Knosti Disco-Antistat Record Cleaning system (Latest Model)

SHORT REVIEWIt's effective. It works. Buy it. Buy a spare bath.DETAILED REVIEWI've a large collection of vinyl records acquired over the course of fifty-five years of record-collecting. Re-discovering them has also meant re-discovering years of accumulated dust and grime.Though I wasn't overly-sure about the Knosti, dry cleaning cloths and pads had made little difference, and specialist record cleaning systems seemed very expensive, so I figured I'd give this system a chance on some records I could afford to risk.I wasn't quite prepared for how effective it would be, especially after a lifetime of believing that wet and grooves should not mix ; for the prevaling lore at the peak of my record-collecting days was that to wet clean a record just turned the dust into mud.If you trawl for information about cleaning solutions, you'll find a hundred opinions voicing a hundred and ten preferred home brews. I chose to stick with the supplied solution.Setup and use is easy : pour the solution into the record bath, fit the label protector clamp on, then rotate the record through the solution between the built-in brushes. Different people have different ideas about how many revolutions are required ; I settled on ten revolutions in one direction, then ten in the other, before lifting the record clear for the drips to settle back into the bath, undoing the clamps, then letting the record air-dry on the supplied rack. The instructions say that air-drying takes about seven minutes, and I found that accurate.The first record I tried was particularly messy, so the effectiveness is more evident, but you can see from the before and after pictures just how clean the Knosti got that record.Encouraged, I did half a dozen or so more, all just as clean after the process.There's a caveat.Once the records were dry, I played them. The difference was audible ; and in one record, a favourite for many years (Palestrina, 'Missa Papae Marcelli', Kings College Choir), a rasping noise that lasted several seconds towards the end of side one, which I'd always thought a physical defect in the pressing and I dreaded the moment arriving, was simply gone. After forty years!However, after a number of plays of more cleaned records, I began to notice a significant build up of 'fluff' on the stylus. This has been reported by others, and appears to be the anti-static layer deposited by the cleaning liquid drying out and being picked up by the needle.I decided to address this by putting each 'cleaned' record through a second bath of distilled or purified water. A small drop of liquid detergent - just one, it's only to break water surface tension, not clean anything - is added to the water bath, and the record rinsed through that. It adds a lot to the air drying time, since the cleaning solution is alcohol-based and so evaporates quickly, whereas water takes longer, and I let the rinsed discs dry for several hours, usually overnight.This did the trick perfectly. Records are clean, and the stylus is spotless too.For ease, I bought a spare bath (available easily) so that I could have a two-bath process, one to clean, one to rinse. Once you get your own workflow established, it's easy, just a little time-consuming.I've avoided putting Knosti-cleaned records back in the sleeves they were originally in. Instead, I bought several batches of good quality replacement inner sleeves (I've found Spincare products to be good), and cleaned records are re-bagged in these before going back into the original outer sleeves.I daresay an ultrasonic record cleaning machine will be a bit more effective, at around ten times the price or more. But this system works, and I'm glad I bought it.Recommended.

I bought this product after reading the reviews on Amazon. Previously I'd cleaned my records using warm soapy water and a sponge scourer. This method certainly worked to some extent but I'd had a couple of what might politely called 'mishaps' - inadvertently using the scourer rather than the sponge (I think I was distracted by an internal debate – Wilma or Betty?) knocking the record on the kitchen tap whilst rinsing it, and turning on the hot tap instead of the cold. I now have a somewhat warped copy of Spandau Ballet's 'Greatest Hits'. Some might think it an improvement.The Knosti offers a relatively cheap but very, very effective 'upgrade'. It is simple to set up and use. At first I was a little critical of its 'ease of use', finding the process somewhat awkward. However I soon developed a simple technique which suggested that it was me rather than the Knosti.It is true that the drying time given is somewhat optimistic (Seven minutes, not six or eight – was there an employee with a magnifying glass and a stop watch peering at the record whilst hushed and nervous executives waited in the background?). It matters not a jot. I can think of no situation in which it is critical to have a record dry and ready to play in seven minutes.There has been some criticism of the supplied cleaning fluid. This may well be valid and I will certainly try the alternatives suggested. But, at present (when else), I find it excellent. I was a little worried beforehand that it might prove expensive but the amount used is surprisingly meagre and it can be returned to the bottle for further use. A funnel comes supplied, as do some basic filters which prevent impedimenta – shopping trolleys, discarded wellies, used... well, never mind, entering the bottle.You might like to try the following or you might think it a complete waste of time. I'm still not sure. Whilst turning the record I decided that the brushes would be following the same line but that if I reversed the direction they would be pulled into a different pattern that might make a difference to the parts of the record they touched and might, thereby, improve the cleaning process. So I turn the record in both directions. No idea if it has any effect whatsoever.The drying rack is adequate and, apparently, takes 15 records. I get 7 on mine and have still not worked out how I can get 15 on it. Still, another thing that really does not matter.Thoroughly recommended. It is now a pleasure to listen to many the albums that were less than perfect.Oh, and by the way. It used to be Betty but nowadays I'm definitely a Wilma man. She's completely wasted on Fred.

Great value record cleaning system that just works. Simple to use and the records do sound better after. Less pops and crackle. Definitely less static. Perception is you can hear more detail etc which makes sense if the stylus now has better contact in the groove. Great if you can’t afford a dearer system. On the negative side on some records I have noticed some residue picked up by the stylus on the first play after and thats even after the records were left overnight to dry. Well worth the money though

Firstly this is NOT the latest model. The latest model has a little handle to turn the records. That said this version worked fine. I cleaned 40 records in one go and now they look cleaner and most importantly sound better. Some tips. No 1. Fill the container to about 1cm under the top of the brushes. This is so it's far less likely you will get liquid on your record labels. No 2. Leave the records drying for longer than 7 minutes as liquid can collect at the very bottom of the drying rack meaning if you sleeve them straight away you'll make a mess of your sleeves. I also dabbled the very bottom of the record with paper towel to make sure they were completely dry. No 3. After cleaning every 7 records tip the liquid from the drying rack back into the main container, as otherwise your records might be sitting in the liquid that's collected in the bottom of the drying rack.