20 Best Vinyl Record Cleaner (2022 Updated)

My husband has hundreds if not thousands of records in his collection. As a professional, these records are an investment and will be a part of our legacy. When I asked him how he takes care of his records he showed me a dirty brush and some questionable cleaning product.

After I saw what we were working with, I knew it was time to invest in some quality cleaning products. The Kit arrived in a nice secure package. I can tell this is made up of quality products, the wood and metal are sturdy and strong.

This whole thing looks very quality and like a solid investment. The record holder is really neat to display what you are now playing. This gift would be perfect for anyone and I would recommend it!.

I really like The Kit, if you are a music lover you will also. I love the look of the wood and the sturdiness of the kit. I think it looks “classy” and stylish adds a touch of elegance to my stereo equipment.

The Kit is very handy to have to clean your albums and keep them in great shape for years of playing. I like the way I can display the currently playing album on the stand. Its just a really cool kit to have.

I would recommend to anyone wanting to add a little style and handiness to their album collection.

The fibers went absolutely everywhere right after opening the brush. Would not recommend this at all. I would also recommend a microfiber cloth rather than the crappy one in the kit. The only good thing is the stand.

Overpriced. Will be returning.

Due to the heavy use of washing hundreds of records, wear enough my classic Spin and Clean machine. Unfortunately the Spin and Clean prices are over the clouds and I decided to try more cheaper options.

I tried the horrendous Studebaker, and returned the Crosley for roller problems. Finally I gave a chance to the Knox and got my self surprised with the quality and construction of the product. Is more rigid than the Spin and Clean and the rollers and the brushes are high quality constructed.

It has a cover with hermetic sealed and a rack for drying the records. All of that for the half of the price of the ridiculously overpriced Spin and Clean.

This device cleans the most dirtiest records and the sound is much better after cleansing. The only con is you have to turn the record by hand while cleansing. Some record cleaners have motors but cost hundreds more some even thousands.

I’m glad i purchased this item.

Cleans & drys quick. Hear the difference immediately. After washing get in the habit of dry cleaning and wiping LP and cleaning stylus before and after use. They give two bottles of cleaning solution which should last a long time.

Consider cleaning in batches to eliminate wasting solution. Packs up compactly and has everything you need.

While I did wait for this to come on sale, I see now that it would have been a great value even at retail pricing. Initially I thought I needed to buy the fully automated and even the more expensive ultra-sonic cleaners.

I decided to put this through the test with some old vinyl from the 70s and my college days. I haven’t taken very good care of my collection, so had no real hope of miracles. I was wrong. When combined with a good solution, the plater platform and great vacuum power made for miraculous cleaning.

Some complain about the noise…really??? If you want a powerful vacuum and suction, go for clean records and a little noise. You’re turning it off when you listen to the record!!! Complete cleaning and most albums only required one cleaning cycle.

The only thing left were some scratches from careless handling. Manually rotating the record wasn’t bad and when shadowed against the additional cost, I think this is a great value for the job it does.

Really seems to be well made, clear instructions, well packed. Solid piece of kit. If you’ve been on the fence, jump over and I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

This machine does a very good job cleaning a record with it’s special solution, brush and vacuum dry. It works much better than simply brushing surface dirt off with a dry brush or cloth. It literally sucks the filth right out of the grooves.

I do not regret buying it, particularly because of it’s very low price compared to the greatly more expensive other brand vacuum machines on the market. This is a bargain at $199. It’s just LOUD. 82 DECIBELS LOUD.

You might want to invest in earplugs or noise cancelling headphones for use with this machine. I use it to clean 2-3 records at a time. For anything more, I prefer the quieter, old fashioned water plus solution, manual spin type cleaner, which takes longer and is more effort.

That said, I’d still buy the Record Doctor machine. Stock up on extra solution, too. Also consider buying the nicely fitted optional cover to protect your investment. But you might want to have another type of stand-by record cleaning method in case the noise gets to you as it does to me when you have a lot of records to clean.

