After 25 years of digital/electronic media sources for my music I am setting up my turntable and breaking out my old albums. My albums have been boxed and stored in upright position all these years and appear to be in decent condition. I took the turntable to a local dealer to check out the stylus and cartridge and they are in good shape. The dealer sold me Power Cleaner to clean the albums. I just reviewed your entire lineup of vinyl cleaning and preservation products on your website.
Is Last Power Cleaner the best option for cleaning my old vinyl albums? Would I be better off using Last All-Purpose Cleaner? Will I get any benefit from using LAST Record Preservative on my old albums or is this treatment best suited for new vinyl only?
One final question. After cleaning with Power Cleaner or All-Purpose Cleaner do I need to allow drying time before I play the albums?
Best regards, P.B.
Thank you for your query. LAST Power Cleaner is designed for two conditions. The first concerns brand new records. When new, records have a thin coat of compounds used in the pressing process. We call this material mould release agent, but there are other compounds on the surface as well. After the pressing operation, the records are sent to a “clean” room for inspection and packaging. The release agent is never cleaned off of the record. If you have ever played a new record and discovered a ball of loose, fuzzy, material on the stylus tip, you have experienced the problem.
Power Cleaner is designed to safely and completely remove those compounds from the playing surface of new records. It is also very effective at cleaning and removing substantial dust,dirt, grime, and grease or oily contamination of older, previously used records. Power Cleaner might be more cleaning power than is needed with your collection. Especially if they have been well stored and kept in their sleeves and jackets.
At this time, I suggest a quick test. Listen to a record, then give it a cleaning step with Power Cleaner. Then, re listen. Is the sound more open, more focused, clearer? If so the Power Cleaner did remove some surface residues (that might not have been visible).
Here (in house), we call Power Cleaner “a record cleaning machine in a bottle”. LAST Record Preservative is suitable for records of any age, not just new ones. The benefits include: new records will continue to sound new for hundreds of plays. The major benefit for most listeners is the overall sonic improvement and increased listening experience.
Record Preservative can bring about a lower noise floor, lower distortion, an increase in the perceived dynamic range, and focus.
Some listeners begin their odyssey with LAST, with the goal of creating a better transfer to digital media. Only to discover new delight and pleasure in listening to their vinyl directly. I think that you are going to experience new pleasure and enjoyment already exists in your record collection.
After cleaning (per instructions) with either Power Cleaner of All-Purpose Cleaner, there is no appreciable waiting time needed before the play function. The supplied applicators leave the record surface essentially clean and dry – ready for play.
Good Luck with your project, Walter Davies
