My hypothesis is that, for all its all its sensuous mechanical fundamentals, high build quality, and gobs of price tag, the Monk’s results are not different than that which can be achieved with low end vacuum cleaning machines.
My experience with both types of machine says your hypothesis is incorrect
. If you
only use a machine, then those based on the Wilson design do a much better job than the others (certainly the others I have used and I can't see why those I haven't used are likely to be any different).
Imortant Note: I'm not saying you have to have a machine (of any type) to clean reords - it's perfectly possible to do a really good job by manual means.
I have a machine because it's quicker than by hand, is very repeatable (there was a time when I did a lot of research into cleaning chemistry and needed to take out as many variables in the process as possible) and I don't have the time to sit around waiting for records to dry before working on them.