I believe that you have to spend much more to get a machine that cleans better. In the amount of multiples the cost of the Record Doctor. I have cleaned a lot of records with this machine and have gone through several felt stripes over that time and this is not a complaint.

They wear out and they are not difficult or expensive to replace. I like the fact that the vacuum works in a way that cleaning solution and contaminates are pulled down off the record. It’s an efficient operation.

I also like that this is a manual operation. I have control of the rotation when brushing and vacuuming. The record solution included is good, but I think it has alcohol in the formula and I avoid it’s use as much as possible so I use another brands enzyme based solution.

The brush included will get you started, but it’s not great. I use brushes sold by the company that makes the cleaning solution I use. In respect to AA, I haven’t used their name because they don’t sell their products.

If you have a collection of records from back in the day and if you shop record resellers, you almost always need to vacuum clean the record and put it in a new quality sleeve. A carbon brush will remove the dust for playing after that.

The anti-static brush, and stylus cleaner work like a charm. The cleaning pad that you use the cleaning formula with is awful though. After about 5 or so uses, it begins to lose the fine little black hairs, and they get embedded in your grooves.

Upon playing the record back, hundreds of these little hairs will build up on your stylus, and will severely affect playback of your record.

I am a working DJ. I was having issues with my stylus’s getting dirty in the middle of my sets. I picked up this cleaner set and i clean my needles at the beggining of each set and I have not had a problem since! Thumbs up! The vinyl cleaner is great also, but the with the two working together.

flawless sets!.

Happy with this kit, everything you need is here. I would prefer if the record cleaning solution was a spray bottle but the bottle it comes with is fine. I’m not an expert but I’ve been told to avoid alcohol based cleaning solutions but if you’re not cleaning too regularly or cleaning very old records you should be fine.

This is the same product I’ve been using for years to help with the maintenance of my vinyl collection. I do like the fine mist spray dispenser. It seems to spread the liquid more evenly and conservatively than the old dropper style.

Although, they could use a more focused spray nozzle. It is a little too wide. Aside from that, a welcome change.

This product has always worked for me and this larger refill should last quite some time. Very reasonably priced, I thought. Using vinyl cleaner means you’re playing vinyl records, so that is a win/win in my books.

Awesome record cleaner that I used to clean antique records.

Bought this a couple of weeks ago, cleaned three batches of 30-50 LPs with it. First the good things: ordering from Richer Sounds was a breeze, good price with the VIP discount. It works well, in the sense that it has made some of my records sound much better, and I do kinda enjoy the process, because even though it is labour intensive and takes time, you get to feel a real connection with your record collection, if that doesn’t sound too weird… It is definitely superior to hand cleaning, and in that sense I am happy I got it and will continue to use it.

BUT, blimey there are some infuriating aspects of its design. The wheels are really squeaky and noisy, the rubber bands have already started to erode slightly, and most annoyingly of all, the wheels don’t stay in, but ride up as the record turns in the opposite direction, so you have to constantly push it back down.

I can’t quite believe that for a product that has supposedly remained unchanged since the 70s the design is so flawed. If you can forgive it these issues, It is still a useful piece of kit though! Finally, instructions insist you use distilled water, but this is actually pretty hard to find in the UK, so I ended up using deionised water, and there’s not an easy or cost effective way around that.

So it gets a thumbs up from me, but be warned, it takes time, effort, and perseverance to use, and its design is a bit frustrating.

I had a whole box of second hand vinyl in dire need of a deep wet clean, and everyone recommended this system to me. And after having gone through tons of records caked in layers of hair and dust, I’m impressed by how thorough it seems to be in getting rid of everything.

Then again, it should be good, considering this particular system has been around since the mid-70s. Granted, uneven records seem to make one of the rollers pop upwards awkwardly depending on how you grip the edges when rotating the record, but that’s something you get used to after cleaning several records.

