mould has made the first bottle a little murky. Luckily I have another so hopefully I’ll get a few more goes out of it yet.
Highly recommended.