HumminGuru - an inexpensive desktop RCM

[tima]

Kick-start-up HumminGuru from the Zhuhai China company Happy Well International is releasing a desktop ultrasonic vinyl record cleaner. Designed in HK this unit appears to offer one record single-slot operation at 40kHz, has 2 transducers and a removable water tank, drains by gravity (?), and includes two fans for drying. The machine is aimed at the low-end of the market with a price of $349 USD, with the first 500 backers charged a mere $299 USD. I don't see anything fuctionally unique about this machine other than it being slim, light weight (3kg) and allowing its power cord to be stored in a lid covering its slot. Reduced functionality with no heat, no timer, no fancy computer. This is the lowest cost commercial unit I've seen. Ships from China.

Humminguru

 

[Direct Drive]

Thanks Tim
Looks interesting. I presume "ultrasonic" is the way to go. My RCM is the traditional camel hair brush and vacuum.

 

[tima]

I presume "ultrasonic" is the way to go.

Imo, the adoption of ultrasonic cleaning technology has revolutionized record cleaning and vinyl preservation. After 10+ years of trials and experimentation the technology is sufficiently viable that we now see more and more vinylista taking an interest in using it. While I"ve always maintained one can get a record as clean with the right solutions and a vacuum machine (eg. Loricraft) as one can with ultrasonic, newer USC RCMs make the task simpler, tidier, and offer considerable time savings. Imo, this only increases the viability of the vinyl medium - it gets out from under the onus of wear-out scratchy pops-n-tics which led so many to drop their record collections for perfect sound for ever. One push-button cleaning makes vinyl more fun for more people and that's a good thing!

 

[dminches]

Imo, the adoption of ultrasonic cleaning technology has revolutionized record cleaning and vinyl preservation. After 10+ years of trials and experimentation the technology is sufficiently viable that we now see more and more vinylista taking an interest in using it. While I"ve always maintained one can get a record as clean with the right solutions and a vacuum machine (eg. Loricraft) as one can with ultrasonic, newer USC RCMs make the task simpler, tidier, and offer considerable time savings. Imo, this only increases the viability of the vinyl medium - it gets out from under the onus of wear-out scratchy pops-n-tics which led so many to drop their record collections for perfect sound for ever. One push-button cleaning makes vinyl more fun for more people and that's a good thing!

It will interesting to see when VPI jumps into the fray.

 

[Folsom]

Very interesting.

I'd like to see a metal version for a little more $ though, personally.

 

[dminches]

On this topic, but not about the HumminGuru, I added a rinse cycle to my work flow.

 

[Bobvin]

Dminches, you’ve kind of missed the whole “table top” small form factor approach. But, we are audiophiles are we not? Nothing exceeds like excess.

 

[dminches]

Dminches, you’ve kind of missed the whole “table top” small form factor approach. But, we are audiophiles are we not? Nothing exceeds like excess.

Those unit just did not cut it for me. Putting this all together with the help of @tima was a lot of fun.

 

[Bobvin]

Is the wall mounted filter a sediment filter? You might want to add a mixed bed deionization module if your tap water TDS isn’t too high to start with.

(I’ve owned a water purification company for 20+ years.)

 

[tima]

Dminches, you’ve kind of missed the whole “table top” small form factor approach.

Nah - he jumped over that and went for state of the art. David's setup cleans five records at a time while it rinses the previous five he just cleaned. His Elma ultrasonic cleaning tank (right) cleans at 37kHz and 80kHz, so no compromises there. The cleaning tank has its solution continuously filtered simultaneous with its ultrasonic operation. That filter ia a Flomax/Watts FPP-0.2-975-DOE 2.5” x 9.75” DOE, 0.2 micron (absolute) polypropylene cartridge. The rinse tank (left) provides 37kHz ultrasonic action during the rinse cycle. Both tanks include timer, heater, degas, sweep, etc.

Bob, do you have any thoughts on distilled vs DI water for record cleaning?

 

[Jon]

ultrasonic

 

[Bobvin]

Bob, do you have any thoughts on distilled vs DI water for record cleaning?

DI can produce water more pure than distillation, but only at the extremes of purity. Double distillation is needed for the extreme of purity (18.3 megohms resistivity). That said, for general type 2 waters DI and distillation can easily get you zero ppm water. Distillation will remove dissolved gasses (CO2) where DI won’t so you might find the pH of DI water lower due to CO2 in water forms carbonic acid (a weak acid, you have lots in your body always waiting to be converted to CO2 in the lungs before expiration.) Since 0ppm water has no buffer, the addition of as little as 4ppm CO2 can move the pH of ultra-pure water to 4. It takes very high quality meters to detect this accurately, bracket calibrated just before measuring since meters require ionic concentration to function normally. (Add a speck of baking soda [sodium bicarbonate] a weak base, and the pH will go up to 8 all because of absence of buffers.)