Be sure to get hold of plenty of distilled water to fill the basin, and have a toast rack or something similar on standby to give the records a proper air dry after initially wiping the excess off.

I really like this product. It does a great job. The only trouble is that no matter what how I do it, it seems to roll the roller up out of it’s groove. I even submerged the label on one of my records because the roller completely popped up and out of the groove.

I’m kind of bummed out about that. The manufacturer should really consider putting some sort of lock like a spring loaded pin to ensure that the roller can’t come out. Other than the very serious risk of submerging your record’s label on accident, i would still recommend this product as a relatively cheap and very effective way of cleaning your records.

Also, if anyone is reading this, don’t be afraid to harm your records. I decided to try to fix a small scratch on an album by doing 100 turns in both directions. I think it goes without saying that velvet brushes won’t fix a scratch, but it did not harm the record whatsoever even after 100 passes in both directions.

I’m new to vinyl, and after seeing this kit demonstrated on YouTube a little while back, I decided to purchase this as it looked like a simple yet effective solution for cleaning records. I haven’t been disappointed; it’s easy to use, and quite effective in cleaning records with light to moderate dust and grime.

My one gripe is a technical flaw with the design of the holes on the brush and the nozzle on the bottle. The holes are too small; the drops of solution tend to cling across each hole instead of falling into the body of the brush, with the surface tension of the solution then blocking the holes from accepting further drops.

I ended up boring out the holes (carefully) with a small drill bit, and decanting the solution into a bottle with a smaller nozzle, and now it works perfectly!.

Bought this to match the brand of the turntable I bought. Only listen to records casually. Generally buy from secondhand or record stores. This product has helped clean quite a bit of ‘gunk’ off of the ilder records Ive found.

To be honest, you can only clean off so much previous, caked ok residue before you have to actually get a little more pressure on the record. This product, though, can get the general grime and what not off of the record and helps shine it up.

Disclaimer: i always take a soft cloth (or microfiber) to the record before to get the all of the loose hair and dust before using this product.

This is an excellent record care solution by Audio Technica. It has a really nice brush and cleaner system, as well as enough fluid for over a dozen uses. Each use of the fluid on the brush can clean a handful of records (about 4-5 12-inch LPs front and back) before it should be wiped.

The blue strip cleaner will help remove particles gathered by the brush as you clean your records.

Great kit, works exactly as advertised and looks nice as well! The inclusion of a label protector is brilliant and the fluid works well and seems to leave absolutely no residue. I love the simplicity of a 1-step cleaning process that doesn’t require rinsing, extensive drying time, or water, so I highly recommend for anyone that doesn’t feel the need to shell out hundreds of dollars on one of the many record cleaning machines.

The GrooveWasher Walnut Record Cleaning Kit is the best product for cleaning my records. I recently began collecting and playing records that I got from grandparents and knew I would need to clean them to get the most out of the sound quality.

I saw review for the cleaner and decided to give it a try and so far its been great. One of the biggest pros for this cleaning kit is that its Made in America!! So many cleaning kits are cheaply made overseas but this kit from the brush to the cleaning solution spray is Made in the Good old USA.

I don’t mind paying a little bit more for quality but the price on this kit which was around $34 was not a bad price. I would recommend this to anyone who needs a good record cleaning kit.

When I started buying vinyl AGAIN, I brought my vintage Discwasher out of storage. It was a bit worn and split, but managed to do the job. Gave the GrooveWasher a try and ended up with a much cleaner disc.

Between the micro fiber fabric and the fluid, there’s not much junk left on the disc.

I put it into small AT634 bottles. I soak AT brush then clean record with soaked At brush, let sit for 60 sec. or so until almost dry to let fluid pull dirt out of grooves, then I clean with dry AT brush a couple of times.

Cleans very well this way. Works Great!.

This does a nice job with cleaning most surface noise and foreign particles. I’m giving this one star less than a full 5 only because it’s got an alcohol kind of smell. Other than that, it’s great for the money and better than Gruvglide!.

