Forty years after hi-fi pioneer Keith Monks defined modern record care with the launch of the world’s first Record Cleaning Machine, Keith Monks Audio celebrates with the limited edition RUBY. The RUBY, with maximum sales worldwide limited to 40, includes new and exclusive features, many unique in record cleaning.
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The RUBY is a special limited edition version of the Keith Monks OMNI launched to much acclaim last year. The key features of the RUBY include:
The new VacuGauge suction monitoring system. Now users can keep a constant check on performance of the famous Monks vacuum system. The chrome-rim dial-gauge sits alongside the traditional Mini Cooper windscreen washer pump, giving the control panel a pleasingly retro 1960s ‘performance car’ look.
The unique Keith Monks DewDrop splashguard: an innovation finally solving an age-old dilemma. This simple, ergonomic handheld device keeps surfaces clean by catching excess fluid flung out by the revolving turntable.
New fully adjustable on-deck fluid application system for 7″, 10″ and 12″ records.
Interchangeable set of Keith Monks discOvery Precision Record Cleaning Brushes makes washing 7″, 10″ and 12″ records easy.
Set of three Keith Monks Pyr/\Mat ‘stay-clean’ record cleaning mats. These solve several problems common with record cleaners: the disc rests on the tips of a profiled array of miniature ‘pyramids’ spread across the mat. These effectively let the dust and dirt from an unclean record side fall into the wells in between, preventing recontamination of the just-cleaned side when you flip over. The Pyr/\Mats also help stop excess fluid spreading underneath the disc rim.
Exclusive to the RUBY, a reproduction Keith Monks signature on the control panel and on the accompanying signed & numbered certificate.
Exclusive premium cabinet with matching lid cover finished in rich Ruby Red very smart with the eggshell black deck and hand polished deck components.
All features, designed with care, maximise the efficacy and enjoyment of this high-end sound enhancement tool. One which continues to gain in popularity alongside the renewed interest in vinyl and delivers a leap in sound quality many find as dramatic as changing the cartridge, arm or even the turntable.
All Keith Monks Record Cleaning Machines include the full BBC-specification broadcast standard vacuum system that has made the Monks the record preservation device of choice for the discerning audiophile as well as nearly every notable library, archive and institution around the world.
Jonathan Monks says:
“After 40 years we are delighted that my father’s work continues to be regarded as the state of the art in record care. But we don’t take this for granted and will continue working to earn that respect with an ongoing programme of new improvements to finish, form and function while always keeping the basic concept distinctly Keith Monks. “The Ruby Anniversary now gives us the opportunity to realise another new set of useful features which I’ve been working on these past few years. Without doubt they make the RUBY a landmark product which perfectly reflects such a landmark event.”
Cleaning Fluids
Each Ruby RCM also ships with one of each of the new range of Keith Monks discOvery™ Natural
Precision Record Cleaning™ Fluids. Two years in development from an original Monks recipe dating back to 1976, the new fluids deliver the best-ever clean from a Keith Monks RCM yet are made entirely from botanicals and other plant extracts and pure distilled water.
The range includes separate specialist cleaning fluids for vinyl and shellac discs plus a pre-wash concentrate for those especially stubborn stains such as mould, now a perennial problem with collections often having been relegated to sitting for years in lofts waiting for their former proud owners to ‘rediscOver’ them.
History and Background
The Keith Monks is the original Record Cleaning Machine: the world’s first commercially produced electric device for cleaning gramophone records, originally developed by Keith Monks Audio for BBC engineers in London to meet the exacting standards of radio broadcasting. The Monks paved the way for a completely new industry and a host of imitators, but not before achieving over 20,000 sales around the world and being awarded ‘Audio Accessory of the Decade’ by The Absolute Sound.
Today, the Keith Monks RCM is enjoying a renaissance in popularity, partly alongside the renewed and growing consumer interest in vinyl records, and from the proliferation of libraries and archives collecting and preserving cultural artefacts from the 20th Century. The Monks is still regarded by discerning broadcasters, sound restoration engineers, archives and archivists, librarians, audiophiles, hi-fi experts and music enthusiasts around the world as the only serious choice for Precision Record Cleaning, and the standard by which all others are judged. Now discerning audiophiles are discovering again the legendary sound enhancement, noise reduction and whisper-quiet operation only obtainable on a Keith Monks. The new generation Keith Monks range continues to impress the critics, recently picking up Best Buy or equivalent awards in UK Hi-Fi Choice, UK Hi-Fi World and US Stereophile magazines.
As CDs took over from LPs as the main mass-market music medium, founder Keith Monks kept his RCM ticking over cottage industry style until his death in 2005 when son Jonathan picked up the reigns, a move that has resulted in much renewed activity. A lifelong vinylphile and self-confessed music obsessive, Jonathan also brings a wealth of experience having run the RCM production line for ten years back in its heyday in the 1980s, and operates a number of audio businesses as diverse as home theatre installation and commercial sound system design. Having secured the company’s future by organising the training up of a brand new team of young engineers in the art of building the Monks RCM, he then put them to work in a new 2000sq.ft production facility to keep pace with the growing demand. Monks has since incorporated a number of refinements all of which are detailed in some depth on the new website topped off with restyled control panels and a new range of premium furniture grade cabinets and matching lids.
All Keith Monks Record Cleaning Machines include the full BBC-specification broadcast standard vacuum system that has made the Monks the record preservation device of choice for the discerning audiophile as well as nearly every notable library, archive and institution around the world.
