Degritter ultrasonic record cleaner

Hi y’all, just a few words on what I think is a worthy alternative to the Audio Desk Systeme and KLAudio ultrasonic cleaners.

http://degritter.com/media-kit/

I’ve been a beta tester on the Degritter for the last few weeks, and am happy to offer my opinions and answer any qs for those interested.

I believe official launch is in early May, and at this stage after a couple of quibbles in day to day use, I’m planning to keep my unit, it’s been a pretty good success, and invaluable addition to day to day life as a vinyl addict.

 

Belts & braces 1st clean PRC6 & 2nd clean with the Degritter

I did that for a while but in the end sold the PRC-6. No point - for a really dirty record, an extra spin or two on the Degritter makes it redundant.

 

I did that for a while but in the end sold the PRC-6. No point - for a really dirty record, an extra spin or two on the Degritter makes it redundant.

I've still found the best results come from adding an AI Ultra Pure Water rinse in the VPI 16.5 after the Degritter.

 

Got mine at last, tested and loved the results. Then it went to its place where it fit perfectly

 

I got in early on the Degritter on a good price (as I probably mentioned very early in this thread). After a couple of years my early-model began to start leaving drops of water on records, not drying fully all the time, and finally a while back, sprang a leak on the bottom.

The Degritter guys were, as usual, fantastic in dealing with this. They simply shipped me a new unit (and they paid for the defective unit to be sent back to Estonia). I chose the black model for the replacement.

It's been working like a charm. Perfectly dry every time, so they've clearly done some work on the drying process. I also like the new brighter display with bigger fonts, which I can very easily see from across the room. Finally, though I normally don't care for black components, I really like the look of the black Degritter. It feels even more streamlined looking, the white text on black near the knobs is easier to read, and the display when on "pops" more, without any other visual distractions given the rest of the unit is black.

I'm very satisfied!

 

For those with interest in out-of-box push button RCMs, M.Fremr describes the Degritter in the January 2021 Stereophile. He also talks about the Kirmuss, KLaudio and AudioDesk machines. All with a surface level familiarity. Of the Degritter and AudioDesk: "Both machines work extremely well and are essentially the same in terms of cleaning, but..." the Degritter costs less and is stiff competition". He concludes with advising against putting really dirty records in any machine because that will "contaminate the tank with garage-sale sludge", that is, get the water dirty. He suggests first using an Allsop Orbitrac or Spin-Clean. I've tried the former and think the possibility for grinding dirt into the record is too great. Better just to change the tank water.

 

For those with interest in out-of-box push button RCMs, M.Fremr describes the Degritter in the January 2021 Stereophile. He also talks about the Kirmuss, KLaudio and AudioDesk machines. All with a surface level familiarity. Of the Degritter and AudioDesk: "Both machines work extremely well and are essentially the same in terms of cleaning, but..." the Degritter costs less and is stiff competition". He concludes with advising against putting really dirty records in any machine because that will "contaminate the tank with garage-sale sludge", that is, get the water dirty. He suggests first using an Allsop Orbitrac or Spin-Clean. I've tried the former and think the possibility for grinding dirt into the record is too great. Better just to change the tank water.

Looking forward to reading that. I would agree that an Orbitrac is risky and better just to change the water if necessary. (I change it pretty frequently anyway).

One thing I found out recently - as part of the trial programme a couple of years back I was told from the outset not to add any alcohol to the tank. Maybe I'm just a bit slow but it was only in the last week I discovered that restriction was because prototype tank was glued acrylic rather than moulded polycarbonate, and alcohol would have dissolved the glue.

No such restriction applies to the production machines (one of which I've had now for at least 18 months). I found that in addition to the Degritter-brand surfactant supplied with the machine, adding isopropyl alcohol (approx half a kitchen measuring cup to a tankful) improves first pass cleaning even further.

 

Guys, can we trust all sources of water labelled "deionised" etc? I ask because I know Degritter requires this over Distilled, but I've heard not all sources are 100% accurate w labelling.
What sources are people using?

 

Actually I would need to check but I think the recommendation is for distilled. Deionised has particular properties that can be corrosive to steel components in certain circumstance. Though it loses this characteristic pretty quickly if mixed even in relatively small quantities with other liquids.

 

Haha, my bad.
What's your source of distilled, Tom?

