04 Kirmuss Audio KA-rC-1 ultrAsoniC reCord CleAner
The principles of operation of the other cleaners in this roundup are clear, and familiar to anyone who has ever cleaned, well, anything. Two are variations on soap and water. The other uses an adhesive to pick up debris. All very simple.
The Kirmuss KA-RC-1 uses a different principle: high-powered ultrasonic sound. You put the record in a fluid. The sound—200 watts at 35kHz—is fired into the water. Then, somehow, the dirt in the record grooves falls out. How does this work? Indeed, does it work at all?
We’ll see shortly that it does work. And I will note that the Kirmuss device isn’t the first to be based on such principles. What makes this one special is that of all the ultrasonic cleaners, it appears to be the most affordable one.
The principle by which it works is to use the ultrasound to cause cavitations to form between the particles of dirt and the vinyl. Cavitations are tiny air bubbles (there’s always some air dissolved in water). They are created, and then they collapse, creating small shock waves... small, but intense in their immediate locality. This is what moves the dirt.
The particular implementation in the Kirmuss KA-RC-1 is neat. The unit is a large box with a plastic outer case. It appears rather like a piece of lab equipment. It measures 515mm wide by 280mm deep by 280mm tall. There are carry handles built into it. When empty it weighs around ten kilograms. Filled, it weighs around 17 kilograms.
On the top are four slots for the insertion of records. Two are designed for a standard 12 inch LP, one for 10 inch records (typically 78rpm) and one for 45 inch EPs or singles. At one end of each slot are two pads to guide an edge of the record to make sure it’s parallel to the slot. These also perform a little mild scrubbing.
Underneath the slots is a motor, some nylon cogs and some wheel guides upon which the undersides of the records rest.
The motor and cogs turn these slowly so that the whole recording rotates, with the grooves under the fluid, but the label held clear. I didn’t think to time the rotation, but it probably took about twenty seconds per rotation.
The fluid is in a large stainless steel tub within the housing. You supply the water, leavened with a touch of ethanol. To fill the tub to the correct level I used about six or seven litres of water. Kirmuss recommends distilled water, but that’s hard to get. I used demineralised water, which is available from most supermarkets for about 80 cents per litre. To that one has to add 40ml (a large shot) of 70% alcohol. You should only use 99.8% isopropyl alcohol, which is available from www.ausoptic.com.au. The point of the alcohol, as I understand it, it to help break surface tension so that the water flows smoothly all the way into the grooves.
You pop in your records and set the built-in timer going for the default of five minutes. Then you take it out and work into the grooves using the supplied camel-hair brush (my wife tells informs me that the one supplied is just a high-quality makeup brush) some of the supplied surfactant solution. This is 98% distilled water and 2% of 1,2-propanediol (also known as propylene glucol) or can be 99% distilled water and 1% propanediol. You get 60mm of that with the unit. I reckon that’d be good for a hundred or so records. Then you put the records back in, do another five minutes, take them out, rinse them with more water (distilled recommended, demineralised used by me) and dry them off using the included microfibre cloth.
Clean them up with a soft pad and carbon-fibre brush (included) and then they’re right to go. Well, not exactly. Kirmuss recommends an additional treatment with the surfactant (it also supplies some more with a pretty useless brush for cleaning the stylus). I skipped that step. I like my vinyl to be naked.
As usual, with anything wet you have to exercise care, and keep some paper towels handy to dab off the inevitable splashes on the record labels. One should replace the fluid in the bath every 25 or so uses. Clean-up is easy, thanks to a drainage hole and tap to allow easy emptying.
This is a well-thought-out package. All the needed bits are provided, including even a drainage hose and a microfibre ‘bunny rug’ to cover your work area. All you need to supply is the water and the alcohol.
PerformAnCe
So, does all the ultrasonic stuff work? Absolutely, without doubt. Again, it had no seeming effect on some records (particularly my own ones). But, wow, some of the others were transformed. One of the old records I found was Crosby, Stills & Nash. It was utterly unlistenable, particularly on the second side (Graph 13). There were still some clicks and pops after treatment (Graph 14), but perhaps five per cent of what there had been. It was not restored to out-of-the factory purity, but it was certainly listenable afterwards. Another album that benefited enormously was a glorious performance of Beethoven’s Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61, with the Boston Symphony Orchestra conducted by Charles Munch and the amazing Jascha Heifetz on violin.
Does the ultrasonic work? Absolutely, without doubt... and wow, some records were absolutely transformed!
This was a mono disc and seems to have been released some sixty years ago. Again, most of the clicks and pops were eliminated, revealing a glorious performance (Graph 16).
Another little treasure I found in a charity shop, and which the Kirmuss cleaner recovered for me, was an a cappella arrangement of Nicolas Saboly’s ‘Douze Noels Provencaux’. Again, the noise was mostly removed, as was one giant spot of something-or-other. I helped get rid of that when applying the surfactant between blasts of sonic power. Once it was gone, what had made the stylus jump back continually left no hint of sound.
Kirmuss Audio KA-RC-1 Ultrasonic Record Cleaner
$1,999 Telos Audio Distributors