Pro-Ject VC-S2 ALU Premium Record Cleaning Machine (Silver)

The machine arrived with a screw missing-not an easy to replace part, such as others that are easily available. Various solutions were proposed and Finesounds America was finally able to locate and send me the part. It may sound trivial, but this replacement and the associated correspondence took up a lot of the dealer's time. At all stages they were helpful and responsive. One of the best dealer/buyer experiences I have had.

Does a great job of cleaning. Used to be twice the price. I have been able actually restore a few records to excellent quality since I have had it. Removes a lot of the dirt in the grooves that causes pops and cracks in the sound.

If you're buying used vinyl (or inheriting records from friends & family), you'll want a good record cleaner that lets you completely wet the grooves and vacuums them dry before running your precious stylus through them. For the money (I paid less than $400) this is a very well-constructed and durable record cleaner.Out of the box, however, I found it didn't do a great job of completely drying records. The first problem is that the vacuum arm's end-cap seals the end of the vacuum slot, so the innermost part of the record never got dry. I fixed this problem by cutting a notch in the seals that is as wide as the vacuum slot, and also don't quite insert the cap all the way into the arm. The second problem is that the vacuum slot and fabric felt make too good of a seal against the record, so the vacuum motor simply struggles to suck air through the slot and instead just moves the cleaning fluid around. It wasn't getting the grooves dry even after 10-20 rotations. I fixed this problem by loosening the screw that attaches the vacuum arm to the pivot and rotating the slot slightly away from straight down. This allows the suction to more freely pull the liquid off the grooves. I make sure to have the record rotating in the direction so the rotating record surface heads toward the open end of the vacuum slot. Attached photos show my modifications. One final thing I had to adjust was the height of the record -- the manual talks about how to do this. As it came out of the box, the records were too high, so the vacuum arm was pressing too firmly against the records, exacerbating the "too good of a seal" problem. Lowering the record clamp platform a bit helped improve drying performance. I'll keep looking for a more porous felt that might allow me to re-angle the slot directly down again.With these modifications I'm finding that records get completely dry after about 5 rotations. It's amazing how great a bargain bin used record with lots of grime, dirt and fingerprints (not deep scratches!) often sounds after a thorough cleaning. I'm still experimenting with fluids, but since this machine completely dries records, there is a bit more leeway in cleaning fluid ingredients.

After living with a Nitty Gritty record cleaning machine that served me very well for 15 years, I can definitely say this is a step up. Although pricey, the build construction is very solid and worth the extra dollars. It does an excellent job cleaning records and the convenience of rotating the record for you is a nice feature not on my prior record cleaning machine. The only downside is having to purchase an extra kit to clean 7” records, which was not available from Amazon. At this price point it should have been included. Also, beware that if you purchase the optional dust cover, it only sits on top of the machine. There is no accommodation for installing the included hinges on this model of cleaning machine.

After a lot of "himming and hawing" on a record cleaner, I decided to buy The Pro-Ject VC-S2. After opening it up on Christmas, I felt that this was possibly used or refurbished. Some parts were already attached (which the instructions said to put on) and some parts showed a little wear. So I proceeded to set the rest up and put on a record. The record did not spin flat. The sticky label seal that was already installed seemed like it was compressed on one side and not flat to itself. I tried some adjusting but could not get it to run flat. I loosen the screw holding the plate and added stickers to help level out some bad machining. I left the screw slightly loose to see if the slight floating would help. Anyway, I started cleaning some records and it seemed to work fine, noisy, but fine. The vacuum pulled the album up for a tight seal most of the time. I had to run the vacuum longer then I think the directions required to get most of the cleaner off. It seemed to do a decent job. My records played quieter and less dust accumulated on the stylus. After cleaning on average 8 records a day for a week, it sounded like the vacuum came apart. It was always noisy, but it started sounding like bearings were grinding after a while. There was also an "electrical burning" smell. Eventually the vacuum took its last "suck" and quit. The drive motor worked fine. It only took a week for this to happen.It's unfortunate, I was happy with it while it worked. It was loud, but I could deal with that. I think someone needs to look into the quality control and probably the service department. I can't imagine any company would be happy with what I got. I would have given it a 4 star rating if it didn't crap out.

Really wanted to love (even like would've been nice) this RCM, but I found it to be a pretty mediocre cleaner. Looks lovely and seems to be built well, but it took several rotations going both ways to completely vacuum the fluid off of the LP--the manufacturer claims just a couple are needed to do it. Also left a "strip" of fluid when the vacuum wand was lifted from the LP. A few more spins were needed to clean that off. I thought a microfiber cloth might help dry the surface, but that can leave dust behind--which kind of defeats the purpose of the Pro-Ject in the first place. Then I remembered that my 25-year-old Nitty Gritty has none of these issues, still runs fine, and takes up even less space. Win, win, win...