 

Haha, my bad.
What's your source of distilled, Tom?

Amazon, in 12 litre containers but I have been known to grab a bottle from the car accessory shop in the next village if I'm stuck for a top-up.

 

Tom, you're confident of the provenance of anything w "Distilled Water" on the label?

 

Ultimately you have to trust the supplier ... this is the brand I generally use:

Distilled Water - Pure Steam Distilled H2O - 25 litres - BPA Free Container with 61mm Jerry Can Tap : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

Distilled Water - Pure Steam Distilled H2O - 25 litres - BPA Free Container with 61mm Jerry Can Tap : Amazon.co.uk: Health & Personal Care

www.amazon.co.uk

Like I said if I run out and need to top up the tank due to evaporation I would go to the car accessory shop and get a litre of something labelled distilled water, not sure I'd use that for my main supply though. (Expensive as well to buy in small quantities.

 

Guys, can we trust all sources of water labelled "deionised" etc? I ask because I know Degritter requires this over Distilled,

Could you cite what they say about this? Rather unusual. I'd never heard this before about Degritter.

Distilled water is very inexpensive, at least here in the States.

 

Tim, as I said before, my mistake
Tom reminded me Degritter indeed works w Distilled not Deionised.
But I know that there are some sources of both that are not what they say they are.

 

Is softened water run through reverse osmosis acceptable to use on the Degritter?

 

Is softened water run through reverse osmosis acceptable to use on the Degritter?

I have a 4-stage water filter supplying a drinking/cooking water tap in the kitchen. I wouldnt use it for cleaning records though - essentially whatever is in the water tank should evaporate from the cleaned record without leaving any residue and I’m not confident any mains derived water, however treated, would do that.

 

M.Fremr describes the Degritter in the January 2021 Stereophile. Of the Degritter and AudioDesk: "Both machines work extremely well and are essentially the same in terms of cleaning, but..." the Degritter costs less and is stiff competition"

Having owned both, I'd say Fremer is wrong about them being essentially the same performance - the Audio Desk left many records noisy which the Degritter rendered quieter or even silent in some instances. No competition...

 

Is softened water run through reverse osmosis acceptable to use on the Degritter?

Softening is a filtration process that removes hard minerals such as calcium and magnesium. Depending on what type of softener is used, those minerals may get swapped for sodium minerals - if the softener uses ion-exchange that can happen. RO water can have minerals, salts and organics removed - stuff larger than the size of a water molecule gets collected by the RO membrane. RO filters but it does not purify; some pesticides and herbicides and other materals can pass through an RO membrane, but water out should be cleaner than the water going in.

I don't own a Degritter. Unless the manufacturer specifically requires distilled water, the RO water should be okay though as @montesquieu notes RO water could leave residue if it drys on the record, but not as much residue as tap water. Home based RO water is convenient. But distilled water is generally very cheap - here a gallon jug at the grocery is around 80¢. Yes, you have to remember to buy it but is there a reason not to use it other than the relatively small cost?

 

I just got a Degritter and I am very pleased and impressed. My current protocol is to scrub records in a SpinClean with their standard solution, then clean rinse and dry in the Degritter using 1ml of solution in a tank. Sounding fabulous!

 

Is softened water run through reverse osmosis acceptable to use on the Degritter?

Degritter specifies distilled water. I tried RO (post ion-exchanged softened) water and got equivalent results to distilled. When I first used the Degritter I used RO water and got a slight amount of foam on the record surface. When I saw this behavior on my SpinClean it resulted in audible residue that the NittyGritty did not remove, so I called my dealer. He suggested that the RO water was the culprit, so I dumped the RO water, rinsed with distilled, and refilled with distilled. The foaming performance was equivalent with the two. In neither case did I detect any audible degradation as a result of the surface foam. I also reduced the cleaning solution from 2 ml to 1 ml in the Degritter, which did reduce the foaming a bit, but did not eliminate it.

My current regimen is SpinClean with 1 large capful of SpinClean solution (recommended concentration) in distilled water. Three rotations of the record in each direction before placing into the Degritter. I use the "Medium" setting on the Degritter, with 1 ml of Degritter solution in a full tank of water. Results are stunningly good.

By the way, eliminating the SpinClean step before the degritter has no effect on the foaming.

Here is the level of foaming I'm seeing. My dealer tells me it is typical.