Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!wuarchive!uwm.edu!csd4.csd.uwm.edu!info-high-audio-request
From: chowkwan@aerospace.aero.org
Newsgroups: rec.audio.high-end
Subject: record cleaning fluids
Message-ID: <6539@uwm.edu>
Date: 22 Sep 90 15:48:16 GMT
Sender: news@uwm.edu
Lines: 39
Approved: tjk@csd4.csd.uwm.edu


Torumat contains no alcohol.  It also costs $15 for 16 oz.  
$80 for 1 gallon.  Ouch.  You have to weigh that against 
the worth of your vinyl.  (Alcohol leaches out the plasticizers,
makin records brittle).

In case there's still a US audiophile out there who's been in a coma
this past year, mainstream classical vinyl is close to extinction
in the US.  I called around several stores in LA purporting to be
purveyors of the plastic stuff and the largest one had 2,000 discs
in stock.  They all said that after current stocks are gone - that's
it.  Of course there are places that sell audiophile quality stuff
but the range of music is severely limited and even then you have to
wonder what happens to supply when the pressing plants close (e.g. JVC).

Anyone want to share their vinyl sources with the net?  Or is
that sort of information a jealously guarded secret in these 
dark days of the Twilight of Vinyl?  If only we could bring
back reel to reel - now that's real analog.

The situation in Europe seems to be better.  Could Euro-netters
comment?  The latest issue of Absolute Sound had a reader's letter
recommending Gramex in London, in case anyone's going to London
on vacation anytime soon.

A sensible approach (fiscally speaking) would seem to be 
to clean only when the record seems real dirty.  For everyday
use rely on a carbon fiber brush such as the Hunt (quality product
Made in Great Britain - oxymoron?  Just a quip, just a quip.
Flame off anglophiles.)  I just got a Hunt and recommend it highly.
The carbon fibers drain off static so your record isn't a dust
magnet after cleaning.  Still, Enid Lumley recommends Zerostating
after the Hunt but I haven't found this to be necessary.  She
also recommends a squirt of Stylast on the (surprise) stylus
before each play.  She claims Stylast improves the sound as well
as protecting stylus and record.  Haven't had a chance to try this
yet - could we have comments from Stylast users?

-- ray