Stereophile column on Used Records & Record Cleaning

Read it here.

Definitely worth a read. By one of my favorite columnists, Michael Trei. Includes a review of the Klaudio KD-CLN-LP200T Record Cleaner, but he also touches on his experience with the HumminGuru, its shortcomings (in his view),and the great "To Rinse or Not to Rinse" debate - prompting a very interesting footnote by Jim Austin about that and surfactants, which I'll quote it here in its entirety:

*Footnote 2: This is a fascinating topic that deserves more space than we have here, but in a nutshell: Surfactants lower the surface tension of water, making it easier for water to form cavitation bubbles and to penetrate deep into the record grooves. But there are downsides: Common surfactants have a high affinity for the vinyl surface, so if you don't rinse them off, they contaminate the records themselves. Research by the Library of Congress and the Canadian Conservation Institute found that if not thoroughly rinsed off, nonionic surfactants like Triton X-100 aggregate during drying, causing a "whooshing" or "rushing" sound. (The fact that it is nonionic doesn't mean that it won't aggregate, but it does mean it's easy to rinse off.) Making it easier to form cavitation bubbles sounds like an advantage, but it means there's less energy when the bubbles collapse, which may reduce cleaning action. One last point: Higher-frequency cavitation results in smaller bubbles, which are more likely to get deep inside the grooves even without a surfactant. The 40kHz cavitation frequency of the Klaudio cleaner is on the low side, which makes it safer for records but also means its bubbles will be larger. This may be an unfortunate metaphor for those seeking pristine record surfaces, but here it goes: "The proof is in the pudding."—*Jim Austin

In the current issue (March 2026), there's another column with a more extensive and fascinating exploration of the topic, which I will share when it's posted online (generally when the following issue hits the newsstands).