02 Pro-Ject Vc-S record cleaning Machine
I confess, I like the concept of the Pro-Ject VC-S record cleaning machine the best. It is simple. It is easy to understand. And in a sense it combines the virtues of the SpinClean and the VRCS.
Here’s how it goes. The VC-S RCM is a large box, 425mm wide by 330 deep and 230 tall. Inside it is a motor to rotate the turntable, a motor for the vacuum cleaner, and a tank for the waste. On the top is a small metal platter, 105mm in diameter, with a foam pad on its top. At the centre of the platter is a record-hole-sized spindle with a thread on the top part. Another platter screws down onto this, clamping the record in place. This has a generously wide knob on the top so you can apply quite a lot of clamping pressure without much difficulty. The underside of the clamp has a similar foam.
That clamp and the platter underneath it both nicely cover the label, stopping them from being dampened by cleaning fluid.
A three-position switch on the side can set the platter rotating in either direction.
In the position on the cleaner which would be occupied by a tone arm, were this a turntable, is the vacuum cleaner arm. This is a solid aluminium arm, thick and strong. It’s never going to deform or distort. At the back it sits on the inlet for the vacuum. A lug on its inside can have it in two places. One is straight-forward for when it isn’t in use. The other has it pointed at the centre of the record. The length is just right to cover the entire exposed surface of the record.
Along the underside of the arm is a long slot, through which the vacuum draws air with considerable force. A strip of soft cloth runs down either side of the slot to protect the surface of the record from the metal. The extraction force is really quite considerable. You wouldn’t want to try to lift the arm from the surface while the vacuum is running, for fear of bending the LP. A single rotation of the record under the vacuum has it looking completely dry, at least to the naked eye.
The process is simple. You mix down the supplied cleaning fluid—100ml is provided—at 10:1 or 20:1 with distilled, or at least demineralised, water. (When you need more, the bottle sizes available for individual purchase are 250ml, 500ml and 1 litre.) You clamp down the record and set it spinning. At this point I’d use a regular carbon-fibre brush for a few rotations just to get rid of any loose dust. Then you put a few millimetres of the cleaning fluid on the rotating disc. Then apply the supplied goat’s-hair brush to the rotating surface. You spread the fluid out evenly and then position the brush so as to let the bristles penetrate the grooves. How assiduous you want to be is up to you.
I applied my long experience of cleaning various other things (mostly floors, with mops and buckets) to this task. Mostly, I’d work in the fluid, then let it settle for five minutes. Pressed-in grime often needs a few minutes of contact with water to loosen. Then I’d add a bit more fluid if required, and repeat the clean in both directions. Then I’d vacuum, usually allowing half a dozen rotations in both directions.
So I liked it because I could work longer on a record if I judged that it would help. I also liked it because there’s a positive process of removing the loosened debris from the grooves.
And most I liked it because it worked. As discussed, it didn’t work on every record because the problem with some records isn’t dirt, but damage.
Keep some paper towels handy to clean up. With care you can avoid any spills, but why take the chance? Also, you’ll need to come up with a way of applying a controlled amount of fluid to the surface. I tried pouring it carefully with a small cup, but that made a mess. The method I settled on was using an eye dropper which I picked up for a few bucks from the local chemist. I could then easily apply as much or as little as I wanted. Usually one full eye dropper was enough.
Performance
This machine provided a range of results, from nothing noticeable to a huge improvement. Again, it all depended on how filthy the record was.
Take the snippet (Graph 5) from the Aunty Jack album from the mid-70s. This is one I picked up in an antique shop, but it sounded as though it had come from the garbage dump. The low-level noise mostly remained, but after a scrub with the Pro-Ject VC-S cleaner (Graph 6), the jarring ‘scratches’ were gone. Clearly they weren’t scratches at all, but patches of dirt stretching across several grooves.
Yet, any fiddling with a record can potentially add dirt. As can any exposure to air… or any failure to remove fluid as thoroughly as one might have intended. Who knows? The album ‘Short Movies’ by Laura Marling was a new acquisition, new vinyl. It had clicks and pops right from the start (Graph 7).
In the seven-second sample (Graph 8), you will hear a large click removed about three quarters of the way through, and a smaller one right at the end. Yes, both were removed, but a small tick was also added near the start of the sample. That could well have been a speck of dust landing on the groove after I put the LP on the platter to record it post-cleaning. Who knows?
That said, the Pro-Ject cleaner was a net positive even for this very new album.
Pro-Ject Vc-S record cleaning machine
$899 Interdyn Pty Ltd (03) 9426 3600