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.

 

Dave, i PROMISE not to try it with a better than stock pwr cord.

On my life!

 

Dave, i PROMISE not to try it with a better than stock pwr cord.

On my life!

!

david

 

Lol

 

I think it's pointless to clean a record with just water, ultrasound or not. A lot of the crap that gets deposited in a record needs those chemicals to be brought closer to surface, or at least get them loose so the ultrasound blast in water bath can work properly.
The Audio Desk also does not vacuum, it blows air into the record to dry it. This makes the records completely static-free, while vacuum drying will generally leave the record with lots more static than it began with.

Industrial ultrasonic cleaners are used in the automotive, sporting, printing, marine, medical, pharmaceutical, electroplating, disk drive components, engineering and weapons industries. It's an old technology that is proven to work....and water is all you need.

 

But now I think about it...

 

Less clicks and pops and no dust collecting on the needle do it for me.

Kind regards,
Tang

I haven't used my needle cleaner ONCE since I purchased the KLAUDIO.

 

Industrial ultrasonic cleaners are used in the automotive, sporting, printing, marine, medical, pharmaceutical, electroplating, disk drive components, engineering and weapons industries. It's an old technology that is proven to work....and water is all you need.

If you say so, that's fine. My tests, on vinyl alone, show that greasy records will come out greasy without the added chemicals. Thus any machine running on water alone does not interest me.

 

If you say so, that's fine. My tests, on vinyl alone, show that greasy records will come out greasy without the added chemicals. Thus any machine running on water alone does not interest me.

Your tests were of course with the KLAUDIO.

 

The Degritter is designed to be used with additional cleaning solution, but one can opt for water-only as well.

Dave’s comments on potential harshness from other machines I believe is the critical reason why the Degritter team have gone for the “gentler” 120Hz choice.

If what Dave says is true, then this really is a positive, and indeed unique approach.

 

The Degritter is designed to be used with additional cleaning solution, but one can opt for water-only as well.

Dave’s comments on potential harshness from other machines I believe is the critical reason why the Degritter team have gone for the “gentler” 120Hz choice.

If what Dave says is true, then this really is a positive, and indeed unique approach.

I have cleaned 100's of records on the KLAUDIO, most of them at the maximum 5 minute setting, and there is zero degradation in sound. I'd like to ask DDK for SPECIFICS regarding degradation of sound with ultrasonic cleaning. Tell us your story David.

 

I have cleaned 100's of records on the KLAUDIO, most of them at the maximum 5 minute setting, and there is zero degradation in sound. I'd like to ask DDK for SPECIFICS regarding degradation of sound with ultrasonic cleaning. Tell us your story David.

I heard a distortion in the upper frequencies after cleaning with the KL, I had a couple of other people independently tell me the same thing. It could have been a problem with the early versions, just some or all I wouldn’t know only what I heard after using mine.

david

 

Your tests were of course with the KLAUDIO.

No, I wouldn't put my records on a KL Audio if you paid me. I'm with ddk on this one.

 

No, I wouldn't put my records on a KL Audio if you paid me. I'm with ddk on this one.

Wow,this is turning into a very interesting thread. I would never have guessed the KL was a problem. I’m still using the old fashioned VPI 16.5 and all of the various fluids and so forth from Mobile Fidelity....works very well.
OTOH, I was curious about the new ultrasonic machines. The price has never been that attractive to me, but maybe the new little toaster can be a candidate.

 

The Degritter is designed to be used with additional cleaning solution, but one can opt for water-only as well.

Dave’s comments on potential harshness from other machines I believe is the critical reason why the Degritter team have gone for the “gentler” 120Hz choice.

If what Dave says is true, then this really is a positive, and indeed unique approach.

120Hz?

 

I saw the toaster thing many moons ago, but like many here, was put off by the "euro only" tester limitation. I would've gladly tried it, as it looks like a better realized (and finished) Audio Desk!

 

Wow,this is turning into a very interesting thread. I would never have guessed the KL was a problem. I’m still using the old fashioned VPI 16.5 and all of the various fluids and so forth from Mobile Fidelity....works very well.
OTOH, I was curious about the new ultrasonic machines. The price has never been that attractive to me, but maybe the new little toaster can be a candidate.

I think this is unlikely as the damage would be visible on a microscope easily, if it's audible

Plus if it is a non linear distortion I would suspect it should change in frequency with the record towards the inner groove

A way to test this would be to place a record in ultrasound bath without any rotation,therefore part of the record would be untouched and see if the distortion comes and goes

I note I just cleaned one of my ultrasound machines, which does 8 records at a time

There was not one fleck of black on the bottom when I cleaned it today !

 

I saw the toaster thing many moons ago, but like many here, was put off by the "euro only" tester limitation. I would've gladly tried it, as it looks like a better realized (and finished) Audio Desk!

Not sure how that 120hz frequency if it's actually correct will perform in 120v/60hz, things change when you go from 50hz to 60hz.

david

 

No, I wouldn't put my records on a KL Audio if you paid me. I'm with ddk on this one.

So.....you tested using only water in a machine that wasn't developed to just use water and concluded that just water isn't good enough to clean records?

Hilarious, thanks for the chuckle.

 

So.....you tested using only water in a machine that wasn't developed to just use water and concluded that just water isn't good enough to clean records?

Hilarious, thanks for the chuckle.

But wait... Didn't you just say that "water is all you need", for "ultrasonic cleaners". I thought we were talking about an ultrasonic cleaner, old technology, as you said, and not some specific contraption...

 

But wait... Didn't you just say that "water is all you need", for "ultrasonic cleaners". I thought we were talking about an ultrasonic cleaner, old technology, as you said, and not some specific contraption...

Seriously, you've lost all credibility on this thread.....please move on.