So I finally got an RCM to replace the somewhat messy and "only OK" Knosti Disco AntiStat manual cleaner.
Most places selling it for £350 + £25 lid but I managed to get a new one for £300 + £25 lid so a bit of a saving there. My alternative was to buy an Okki Nokki or a Watson's RCM for over a £100 more for the benefit of aluminium (not MDF) construction. The problem with these was the cost and the larger platter meaning the previous dirty side may transfer dirt to the platter which you then place the newly cleaned side of vinyl on in order the clean it's other side. Common sense suggests contamination is possible which I didn't want, but the VCS has a smaller label sized platter which attracted me to it.
Anyway on to the VC-S, ordered Thursday and arrived yesterday:
Looks OK from a foot away all assembled but some things to note (oh, and before anything else, this was a Factory Condition unit, packed correctly with original seals in place - it was definitely NOT a returned item and appears to have come from the factory like this):
1) The nice "wooden handled, logo embossed" brush from the mkI is gone, replaced by a cheaper looking, generic plastic thing.
2) The mains plug arrived in a smashed up state:
What it went through to have the Earth pin smashed off and the Neutral Pin bent inwards I don't know but I have asked the online shop I bought it from to send me a replacement.
3) The Machine itself appears quite poorly built on close inspection:
The bolts around the arm are of shocking quality - metal shavings flaking off and overall a horribly pockmarked and damaged look. They look like they're from a used parts bin and I could certainly buy better looking items from B&Q. I'll get round to polishing / painting them over at some point as they look worse than the piccies suggest in real life.
4) Nothing really fits snugly, from the side vent that won't sit flush (maybe it's not meant to?)
...to the Vacuum ON:Off switch that was half hanging out (and also doesn't fit perfectly flush), it's like this was assembled by a bloke in his garage workshop, NOT a polished factory item.
5) The clamp was the worst of all:
Do you see those marks on the edge? That's glue. It's not even completely dried glue - it's still sticky and was EVERYWHERE. This piccie is after me spending a good 10min trying to clean it off from around the edges. I don't want the label to stick to it and it appears to be "overspill" from the spongy pad that was stuck on in the factory. Not Good.
6) The top of the clamp was worse. Globs of glue all over it and worse still, marks and dings as if either something had fallen on it or it had been dropped.
So out came the dremel and here it is after 30min of polishing:
Still not fully polished (I just used the polishing pad on it's own without any polishing compound so if I spent more time I could get it to a mirror finish) so it looks a bit "grainy".....but that's the point, I shouldn't need to be doinf this. It should come clean and unmarked from factory imo.
Again, this was not a returned item, it was unused from factory so I am quite disappointed with ProJect's efforts.
7) The lid. For the price it should be included imho
Overall, if you stand a few feet away, everything looks fine but when spending £325 I don't expect this so Build Quality 3/10
On to the functionality:
Noise: Motor a bit noisy (not as bad as some make out imo) but the vacuum is hella noisy. Not an issue as you're not usually listening at the same time but beware if you plan on placing this in the living room (mine's not). So yes it's noisy but acceptably so and I don't think any other Vacuum devices would be better so I'll give it a 7/10 here.
Cleaning: I am actually not using the solution it came with (which you have to dilute). I am actually using the Knosti solution from my old Disco AntiStat and it does a great job imo. Took me a few goes to figure out correct volumes (1st attempt resulted in solution everywhere) and now I think just around 5ml is right.
I don't tend to keep the platter spinning either as you can see the fluid moving to the edge of the record under centrifugal force. My routine is:
1) Record on platter and clamped -> Turn RCM motor on (doesn't matter which way)
2) Add ~5ml Knosti Disco Antistat and spread with supplied brush
3) STOP the rotation to allow the fluid to distribute evenly (not concentrate around the edges) and wait a 30s - 1minute
4) Start rotation again and now vacuum as well to clean up the fluid.
I don't bother with any "rotate it both ways" stuff as I don't know how that would help. A record doesn't have right angled steps in it so you won't "miss" anything going around in one direction. Plus, the brush is there to SPREAD the fluid into the grooves, not SCRUB the fluid into them (unless it is and I'm wrong?) so the above method is quicker.
The result? Brilliant. Does a great job of cleaning and is a massive improvement on the Disco AntiStat hands down - Less messy, Quicker to do, Plus no drying time.
For cleaning I'll give it 8/10, realising that my technique may not be perfect but even a klutz like me can do a good job so anyone can.
So there it is after a day of fiddling. Great functionality and does what it says on the tin but VERY poor build quality imo. I'm happy with it but due to the poor Pro-Ject workmanship, I actually would be tempted to spend the £440 on something like the Watson for what looks like a better built aluminium chassis under the understanding that the cleaning would be the same (i.e. the extra moolah's going on build quality only - the VC-S does a great cleaning job as it is).
