The problem with playing something wet to eliminate pops is that the dirt has to go someplace and that someplace is on your stylus. That's not where you want dirt to be because it will distribute it to everything else you play with that stylus. Not good.

All these multi-$100 cleaning solutions are just overkill in my opinion. A Discwasher and/or a carbon fiber brush (We used to call them Decca brushes http://audioadvisor.com/store/productdet...%20Care%20Brush ) should be fine for most discs. Just use each time before you play a disc.

If something is really dirty, you can clean it with a little distilled water and a soft cloth, then air dry it. If that doesn't do it, you should have enough respect for your cartridge and stylus not to play the filthy thing on your system at all.

For my part, I NEVER play a second-hand disc on my system without washing it thoroughly with distilled water. (Are we sure that alcohol doesn't have a leeching effect on the plastic? I'm not.) Who knows where a second-hand disc has been, how it's been treated, and what was eaten (and dripped) over its surface before it got to you.


[This message has been edited by boblinds (edited July 16, 2003).]