Works incredibly well! Mofi recommendeds using two brushes but applying with a brush and wiping off with a cloth works fine.

The Studebaker Sb450 Record Cleaning System is a knockoff of the more popular (and higher priced) Spin Clean. I know, because I’ve used one before, and all the parts and method of cleaning are exactly the same as the spin clean.

Only difference is the design of the actual unit itself. The spin clean is entirely made of plastic, while the Studebaker has a pvc wrapped mdf exterior (the interior is still plastic). I actually think this feels more durable and sturdy than the spin clean.

Others who have reviewed this product online have said that if you get the pvc/mdf casing wet, it can warp over time. I don’t see that being an issue as long as you are careful when cleaning it out, and in the event you do get the outer part wet, just dry it immediately.

Another complaint is the fact that the ring in the rollers gets twisted up sometimes during cleaning sessions, causing the records to not move as easily or the edges of the records to get stuck in the rollers.

As I said before, all the parts for this are the same as the spin clean, so whether you pay $50 more, or buy this one, you’ll have the same problem. It’s not the fault of the product, it’s the fault of whoever designed the rollers.

They’re easy enough to fix anyway, the rollers come apart at the middle, you fix the ring, pop the roller back together, and you’re in business, A little practice with the system over time, and you can actually avoid the ring/roller problem all together.

Another issue people point out is that the instructions given are VERY vague. As I said before, this is the same concept as the spin clean, so just check out some spin clean tutorials on youtube, and you’ll be all set in a matter of a few minutes.

Overall, a great product, and for what you would pay for one spin clean, you can buy 2 of these, and have enough left over for some good cleaning fluid or some more records.

The overall design of this product looks simple enough. Instead of using the older hand-held Discwasher system, the design approach here is to clean both sides of the record simultaneously. As simple as this sounds, I found two design issues that bothered me.

First, the pads fit very tightly against the record. so much that it made the record hard to spin in-place. Second, I pondered the process of removing the record which would take a perpendicular path across the grooves.

The contaminants captured by the brushes during their linear track-n-pull session would then be [to some degree] released back into the grooves in the sideways travel during removal. The questions on this survey are too rigid [only yes & no; no maybe or partially].

I see this as a flaw in the survey itself. Is the product worth the money I paid for it? Sure it is. If I want a deeper clean though, I’ll need to seek out another option. Meanwhile, I’ll most likely retain the fluid to refill my Discwasher brush.

This is a cheaper alternative to the SpinClean record washer system. I must suggest that one is careful not to get the wood exterior too wet (I wipe it down everytime water drips on it). I suggest getting the SpinClean fluid and throwing out the cleaning fluid that comes with this.

Fill the tub up with distilled water and use a capful of the SpinClean fluid. Then you’ll have a system that works exactly like the SpinClean system for less money. And there’s another tip for you: buy plenty of microfiber cloths because the two you get with this system are really small and are not enough when you have several records to clean in one sitting.

Overall though, I would recommend this system.

My Dad was an avid collector of vinyl records. He was very patient in teaching us how to handle and clean his records. I now have some of his records and I was very pleased to find the Vinyl Alive Record Cleaning Kit! The velvet covered hand cleaning pad is just like the one my Dad had! So far I have not used the liquid cleaner.

I hold the record in my hand, careful to hold it just by the edges and gently wipe the velvet cleaning pad in the same direction of the player. The velvet pad is the only pad to use, according to my Dad.

Velvet wrapped on foam attached to a block of wood, with cleaning solution all safe for lp’s. Exactly what I wanted. Exactly what I ordered. Great price, quick delivery, no shipping cost, picked up in store.

Works as advertised.

This Ion Record Cleaning Kit probably cleans just as well as the original dishwasher I owned 25 years ago although it doesn’t have the taught, finely crafted feel of the fabric on the original. I haven’t used the cleaning liquid yet, so I don’t know about its effectiveness.

Finally, as you can see from the photos, there is no stylus cleaning device. Does the job it’s supposed to.