Most places selling it for £350 + £25 lid but I managed to get a new one for £300 + £25 lid so a bit of a saving there. My alternative was to buy an Okki Nokki or a Watson's RCM for over a £100 more for the benefit of aluminium (not MDF) construction. The problem with these was the cost and the larger platter meaning the previous dirty side may transfer dirt to the platter which you then place the newly cleaned side of vinyl on in order the clean it's other side. Common sense suggests contamination is possible which I didn't want, but the VCS has a smaller label sized platter which attracted me to it.
Anyway on to the VC-S, ordered Thursday and arrived yesterday:
Looks OK from a foot away all assembled but some things to note (oh, and before anything else, this was a Factory Condition unit, packed correctly with original seals in place - it was definitely NOT a returned item and appears to have come from the factory like this):
1) The nice "wooden handled, logo embossed" brush from the mkI is gone, replaced by a cheaper looking, generic plastic thing.
2) The mains plug arrived in a smashed up state:
What it went through to have the Earth pin smashed off and the Neutral Pin bent inwards I don't know but I have asked the online shop I bought it from to send me a replacement.
3) The Machine itself appears quite poorly built on close inspection:
The bolts around the arm are of shocking quality - metal shavings flaking off and overall a horribly pockmarked and damaged look. They look like they're from a used parts bin and I could certainly buy better looking items from B&Q. I'll get round to polishing / painting them over at some point as they look worse than the piccies suggest in real life.
4) Nothing really fits snugly, from the side vent that won't sit flush (maybe it's not meant to?)
...to the Vacuum ON:Off switch that was half hanging out (and also doesn't fit perfectly flush), it's like this was assembled by a bloke in his garage workshop, NOT a polished factory item.
5) The clamp was the worst of all:
Do you see those marks on the edge? That's glue. It's not even completely dried glue - it's still sticky and was EVERYWHERE. This piccie is after me spending a good 10min trying to clean it off from around the edges. I don't want the label to stick to it and it appears to be "overspill" from the spongy pad that was stuck on in the factory. Not Good.
6) The top of the clamp was worse. Globs of glue all over it and worse still, marks and dings as if either something had fallen on it or it had been dropped.
So out came the dremel and here it is after 30min of polishing:
Still not fully polished (I just used the polishing pad on it's own without any polishing compound so if I spent more time I could get it to a mirror finish) so it looks a bit "grainy".....but that's the point, I shouldn't need to be doinf this. It should come clean and unmarked from factory imo.
Again, this was not a returned item, it was unused from factory so I am quite disappointed with ProJect's efforts.
7) The lid. For the price it should be included imho
Overall, if you stand a few feet away, everything looks fine but when spending £325 I don't expect this so Build Quality 3/10
On to the functionality:
Noise: Motor a bit noisy (not as bad as some make out imo) but the vacuum is hella noisy. Not an issue as you're not usually listening at the same time but beware if you plan on placing this in the living room (mine's not). So yes it's noisy but acceptably so and I don't think any other Vacuum devices would be better so I'll give it a 7/10 here.
Cleaning: I am actually not using the solution it came with (which you have to dilute). I am actually using the Knosti solution from my old Disco AntiStat and it does a great job imo. Took me a few goes to figure out correct volumes (1st attempt resulted in solution everywhere) and now I think just around 5ml is right.
I don't tend to keep the platter spinning either as you can see the fluid moving to the edge of the record under centrifugal force. My routine is:
1) Record on platter and clamped -> Turn RCM motor on (doesn't matter which way)
2) Add ~5ml Knosti Disco Antistat and spread with supplied brush
3) STOP the rotation to allow the fluid to distribute evenly (not concentrate around the edges) and wait a 30s - 1minute
4) Start rotation again and now vacuum as well to clean up the fluid.
I don't bother with any "rotate it both ways" stuff as I don't know how that would help. A record doesn't have right angled steps in it so you won't "miss" anything going around in one direction. Plus, the brush is there to SPREAD the fluid into the grooves, not SCRUB the fluid into them (unless it is and I'm wrong?) so the above method is quicker.
The result? Brilliant. Does a great job of cleaning and is a massive improvement on the Disco AntiStat hands down - Less messy, Quicker to do, Plus no drying time.
For cleaning I'll give it 8/10, realising that my technique may not be perfect but even a klutz like me can do a good job so anyone can.
So there it is after a day of fiddling. Great functionality and does what it says on the tin but VERY poor build quality imo. I'm happy with it but due to the poor Pro-Ject workmanship, I actually would be tempted to spend the £440 on something like the Watson for what looks like a better built aluminium chassis under the understanding that the cleaning would be the same (i.e. the extra moolah's going on build quality only - the VC-S does a great cleaning job as it is).