As I have RO/DI water at 0ppm readily at hand, thats what goes into my RCM. I’d be happy with distilled too.

 

[Lee Henley]

Looks like these units are now shipping has anyone on here taken the plunge and ordered one? If so any feedback, the only downside I see is that you have to manually fill the tank up each time you want to clean a record

 

[MRJAZZ]

Looks like these units are now shipping has anyone on here taken the plunge and ordered one? If so any feedback, the only downside I see is that you have to manually fill the tank up each time you want to clean a record

There’s a recent YouTube video by an actual owner. He wasn’t impressed.....says it’s just superficially cleans, or words to that effect.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Looks like these units are now shipping has anyone on here taken the plunge and ordered one? If so any feedback, the only downside I see is that you have to manually fill the tank up each time you want to clean a record

I ordered one, Lee. Will let you know when I get it. Will compare to AudioDesk

 

[Neil.Antin]

There is an active thread over at Steve Hoffman with users reporting their results - Interesting All-in-One Ultrasonic Cleaner - HumminGuru | Page 17 | Steve Hoffman Music Forums. There is a manual available - HumminGuru_HG01_Owner_s_Manual_English_Version.pdf (shopify.com)

Some items to note:
-the OEM specifies use of distilled (deionized) water only.
-there is no degas step. Unless fresh fluid is degassed you get no cavitation.
-the records spins very fast for the very small volume (400 ml) which can effect the cavitation intensity.

 

[Lee Henley]

I ordered one, Lee. Will let you know when I get it. Will compare to AudioDesk

Ok mate I’ll be interested in your thoughts

 

[Lee Henley]

There is an active thread over at Steve Hoffman with users reporting their results - Interesting All-in-One Ultrasonic Cleaner - HumminGuru | Page 17 | Steve Hoffman Music Forums. There is a manual available - HumminGuru_HG01_Owner_s_Manual_English_Version.pdf (shopify.com)

Some items to note:
-the OEM specifies use of distilled (deionized) water only.
-there is no degas step. Unless fresh fluid is degassed you get no cavitation.
-the records spins very fast for the very small volume (400 ml) which can effect the cavitation intensity.

Thanks for that I’ll take a look

 

[jeromelang]

I received mine 2 weeks ago. And I just re-setup my turntable just to test this thing.

Some people were saying when fresh new distilled water is being used, should let the machine run 1 round without any records in the trough first to "degas" the distilled water so that the water will be able to form bubbles more effectively during the next cavitation process. I can't verify this, I just tried running the fresh container of distilled water without a record in the trough for the first run anyway.

I am surprised how it managed to make the (previously condemned abby road pressing because of the low, low soundstage) Bob Marley greatest hits LP sound so much more spacious after 1 x 5mins wash/10min dry cycle.

But, I noticed that after using it with distilled water, somehow it makes the centre imaging shift left. I then put the record in the zenn spinner and treat it with tap water and spun the Zenn machine for about 3 mins to expel moisture, and (later, when i played the record) it did helped made imaging centralised again. Using tap water also makes imaging taller, and deeper, with even finer low-detail resolution.

Another record that I put in didn't even get wet. Does it mean some surfactants have to be used? I try to avoid using surfactants as they have their sonic signatures and once they get onto record surfaces, they are very hard to remove. Even after up to 3 or 4 rinses, I can still hear the effects that were imparted onto records.

I had one record not turning in the machine, but subsequent records i put in were ok. Other people on Steve Hoffman forum has mentioned this. It seems that some warped records don't turn on this machine. Phew! Thank heavens, it was only due to the warpage, otherwise I thought wah so fast spoilt already!??!.

 

[Audiophile Bill]

Hi All,

Received my Humminguru. Cleaned 4 LPs last night and so far very impressed indeed. Very easy to operate, flexible operation for clean / dry cycles, easy to use.
I have been using mine with Audiodesk solution simply because I had some. I just worked out the dilution ratio for the small water quantity needed and it worked absolutely perfectly. The quality of clean was comparable to my Audiodesk (now deceased as so many have). I will likely by a 2nd machine now so I can rotate whilst I play. The value is excellent. The quality of the build is clearly not at the level of the more premium offerings but it is functional and looks perfectly decent - not that I care actually. All I ask of it is to clean and dry effectively.
The machine is largely quiet but there is a 19khz louder spike and unfortunately I am young enough to hear that enough to distract. As such I wouldn’t put it in my listening room unless I made a sound box for it.

All in all - very happy so far. Let’s see how it goes in another month or so.