Equipment Recommendations - The Home For New System and Upgrade Advice

Ghost said:
Think I will pick up this solution. Been having a lot of static created from cleaning since I got my spin clean! Would I essentially use this in place of their solution? Drop a cap of the distilled solution over the cleaning pads?

Also, anyone have some lint free gentle cleaning cloths they recommend?
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Anthony mentioned to use the solution mixed with one gallon of distilled water. I would keep a little bit of this concentrate or what your using now for deep cleaning the really crappy stuff by hand.
 
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TenderLovingKiller® said:
Same. I remember my Pop had one and me and my brothers would treat it like a toy gun and he would get really pissed. Now that I am a record collector, I understand why.
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I have my old man's original red one here, still works! Perhaps the newer blue ones are made in junkland. You have to use carefully and for the longest time I was using it wrong. Someone finally showed me how to use it correctly.
 
Joe Mac said:
I’m a bit of a static factory of a human being. Hate that damn useless thing but I’ve found that sleeving in antistatic sleeves after cleaning and a 20 second brunch with a carbon fibre antistatic brunch on the spinning platter before I drop the needle to be really effective.



For something that only cost me €60 it says something for me to say that I comsider it the biggest waste of money purchase I’ve made in this hobby.
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I'm in 100% agreement with all of the words here. Except the pounds sign.
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
I'm definitely thinking about getting that HumminGuru when we move later this year. I'd always wanted a vacuum cleaner, but now that I live with two cats, I'm thinking that may not be such a pleasant experience for them.
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I am strongly considering getting one too. I'm going to wait for the reviews, and for a domestic distributor, because $60 shipping? Yikes.
 
I have an Audio Technica LP120, i just replaced the VM95E cartridge with the VM95ML expecting to be blown away, but i’m hard pressed to really tell a difference. I did the set up, alignment, however I don’t have a vertical force scale gauge, but the tone arm does have a counterweight, set to 2.0. I did notice that it’s quieter, so I had to turn up the volume, and the bass seems to sound punchier. I bought the cart on eBay, the seller said he played it for maybe 2 hours, then a stupid thought entered my brain that perhaps he switched out the needle, replaced it with a cheaper needle and somehow slid it back into the red cartridge. Is that sort of thing even possible?
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
I have an Audio Technica LP120, i just replaced the VM95E cartridge with the VM95ML expecting to be blown away, but i’m hard pressed to really tell a difference. I did the set up, alignment, however I don’t have a vertical force scale gauge, but the tone arm does have a counterweight, set to 2.0. I did notice that it’s quieter, so I had to turn up the volume, and the bass seems to sound punchier. I bought the cart on eBay, the seller said he played it for maybe 2 hours, then a stupid thought entered my brain that perhaps he switched out the needle, replaced it with a cheaper needle and somehow slid it back into the red cartridge. Is that sort of thing even possible?
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1. A cartridge takes time to break in and reveal its best. From 25 hours it should start to sing and it should be fully settled it’s best from 100 through to about 1000.

2. Get a stylus force gauge, they’re like a tenner on Amazon, the notches on the tonearm are just a guide and can’t fully be trusted.

3. He’d have to have horologist level skills and precision so I doubt it. Plus the whole red bit is removable so you can change the stylus, the cantilever and stylus are attached to it. Different colours represent different stylus profiles so you can upgrade if you want when you’ve worn out yours and it’s time for a new one.
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
I have an Audio Technica LP120, i just replaced the VM95E cartridge with the VM95ML expecting to be blown away, but i’m hard pressed to really tell a difference. I did the set up, alignment, however I don’t have a vertical force scale gauge, but the tone arm does have a counterweight, set to 2.0. I did notice that it’s quieter, so I had to turn up the volume, and the bass seems to sound punchier. I bought the cart on eBay, the seller said he played it for maybe 2 hours, then a stupid thought entered my brain that perhaps he switched out the needle, replaced it with a cheaper needle and somehow slid it back into the red cartridge. Is that sort of thing even possible?
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What @Joe Mac said.......

1 & 2 make a world of difference.
 
Joe Mac said:
1. A cartridge takes time to break in and reveal its best. From 25 hours it should start to sing and it should be fully settled it’s best from 100 through to about 1000.

2. Get a stylus force gauge, they’re like a tenner on Amazon, the notches on the tonearm are just a guide and can’t fully be trusted.

3. He’d have to have horologist level skills and precision so I doubt it. Plus the whole red bit is removable so you can change the stylus, the cantilever and stylus are attached to it. Different colours represent different stylus profiles so you can upgrade if you want when you’ve worn out yours and it’s time for a new one.
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I figured as such. I was going to just replace the stylus, but I decided to replace the whole cartridge instead. And yeah, I do have a force gauge on order, coming Tuesday, but I wanted to give it a go. I’ll make the adjustment once it arrives and be patient. Thanks for the advice!
 
Sonicpharmacist said:
I figured as such. I was going to just replace the stylus, but I decided to replace the whole cartridge instead. And yeah, I do have a force gauge on order, coming Tuesday, but I wanted to give it a go. I’ll make the adjustment once it arrives and be patient. Thanks for the advice!
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No worries, hope you get the cartridge dialled in and singing.
 
JohnnyCashFan said:
For a SpinClean and derivatives alternative: Record Doctor V Vacuum Cleaning Machine, $199 at all the usual places (but do not order from Amz they do not double box). The vacuum does much better job cleaning gunk in the grooves.

Works great for me, did not see any need for the VI for $100 more, came with cleaning fluid to do over 100 lp's so far. I also ordered 2 Mofi Brushes for deeper hand scrubbing.




mofi.com

Record Cleaning Brush

The Best Brush Available for Wet or Dry Cleaning: Indispensable for LP Care, Keeps Vinyl Clean, Quiet, and Valuable A favorite of analog lovers around the world, the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Record Brush is an indispensable, inexpensive tool for keeping all of your irreplaceable records clean...
mofi.com
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Glad this is working for you. I had a connect-your-own-vacuum version of this type of cleaner and it became a real pain in the ass to have to flip the wet record to vacuum it. Just one more set of stairs to climb to the pricier options haha! Spray and cloth > Spinclean > manual vacuum cleaner > auto vacuum cleaner > ultrasonic!
 
HayesWeighsIn said:
I'm definitely thinking about getting that HumminGuru when we move later this year. I'd always wanted a vacuum cleaner, but now that I live with two cats, I'm thinking that may not be such a pleasant experience for them.
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My cats don’t give a shit about any noise like that. If your cats are the DGAF kind, they’ll be fine.
 
dansomeone said:
Had a Darlington MM-6 revelation this morning. Spun my '71 Decca press of Who's Next, which I had thought was a mediocre pressing, kinda dull and lifeless. I was wrong. The Darlington revealed a fuller, richer sound, pulling details out of the grooves that were missing before. Pete's slashing guitar and warm vocals, Roger's crescendos, Keith's frenzied bashing, John's steady and fluid grooves, all present and accounted for. Going to have to revisit some other older LPs that I didn't think much of to see if there's more there.
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I wish mine would get here. Was supposed to be here yesterday, but this freaking snow and ice storm appears the USPS just stopped delivering. Informed delivery says something I've never seen, "Delivery attempted, no access to delivery location". I'm guessing they just didn't try, because my neighbors had already cleared the walk and salted and I was home. Getting a little edgy as I ordered about 3 weeks ago. I guess next week will have some great listening time.
 
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