Knosti disco antistat - lowish quality but top results

[scho2684]

Ended up chucking a lot of Nagoka sleeves and recleaning with the purified water method. I now use an Okki Nokki RCM which is a vast improvement.

Amen!

I use the Okki Nokki as well, I'm very pleased with the results....
I also use the nagoka inner sleeves, but I always replace them as soon as I make a new wash, so with every record cleaning I always use a NEW nagoka inner sleeve.

The beauty of the Nagoka inner sleeves is that they always fit in a original innersleeve, even in a Mofi one

Oops, sorry, this topic was about the Knosti....

Marco

[philmch]

I've now cleaned again all of the 70-odd LPs which I did originally with the nasty Knosti fluid. I used 700ml of bog standard lukewarm British tap water with two drops of Fairy and a cap of distilled malt vinegar. Dumped the fluid after each batch of 15 LPs and made up a new lot.

Said LPs are now spotless and play beautifully. Also removed the stylus from my AT95e after several hours of playing and inspected the tip. It was immaculate.


Conclusion; one's own cheapo fluid will remove the residue left behind by the Knosti rubbish. I can't believe they charge something in the region of £20 for that stuff.

[JoshWard]

I also had a very bad experience with the Knosti fluid, it made well over half my collection crackle all the way through and as mentioned the residue on my stylus.
I also had the inner sleeve problem.

I found rinsing in distilled water got rid of the residue but it left another problem in the form of the 'line' where the liquid runs down the LP in the drying rack. All the collected dust and paper from innersleeves etc then ran down with the water and collected in a line down the LP, leaving a 'swooshing' noise whenever that part of the record when past the stylus. Repeat cleanings improved things slightly.

In the end I sold mine and used the money to build a vacuum record cleaner and buy some more LPs The vast majority of the Knosti records have now been cleaned with the vacuum RCM and all the paper etc residue has gone.

[kelvinMunson]

Josh......... ref your......... "rinsing in distilled water got rid of the residue but it left another problem in the form of the 'line' where the liquid runs down the LP in the drying rack."........... the trick is to ensure that all the water is removed, preferably using a microfibre cloth, before you place the vinyl into the rack........... I've never had the problem of water running down the vinyl and leaving a line of residue.

Better still would obviously be to use a vacuum to dry the vinyls but I haven't yet got round to making that investment.

[chn68b]

My Knosti Disco Antistat kit arrived yesterday and I eagerly set about cleaning a few records.

The kit has a cheap feel to it, but you have to remember its just £30 (I bought mine from Conrad) and at that price you cant complain.

I took out the cleaning reservoir and filled up to the top of the internal brushes with the included cleaning fluid and then inserted the clamps either side of one of my favourite LP's, much in need of cleaning, Peter Greens Fleetwood Mac.

At this point I'd like to add that the clamps which screw in tight to cover the record labels really could do with a rubberised ring to ensure a water tight finish. I'm sure a simple homemade rubber circle with centre hole for the spindle will do a job here.

I gave the record 25 slow turns in the cleaner and left to dry in the supplied stand for a couple of hours and then took it over to the the Thorens for a test play. Well, as soon as the needle hit the vinyl I could hear a massive improvement. There was plenty of silence with just the odd crackle before the needle hit the music, then boom, the new detail in the record was astounding. The record sounded so clean and fresh, there was so much more clarity.

I'm so pleased I made this purchase. In a hobby and love that can so easily suck the cash out of your bank account like a dyson on steroids, this is a true bargain buy. Sure, its not made of walnut, isn't automated and doesn't have a vacuum dryer, but it does the job well, very well. Have a glass or two of wine whilst waiting an hour or so the records to dry and it'll sound even better!

[scho2684]

but it does the job well, very well. Have a glass or two of wine whilst waiting an hour or so the records to dry and it'll sound even better!

I think, specially with the supplied fluid, you wil get dissapointed, that doesn't takle to long from now, we will see!....

Question (and that is for all users here); what are you doing with the fluid you used, are you putting that back in the bottle, or do you throw it away?
How much records do you wash with one bottle?

Marco

[kelvinMunson]

Hi Marco,

I have never used the Knosti fluid............ so that was thrown away unused.

I mix my own distilled-water/isoprop (80/20) and I throw this away after each batch of 8 LPs.

It's very cheap and I think it's better to clean in uncontaminated solution, as much as is practically possible.

[scho2684]

Well, when I was still using the Knosti, what I did was two washes;
I had one bottle for pre-wash, and a second one for after-wash, the After wash I did filter and was put back in a empty bottle, when that bottle became full, I used that as a pre-wash and used a new bottle again for the after-wash, and so on, and so on......

The idea was that with the pre wash all the real dirt would be removed, and did that with 5 to 8 records, then the pre-wash was thrown away, the after-wash was more to get rid of the dirty reside from the pre-wash fluid, because after one dirty record pre-wash your spinning those other seven records in more or less "infected" fluid.

Never the less, I stopped using it because I still was not satisfied for reasons already mentioned, maybe I should have tried some other fluids back then...

[kelvinMunson]

Don't disagree with you regarding the problem with washing in dirty fluid........... I always go through a rapid cycle of wash-rinse-rinse using the fluid once and then two troughs of clean distilled water to remove as much dirt as possibe.......... seems to have been very effective

[buckfast1978]

I have just ordered one from Conrad. I'm hoping it arrives sometime next week.
My turntable set-up was put together on a total budget as I do not have an awful lot of cash to spare. There is no way in this world I could ever afford one of these expensive RCM's that people speak about, so Knosti was the next best thing for me.

Am I correct in thinking that the fluid that comes with the kit is not up to the job? I read above that you can use a mix of Distilled water, vinegar and washing up liquid to clean your records.
What type of vinegar should I use and what proportions?

Cheers.

[philmch]

Am I correct in thinking that the fluid that comes with the kit is not up to the job? I read above that you can use a mix of Distilled water, vinegar and washing up liquid to clean your records.
What type of vinegar should I use and what proportions?

Yes, the Knosti fluid leaves behind a residue which mucks up your stylus. I personally use two drops of Fairy and one cap of clear vinegar (Sarson's) in approx 750ml tap water. I live in a soft water area but I'd recommend distilled water if you're in a hard water area.

I'm not claiming that this mixture is anything special but it does the job well in my experience. Let us know how you get on.

[buckfast1978]

Thanks for that.

I listened to Street Life - Roxy Music earlier. Other than the carbon brush before playing, it hasn't been cleaned and it is very noisy. There are no scratches on the LP at all so fingers crossed the knosti will help to remove this noise.

If I make my home brew solution with tap water (which is soft) would you recommend that I rinse with distilled water after the main wash?

[cafe latte]

Hi I also ditched the stock fluid and now make my own. I use warm tap water, a bit of detergent or dishwash, and coulorless metho as here in Aus it is 96 % ethanol. I find the ethanol works fine in warm water and the records come out very clean. If I have a really stuborn spot on used vinyl I clean with a felt pad and isopropyl alcohol and then reclean in the bath as normal.
I rinse with tap water (sprinkler fitting on tap makes it easy), then I put the record in the rack and spray with a mix of distilled and 10% metho just to make sure there is no disolved salts from the tap water ending up on the record.
I then dry with a microfibre cloth and leave to dry properly in the rack and give the record a new sleeve

[philmch]

If I make my home brew solution with tap water (which is soft) would you recommend that I rinse with distilled water after the main wash?

I've not found it necessary myself but you certainly won't do any harm if you do so.