Dirty stylus

jcc- caro' bone suckin' sauce.

dev - must be the ESC stuff? The Fraim's are awesome! Wish naim had invented them years ago.

garyi - electronic vibrators - check out web-based hi-fi dealers specializing in analog tweaks.They are resonably priced... would guess 40 pounds or so ?

regards,

dave

Andy,

In the 5 years I used my 17D2, I mainly used the Dynavector supplied brush. I agree that the 17D2 seems to attract more than its fair share of junk, but this is in part due to the fine-line stylus and in part to the short cantilever which helps trap said junk between it and the record.

The Dynavector brush got rid of pretty much all the junk that was picked up. Very very occasionally (once every 6 months perhaps) I'd use one of those vibrating pad devices, usually dry though sometimes with a touch of liquid. In all honesty I could never distinguish if it made a difference!

Nowadays I pretty much never use the pad and stick to the brush and occasionally the side of my record cleaning brush (the carbon fibre section is so flexible it definitely won't hurt the cartridge) for my Te Kaitora.

The less messing, the less chance of breakage.

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

What are you folks doing that attracts so much dust?

I haven't had a single dust rhino after using a record vaccum. I only vaccum a record once- when I get it home, that kills any static problems for good. I never have to worry about the record ever again.
I take the dustcover off while playing, and replace it when I'm done.

I use the bottom of the line "Record DoctorII" and don't even use fancy anti-static record sleeves.

Bloody marvellous eh?

Obviously plenty of us vinyl grinding freaks out there.

I think that some here are under the misconception that it is the dust bunnies collected by our styli that are the problem.

IME, it is the baked on crud interfering with proper groove tracing that is the problem. This shite takes some shifting as it is made up of built up vinyl molecules, mold release agents, pollutants and dust all of which are heat welded onto the stylus tip altering its profile and even its mass.

The soft fluffy miniature barbers brush that comes with the DVs and others is virtually useless at cleaning this crap off. Even with the naked eye one can see that a nude mounted styli appears black (and larger) rather than clear when viewed back lit with a lamp or torch.

Some of you just can't be hearing what your precious phono cartridges are really capable of and possibly assume that they are worn when in fact they are filthy. Linn and other manufacturers have reported that a good number of cartridges that have been submitted as faulty and/or worn are merely in need of proper stylus cleaning.

If I don't clean my tip before each and every record I can clearly hear the sound going off within a few record sides (and my records are pristine). A quick zap with the AT-637 and all is well again. In a pinch, such as when being accosted by bad sounding records at friends, I jump in with the striking surface of an unused book of matches (lead sterate) and restore the music.

If you can't find (nor wish to pay the price of) an electronic cleaner then go for Discwasher's SC-2 Stylus Cleaning Brush. It is the best manual brush of its kind ie. tightly packed short stiff bristles.

Ignore proper stylus cleaning at your peril.

Craig

I use one of those SC2's, but with the fluid about once every 20 sides with worthwhile improvements to be had. You're suggesting I use the SC2 bareback, without fluid? OK, but I'm reminded of brushing my teeth dry, or wiping a car down without soap & water. I understand the theory of alcohol drying out the innards, but has anyone actually had a cart fail on them due to using fluids?

PS, keep ypur matchbooks away from my system