On Mon, 23 Apr 2007 01:06:25 +0100, Dave Matthews wrote:


Hi folks,

I have a collection of about 50 LPs from the 1970s and 1980s which I
would like to transcribe to CD-R. Most of them are in surprisingly good nick
but a few of them - despite my best efforts with isopropyl-based solutions -
stubbornly continue to exhibit more pops and clicks than a Geiger counter in
a microwave oven. So I was thinking about buying a Record Cleaning Machine
for both the "difficult" disks and the ones that are OK but would
undoubtedly still benefit from a proper cleansing job. So I would really
appreciate some advice here...

The VPI machines seem to get good write-ups but I understand they can
literally deafen you if you stand next to them... that would certainly be no
good for me (well, actually, my neighbours!). The "Matrix" range from
ClearAudio is said to be "quiet" but I understand it's actually almost as
noisy as the VPIs. Other than its price, the Loricraft PRC3 seems ideal,
though I note its even more expensive brother, the PRC4, offers
bi-directional cleaning. Is it worth lashing out the extra for this?...

If you can run a vacuum clean on your carpets without the neighbors
complaining then you can run a vacuum record cleaner. They aren't
much louder and the noise is from exactly the same principle.