Nessie Vinylcleaner ProPlus+, RECORD CLEANING MACHINE

I ’m a music lover first, not the most Type A of audiophiles. Sure, I clean my records, but I’m not obsessive about keeping them immaculate like my audiophile father is;1 he cleans each record ultrasonically before it lands on his turntable platter, writing the date of each record’s last bath and which cleaning machine he used on the outside of a fresh plastic inner sleeve before sliding the LP back inside.

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I don’t think his cleaning schedule is rigid—he has far too many LPs for that— but it’s regular. Whenever I visit with LPs in tow, they must pass through the record-cleaning machine (RCM) gauntlet before they’re permitted to land on his turntable’s platter.

His rule makes sense: All kinds of icky muck—lint, ash, dust, dead microscopic bugs, mold, fungi, pet dander, various human secretions—builds up in those grooves over time. Too much dirt can even damage equipment and prized records. Smooth, clean vinyl helps clear the path for cleaner sound.

Recently, I tried out one of the many RCMs currently on the market: the redundantly named Nessie Vinylcleaner ProPlus+ ($2495), which despite the name does not hail from Scotland, nor is it a monster; in fact it’s smaller than some other record cleaners I've used.

The Nessie is not an ultrasonic; instead, it takes the old-school approach, achieving its goal with cleaning fluid and a gentle scrub. This German-made RCM has a platter that rotates automatically, back and forth, as the first arm dispenses Nessie’s own “Vinylin” cleaning fluid (or the fluid of your choice), a 200mL bottle of which is provided. The same arm brushes the record, and another arm sucks the fluid up and dries it. The Vinylin fluid is said to dissolve dirt without damaging the vinyl. The package comes with a microfiber cloth intended for precleaning, and a clamp with a rubber seal to keep your labels dry.