Words and photographs by Rafe Arnott unless otherwise specified.
Welcome to another article filed under The B-Side. A new series which will cover anything to do with analogue playback. Be it record collecting, turntables, phono stages, amps, preamps, cartridges, LPs, artist profiles, rumours, how-to, shops, repairs, etc. If it is ancillary to vinyl spinning, I’ll cover it here. I’d like to thank Hi-Fi Centre for coming onboard to sponsor this new series.
“Nerd!” My friend would good naturally yell at me as I futilely explained some minutiae involving turntables or speakers. Thing is, he was wrong. I wasn’t a nerd, I was a geek. A nerd is someone who has a passion for learning which involves academia. A geek is passionate about obscure areas and subjects, and it’s hard to imagine a hobby/interest more packed with obscurities than high fidelity. And while there’s no end to the minutiae one can deep dive on with hi-fi, a key aspect of its analogue avenue is record collecting. It’s been my experience with records, which are the first part of a crucial chain of vinyl playback, that no amount of money spent on exotic cartridges, tonearms, turntables, phono stages or amps and speakers can overcome a dirty LP.
Photos above: Left: L'Art du Son record cleaning solution. Right: Preparing to clean an LP.
I’ve written previously about the zen aspect to cleaning records with a heavy-duty vacuum record-cleaning machine (RCM), and while there is no denying the efficacy of these apparatus, there is also no denying their cost. An effective, robust vacuum RCM such as an Okki Nokki (which I use) runs into the $700+ USD range, and while a quick online search will reveal cheaper RCMs that “suck,” they lack a motor for rotating the LP, and instead rely on manual operation. If you love collecting and listening to your albums, but are not flush with cash and prefer to spend your hard earned dosh on more black discs, there are other more cost-effective options to cleaning. So, if you are growing wary of the damage being inflicted onto your delicate cartridge stylus, not to mention the hiss, clicks and pops that go with an album which has seen decades of use and neglect, then cleaning your vinyl to offer further decades of enjoyment can be a made a priority without breaking the bank.
Photo above: The Spinner in action at my kitchen sink.
Enter a tool such as the Spindle Spinner. For $175 USD it is a precision machined, simple and incredibly well designed way to quickly, easily – albet fully manually – rid an LP of accumulated dust, dirt, grime, spilled beer, the sticky and curious fingers of tots, or what have you. Using the Spinner to clean up a copy of Donna Summer’s seminal 1977 electronic funk and soul LP I Remember Yesterday produced by legend Giorgio Moroder proved an excerise in simplicity. Applying a wash with my L’Art du Son cleaning solution via a soft-bristled goat hair brush, followed by a thorough rinse and air drying in my dish rack for 30 minutes produced a dead quiet pressing rivalling my Okki Nokki. No, it wasn’t as fast or convenient as using my RCM, but for those on a budget and an eye to a proper cleaning of their albums, it ticks all the boxes.
Order the Spindle Spinner HERE.
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