AUDIOPHILE MYTHS- part 1A - Cleaning Records and basic Storage Tips

Part 1A- CLEANING RECORDS and Storage ideas


a picture of someone manually washing an LP with basic brush. this is the best way.

The mos tly portrayed as expensive and esoteric practice of cleaning Vinyl records, is like
most 'audiophile' spin and myths, filled with so much disinformation and utter bullshit
it's surprising people actually want to collect Vinyl.

The first 5 years of my collecting Vinyl, I was under the impression that I should not even
wash the records at all.

This was before the web, and this was also a time when I was the only one I knew who
used vinyl. Late 80's early 90's when others were adopting CD's.
Due to an almost tragic exposure of wettness of my 45s and the place I had them stored
I came to the storage and found many of the 45s starting to get some fuzzy mould.
Since they were my Mint Soul 45s I was very alarmed.

This was lesson 1 : STORE YOU VINYL OFF THE FLOOR OR GROUND
Even if you have them in bins, try to put blocks of wood under the bins to generate nice
cycles of air through your storage area.

Lesson 2 : GET PLASTIC BINS FOR YOUR COLLECTION WITH LIDS.
I know lots of people who like to "show off" their collection. That's great - if you have
the space!  Vinyl spanning walls and a room, aside from being fascinating for guests
is one of the best sound absorbers for nasty reflections if you tend to like to fill the room
with 80db and louder sound output. Just having vinyl in your room, makes the vinyl you play
sound better. An interesting truth!
Plastic bins, aside from what I'm saying are things you should have on hand. The ones with
handles, and the ones that hold about 100 LPs. Any more LP's and the bins are WAY too heavy.
The ONLY thing I ever buy from Walmart in Canada, are these awesome bins that hold about 100 LPs
and are about $5.00 each. They are made by Sterlite, in Canada, I'm not sure if they sell them at USA walmarts or abroad. This is why I buy them at Walmart, due to them being Canadian Made. They changed the design slightly about 8 years ago or so, and unfortunately the quality dropped slightly but not much.  They made the plastic slightly more flexible as they used to be more rigid, the downside of that, a few lids and corners would shatter on cold days when Moving them.


CLEANING MYTHS :

First big myth - and it's one hell of an expensive method.
VACUUM RECORD CLEANER MACHINES
they go by names like MONK, VPI, NITTY GRITTY.

THEY DO WORK! THEY ARE EXPENSIVE!

 THEY REQUIRE CONSTANT
MAINTENANCE.
When I say constant, I mean it.
You have to buy fluid. When you clean maybe 5 records, you will start getting streaks on the LP
varying in 'strength' with how much fluid(s) you use.
The time saving aspect may be there to a degree, but you lose the control and
variables that someone who pays attention to detail utilizes.
THEY ARE NOISY AS ALL HELL. You cannot clean your records past 9pm
on Weekdays in Most cases. - how many of you live in the Country?
Just think if the sound of Shop Vac. That's the noise.


Second Myth :
Liquids - chemicals that bond to the vinyl to 'enhance the sound'.
One well known chemical that is actually active once again due to someone finding a whole
NOS batch is called "LAST"
Seriously, it's the LAST thing you should think of putting on your Records.
Don't even put ISOPROPOL Alcohol on your records. Try to get Grain Alcohol if
you need to use it and even then, go easy with it.

 

This 8oz bottle is $200.00 !! ( equivalent to buying 25 used records) 

Next -
I've recently seen this crap from the UK "the RECORD REViRGiNiZER" it's being promoted by
RZA from the old hiphop group "wu tang clan" As If I could care less about what the
RZA has to say.
The RECORD REViRGiNiZER is based on thats retardedly lame concept of smearing wood glue on the LP
and then when it dries, peeling it off to peel away dust. I have to laugh.
It works but is not worth the effort.
With the RECORD REViRGiNiZER  you have to pay an astounding amount of money to play with it.
For a $60.00 bottle, you can only clean 16 LP's.  Amazingly dumb.
Clip from a TV show promoting it :




Hey it's a clever concept. But it's just not practical if you have over 16 records.

There are also many videos on youtube with people using Window cleaners and other
household products to clean vinyl- To put it simply, DO NOT EVER USE
THAT STUFF ON VINYL. The chemicals in those products are not made
for any type of plastic cleaning. Some even state on the labels with a warning.
WINDEX IS A FREAKING NO NO NO NO NO!!

Next part, I will talk about Manual Methods for Cleaning your precious vinyl.
It costs about $20.00 a year, and that's a high estimate.