Post by Owen Y on Sept 28, 2019 16:35:12 GMT 12
This is a lecture given by Charles Kirmuss, Canadian founder of Kirmuss Audio & developer of the Kirmuss 'Ultrasonic Record Cleaning and Restoration System'.
Kirmuss is fairly persistent in his self-promotion but in this lecture, he raises some useful & some contentious points worth pondering, about the need & best method for cleaning records:
- Records made on the mid 70s-early 80s are v noisy (because of the additives in vinyl to allow recycling during the oil crises in the early '70s) - not in my experience, that I can recall.
- New pressed records have a 'release agent' coating (which emerges from the vinyl) of 9-15 microns, which should be removed BEFORE playing. This is because the 'heat' from playing a record will 'micro-weld' airborne dust onto/into the vinyl. The Kirmuss system will also provide an extra '1.3dB signal gain' (at least) from a brand new record.
- Play your vinyl records only once every 24 hours(!) - because heat-deformed grooves need time to cool down again.
- Record-cleaning fluids leave a coating of a few microns in the record grooves - this (& release agents) will be removed by the Kirmuss system, allowing the stylus to sit lower in the groove, which not only retrives more information, but can avoid picking up surface scratches on the record.
- Funguses of different types can coat or 'eat' vinyl - Kirmuss uses a small amount of a alcohol (propanol?) in their fluid mix as a fungicide to kill fungus.
- Cleaning chemicals such Tergitol (used by US Library of Congress to clean archival shellacs) contain ethylene oxide which is damaging to vinyl. (Triton X-100 seems to also contain this chemical & I plan to try a polysorbate detergent (Tween) instead, soon). Similarly, do not use Kodak Photo-Flo.
- Ultrasonic cleaning frequencies of 25kHz 'don't work' on records, 35kHz is the ideal 'sweet spot' for record cleaning & 40kHz 'sandblasts' records (note: this is with their fluid which contains an ionising.agent)
- Don't load records too close together in an ultrasonic cleaner, so that the ultrasonic 'cavitation' can work all the way up to the label (fluid surface).
- Kirmuss's cleaning/restoration system includes an 'ionising agent' that imparts a -ve charge to the record, to 'attract' the ultrasonic waves. (Some others insist on a 'non-ionic' fluid, so that records do not end up with a charge that attracts dust.)
Kirmuss is fairly persistent in his self-promotion but in this lecture, he raises some useful & some contentious points worth pondering, about the need & best method for cleaning records:
- Records made on the mid 70s-early 80s are v noisy (because of the additives in vinyl to allow recycling during the oil crises in the early '70s) - not in my experience, that I can recall.
- New pressed records have a 'release agent' coating (which emerges from the vinyl) of 9-15 microns, which should be removed BEFORE playing. This is because the 'heat' from playing a record will 'micro-weld' airborne dust onto/into the vinyl. The Kirmuss system will also provide an extra '1.3dB signal gain' (at least) from a brand new record.
- Play your vinyl records only once every 24 hours(!) - because heat-deformed grooves need time to cool down again.
- Record-cleaning fluids leave a coating of a few microns in the record grooves - this (& release agents) will be removed by the Kirmuss system, allowing the stylus to sit lower in the groove, which not only retrives more information, but can avoid picking up surface scratches on the record.
- Funguses of different types can coat or 'eat' vinyl - Kirmuss uses a small amount of a alcohol (propanol?) in their fluid mix as a fungicide to kill fungus.
- Cleaning chemicals such Tergitol (used by US Library of Congress to clean archival shellacs) contain ethylene oxide which is damaging to vinyl. (Triton X-100 seems to also contain this chemical & I plan to try a polysorbate detergent (Tween) instead, soon). Similarly, do not use Kodak Photo-Flo.
- Ultrasonic cleaning frequencies of 25kHz 'don't work' on records, 35kHz is the ideal 'sweet spot' for record cleaning & 40kHz 'sandblasts' records (note: this is with their fluid which contains an ionising.agent)
- Don't load records too close together in an ultrasonic cleaner, so that the ultrasonic 'cavitation' can work all the way up to the label (fluid surface).
- Kirmuss's cleaning/restoration system includes an 'ionising agent' that imparts a -ve charge to the record, to 'attract' the ultrasonic waves. (Some others insist on a 'non-ionic' fluid, so that records do not end up with a charge that attracts dust.)
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