I use a Discwasher and had run out of my giant (6 fl oz) D4 that I bought decades ago. I gave this product a try and it works great! I like that it comes in a large bottle. Not only does it clean it appears to SHINE the records a bit–I like that.

Recommendation–if you have a small bottle of record cleaner (like my 1. 25 fl oz D4 liquid I have) keep it and use it as your record-side cleaner bottle.

OK product at a good price… it doesn’t seem to leave any detectable residue behind, even though after extended use it left a residue on the cartridge tip, requiring a thorough stylus cleaning

I would recommend Vinyl Styl for anyone who cares about the quality of their records. It can make decent records sound wonderful, even clean up older ones to sound better than expected.

If you have a turntable and a collection of LPs, you NEED this. It is superb. Removes dust and static like a charm. No liquid required. It cheap too.

Tested this on one of my LP’s and it created fine scratches across the surface. Glad the LP I tried it on isn’t one that will make me cry. This brush has now been placed in the rubbish bin where it can’t do any further damage to my vinyl!.

Amazing improvement in the sound quality of my ancient vinyl collection. Astonishingly good.

Really good, works perfectly. Little brush can be stored in the velvet block. Velvet picks up stuff flawlessly. Cleaner solution works great too. I even use the little brush on my needle. Can’t find a flaw!.

It helps with keeping my vinyl records clean as well as protecting my needles from excessive wear from dust and dirt. The sound sounds great.

Works great – excellent value! Don’t think that you really need more than 2-3 drops of the cleaning solution, though. Distribute it evenly by taking the end of the solution bottle and running it across the drops on the cleaner.

This is the standard carbon fiber cleaning brush that has been around for years. It works fine. Its not as substantial as the ones made 30 years ago, but it still works the same. I use it every time I put a record on the platter.

Its not for deep cleaning, just for getting any new dust off. You’ll still need to use a wet cleaner every so often.

Very inexpensive but it works. The better ones have a nicer feel when using them. This one feels a little cheap. Works though which is what is important.

I have used the felt type of cleaners for years and purchased this brush on a whim. I was surprised at how much dust it will grab even after I used the felt. It does not damage my vinyl and is a great value.

Worked surprisingly well to clean my vintage vinyl record albums. It consists of a soft padded brush with wood handle and a small dropper bottle of distilled water. Put a few drops of water on one edge of the brush and lightly rub it in.

Put the record on the turntable and manually turn it while holding the damp side of the brush on the surface. Then repeat using the dry side of the brush. Much cheaper than record washing devices. I don’t know if you’d want to use it on a valuable record, but for my well-used 1970s albums it did the job to remove dust and fingerprints.

I like the idea of being able to hide the bottle of cleaner in in the handle. But I have two issues with this that keep it from being useful for me. First the cleaning pad slides so easy into the handle that you have to keep a couple of fingers on the pad as youre cleaning the record or the pad slides out of the handle.

There is no resistance holding the pad into the handle. Makes even picking the whole thing up difficult because the pad slides completely out. My second issues with this is the cleaning pad itself, it is not flat and has an arc to it that makes cleaning the side of an album impossible.

You could push with a lot of force to get the pad to flatten out but then the album stops spinning and you have to turn the album on the platter by hand. I believe with a few tweaks to this it could be a very useful vinyl cleaner.

SD.

I have been wanting a counter height table for a long time. One that can go from square to round. The combination of the dark and light wood truly makes this set pop in my dining area. The chairs are very study and I like the fact they are all wood, no cushioned seat for my cats to destroy.

Very well made, heavy, sturdy, and beautiful! The team that moved the set into our home were outstanding. This set fulfilled all my desires and I am very pleased with my purchase from start to finish.

Color me shocked. I assumed at the price point it would be junk, but I figured if I could get a dozen records clean for a project I’m doing it would be worth doing anyway. I was expecting a lot of plastic and electronics that would smell like they were dying any time they were in use.

