[b]Clearaudio Smart Matrix[/b] I recently bought one of these from Harry Langer at Black Pearls ( [URL]http://stores.ebay.de/BLACK-PEARLS[/URL] ) who is highly recommended, by the way. Having just brought the Smart Matrix back to Blighty from the Fatherland, it was time to try it out! Well, using the Clearuadio cleaning solution provided with the machine, all I can say is that it certainly does what it says on the tin, and records become miraculously playable after only a couple of minutes on the machine. The efficiency of the vacuuming is very impressive. The machine is very quiet until the vacuum motor is switched on, then it's pretty noisy, but bearable. At least you're not trying to listen to music while cleaning records! Why I waited so long to get a proper vacuum machine, I don't know - the Knosti cleaner is no substitute: better than nothing perhaps, but in my experience it always left a residue. I also bought some Art du Son cleaning fluid from Harry, and by all accounts this is good stuff. It'll be fun finding out! So I can enthusiastically recommend both the Smart Matrix and Harry. He was disarmingly honest about the provenance of the Smart Matrix and the Cadence Okki Nokki - they are the same machine, made by Clearuadio in Germany. So whether the Clearaudio is worth €170 over the Okki Nokki boils down to whether a lid on the machine is important. It is to me so I am content, but the obvious lesson here is that the Okki Nokki is an absolute bargain.
