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Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ.

RE: Entry level turntable and phono amp?

OK, you need to aim for something that does the job properly and is not too laborious to use.

The downside is that if you go too cheap you probably get neither ideal and will end up not bothering.

This is going to sound odd but although cleaning real muck off of discs is occasionally needed with used record purchases the real benefit is the improved sound quality that cleaning can give even with brand spanking new discs straight out of the shrink wrap.

I think that the basic manual machines can be effective at removing gross crap but that for the best sound quality you will need a vacuum machine. Of course best of all is an ultrasonic cavitation cleaner but that can be forgotten about due to high cost. The same for thread machines like Keith Monks or Loricraft.

I would go for the cheapest good wet velvet lip vacuum cleaner which currently in the UK is the Oki Noki. Around 400 gbp so out of your budget but I think worthwhile saving up for. In the meantimne you could invest in a Spin Clean or Knosti manual cleaner. Good if you are thinking of purchasing used discs which may not be in the best of condition. But not having a vacuum to remove the crud is a major limitation.

All of the machines use consumables like purified water (order from your pharmacy in 5L jerry cans) , cleaner formulation and new inner sleeves. Use of tap water is not recommended in the UK as generally our water supply contains high levels of minerals. However you might get away with it as you live in God's Own County where water can be softer. However purified water should be first choice especially if you have discs with a wide dynamic range such as occurs with classical music ( death metal tends to drown out surface noise :-)).

There is a a huge range of cleaner formulations to choose from. I was very happy using Disc Doctor Quick Clean (his Miracle cleaner procedure is too laborious to use) until I moved to an ultrasonic cleaner. To use DD you also need the application pads. Apply cleaner then vacuum off then apply a rinse of purified water with another pad and vacuum. However that's for the future if you go for a Spin Clean now. NB: I see that the linked wesite says that customers who bought the Spin Clean also bought L'Art du Son. That is the wrong type of cleaner to use with this device so don't repeat whoever that was' mistake. It is meant for a vacuum machine amd has to be removed before the disc dries. Stick with the Spin Clean fluid methinks.


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