To my great surprise, what I assumed would be a plastic vertical is aluminum, and the plastic that is used is dog chew toy tough. Also, no scary smells while operating; it smelled a little warm at first, but not like it was about to self-destruct.

After a few cycles I don’t smell it at all anymore. If this dies soon I’m not out much, but based on the three cycles I’ve run so far, I expect this will last a long time. As far as performance goes, I have no basis for comparison as this is my first ultrasonic cleaner, but I have done a lot of reading on how ultrasonic cleaners should work, and this definitely seems to work as it should.

I put in some utterly filthy records that had been stored improperly, and they came out looking almost spotless. It’s not unusual to have to run records in that condition though 2 or 3 times to get them completely clean, so I’m actually very impressed at how much gunk was removed after just 20 minutes.

I am also very impressed with the TergiKing surfectant I’m using withit. His description read like snake oil but it really is impressive. I bought it because my own research told me that the ingredients he used really do work.

He didn’t pay me to say that. 🙂 For the price, just buy it. It is such a small amount of money to spend to get your records cleaner than new that it is a no-brainer.

I have several record cleaning tools for my large record collection. I wanted to try and see if an ultrasonic cleaner would help. So far I am happy with how well it works. I’m seeing dirt and gunk lifted from older records that has not come off using other means (including wood-glue).

The automatic turner is very nice. The drying rack is a nice addition. I’ve had no issues with the labels getting wet. Some instructions on optimum water temperature (25-35C, I’ve been using 35C) would be helpful.

I bought this to clean records and to use in my model railroad hobby for stripping paint for repainting and air brush cleaning. I have only used it for records and can say it works well. The motor turns the lp faster than I like so I hooked up a train power pack to it to slow it down.

It is easy to drain the tank. I went to the hardware store and bought a fitting (should be included but is not) and some clear plastic tubing, hooked that up to drain the DIY record cleaning solution through a cloth in a funnel into an empty milk carton.

It works very good, with the records looking brand new and sounding better. I have only had this a couple weeks so I can’t speak to longevity, but after cleaning about 50 albums I am happy with it and plan to clean all the records in my collection.

The cleaner is just right and easy to use. A useful brush to clean the stylus is included too. Great product!

Good product. Cleans the dust of vinyl records and leaves a nice shine without damaging the record.

This is something that the vinyl collector cannot do without. A stylus cleaning brush is included which fits nicely inside the top cover, in effect you can clean the records with the pad and use the stylus brush as well and they all neatly fit away.

A must purchase for the record enthusiast.

Built of durable materials and easy to use. Drop the end rollers into the slot to accommodate the size record your are cleaning and using your hand push it to roll a few times through the submerged brushes, remove and dry.

The only true benefit to this device which saves no time, no cleaning substances, and actually increases labor over brush or spray systems is that you’re not spinning it on your turntable stressing your belt or drive.

It is awkward to move (no handles and a grip defying taper on sides) and store (odd size and you can store unused cleaning solution) and is out of place in most homes from it’s glowing yellow color. The reality however is that you lift a dripping record from an awkwardly spun machine and attempt to dry with lint free towels before the cleaning fluid runs onto the center label.

Since it is impossible to completely dry with towels and you have cleaned both sides simultaneously it must be either left standing up to dry both sides or laid down with one side marginally wet and drying significantly slower.

While the concept suggests the cleaning fluid and brushes leave no sediment on the vinyl the truth is sediment from dirt, lint and so on is suspended in the solution and some remains on the record after removal from the device and during drying.

You now have some dried sediments on the record. The record IS better than before following cleaning. Buy a professional cleaning system if you can. This is not better than a brush system and does not remove all sediments on the record.

I’ve found this to be a really useful record cleaner. For the money it does a great job – don’t be under the impression that it’ll get every record perfect, but judging from the amount of gunk that ends up in the bottom of it after cleaning a couple of dozen records, it’s clearly pulling a lot of dirt out.

Most records I’ve cleaned in this sound better than they did before cleaning.