Spin Clean Record Cleaner
Spin Clean Record Cleaner Review
A list of things I cannot stand: people’s dirty hands on my vinyl records, skips and scratches in the music when I play my vinyl records, and anything that diminishes the beauty that is my vinyl record collection.
I cannot begin to tell you how quickly my record collection grows. Aside from finding some albums online and gifts from friends, I scavenge thrift stores and record shops in just about every city that I travel to. I truly consider all of my records to be a treasure, and you bet I take care of them as such.
That being said, I need an efficient way to clean all of them in order to keep all of them sounding pristine. I always tried cleaning my records by hand; however, my quickly growing collection meant that I needed a quicker solution that still did a high quality job. The Spin Clean Record Washer System has been that perfect solution.
The Spin Clean system does a better job with each record than I ever did by nit picking out every spot and speck, noticeably reducing pops and crackles, and also did the job in a significantly shorter amount of time.
This product comes as an entire system, everything you need in order to effectively clean your vinyl records. This Spin Clean starter kit comes with a washer bin and lid, a 4-ounce bottle of washer fluid, a pair of brushes, a pair of roller, and two washable drying cloths. Please note that this is called a “system” and not a “machine,” due to the fact that you’re the one rotating your records to clean them. If you’re like me, that gives me some peace of mind – I tend to trust myself more with my collection of treasures than a machine.
The first, and main, component of this system is the washer bin. This is where you assemble your cleaning system, with the pair of rollers and two brushes provided in your kit. Depending on the size of your vinyl record, you can adjust the rollers with corresponding slots in the washer bin to correctly adjust the depth in which your record will sit in the cleaning solution. The bin will efficiently and properly clean 12-inch records, 78- and 45- rpm records. Rest assured, the label on the record will be kept out of the cleaning solution in the bin, so you won’t have to worry about soiling the paper. Just be smart, and fill the washer bin with your cleaning solution to the indicated fill line. As an added bonus, this bin is bright yellow, and therefore, you will be able to see all the grime and dirt previously on your records at the bottom of the bin.
The second feature of this system, or should I say, team player, in upgrading your records is the pair of brushes. These two brushes sit in the washer bin on exact opposite sides, just far enough apart to fit your record and clean it effectively. As you rotate your record in the bin, the brushes will clean both sides of it, gently scrubbing out the dust and dirt wedged in between the grooves. Because these brushes are snug around the record, make sure that you are holding the bin in place when rotating and when sliding in or removing your record.
This kit comes with a 4-ounce bottle of cleaning solution – a highly concentrated magic potion that will encapsulate the dirt on your records and help it sink to the bottom of the washer bin, never to return. You’ll need to buy distilled water for this cleaning system, and then add a cap of this solution to the bin to dilute it correctly.
For when you’re finished with your rotations in the washer bin, the Spin Clean Starter Kit comes with two drying cloths. I do recommend that you pre-wash and dry these two clothes before using them to dry your records, to ensure that they are lint-free. These will typically stay dry for a few records each, and can be re-washed for the next cleaning session. If you’re cleaning more than a few records, the two provided in the kit are not going to be enough to dry them all. In this case, you can purchase an additional pack of 5 cloths from Spin-Clean. I always let my records air dry afterwards vertically before I put them back into their sleeves.
So, is this record cleaning system worth the $79.99? You bet your butt it is. As someone who is very consistent with properly handling, storing, and caring for my vinyl collection, many years of playing and traveling with my records will inevitably take a toll on them. Every so often, I need something like this system to really bring my records back to life. Especially those rare ones that I was lucky enough to dig up at small record stores, and that you wouldn’t be able to find ever again in the deepest depths of the Internet.
If you follow each simple step, from filling the bin, to making the cleaning solution, doing all complete rotations, and properly drying your records, you will notice the difference during the first play thereafter. Now, this is not some form of magic where records with damaged worn grooves will suddenly be healed and new again. However, after cleaning my collection thoroughly, pops, skips, and static were reduced or disappeared, and many of my records sounded flawless. The superior sound quality of vinyl records deserves to be maintained and protected at all costs, after all!
Overall, I recommend this device to anyone who loves and cherishes his or her old records. For the price of this product, you have everything you need to get started with increasing the lifetime of your records, and even restoring some of your run-down ones back to a more pure sound. It requires a good amount of manual labor and extra TLC and caution when using it, but it a very cost-effective, and effective, method for removing dirt, dust and gunk from records. I would choose this Spin-Clean system any day over the machine options that cost upwards of a couple hundred dollars.
