Calling Audio Technica stylus cleaner owners

Mekon,

I always use mine dry. Any 'cleaning' solution probably leaves a residue on your needle.

I place mine radially on the t/t platter, switch on and lower the stylus onto the vibrating pad.

I turn the phono volume up a little so that the sound reminds me what I am doing.

I vibrate the stylus for at least 10 minutes.

I repeat, round about every 25 or 30 sides.

I have never had the stylus fall off the pad!

Cheers

Don

IMHO this is Waaaaaaaay to long, by about 9 minutes and 30 seconds. If I recall correctly, my stylus cleaner came with instructions to clean the stylus for about 20 seconds.

I also lay my cleaner on the platter and lower the stylus onto the cleaner. After 20 seconds or so I turn the cleaner off and carefully use it to brush the stylus, taking care to always brush in the direction of vinyl travel, so to speak.

Markus
------------

When I read the instructions - about 20 years ago - they advised a short time. Hi-Fi Answers, RIP, suggested long time periods.

I give my stylus a scrape with some green stuff and then give it the shivers for 5-10 minutes, like Don; never had any issues.

Yes.....my instructions also say 20/30 seconds, but JV said 10 minutes minimum so 10 minutes minimum it is.....and also a good scrape with the Linn green stuff.

Believe me, it works

Cheers

Don

Those AT637's are great aren't they? Kept mine even through all those years in the vinyl-less wilderness.
Basically I leave mine buzzing for the duration of one track when the cd players on. 3 to 5 minutes I guess. always sounds fab afterward. 20 secs way too short IMO.
And use it dry...works better.


red

Works very well (dry). If you use it on a regular basis (once a week), you don't need more than 30 seconds: i've checked with a microscope.

But Dynavector warns not to use it with their carts. I follow their advice, i've never tried it on Dynas.

Markus:
Don't use it as a brush after the cleaning, you replace the collected durst where it came from.

Emmanuel

All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.

cheers, Martin

E-mail:- MartinPayne at Dial.Pipex.com

Thanks Martin, that is great.

I use an LP12. Do you guys wedge anything under the platter to ensure no movement? The seller was an Orbe user, and he advocated this approach.

I use a Dynavector DV10X5. Should I really not use it? I don't recall seeing anything about it in the leaflet.

In the user manual:

DV20 user manual

Emmanuel

All opinions are my own, and reflect those of the organisation i work for, even if not stipulated.

Bummer.

I guess I've just wasted the effort in tracking down two AT637 clones.

I had one of these years ago, and would love to replace it.

How / where did you track it down ?

DS

ITC - V/a - Escape from Cologne

I do believe there is one on eBay.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Manu:
Works very well (dry). If you use it on a regular basis (once a week), you don't need more than 30 seconds: i've checked with a microscope.

---

That is not my experience. I used to use mine for thirty seconds after each listening session, and the result was a stylus whose lower half was uniformly caked in a thin layer of dirt, which proved very difficult to remove. It's lucky my dealer had a good microscope so he could show me why my system sounded so bad!

Since then I've used my AT cleaner more often: for minutes rather than seconds after each listening session and sometimes briefly after each side (with the arm on its rest). The latter should only be tried either by those who have surgeons' steady hands or by by those who, like me, have found a way of safely bracing their unsteady hands. I use it with "cassette cleaning fluid" [very dilute isopropyl alcohol that's not really good enough to clean cassette decks properly] or occasionally distilled water.

--J

Yeah, but on Ebay these things go for absolutely ridiculous ammounts...

I use that Onzo Zerodust thing as well on my other deck - seems to work OK

When the music's over turn out the lights

[This message was edited by Richard Dane on MONDAY 02 June 2003 at 11:55.]

After the conflicting advice I had, I decided that I should get in touch with Dynavector. They got back to me this morning with the following advice:

quote:

---

Dear Ian

Thanks for buying the 10X5, I am glad you are happy with it..

It is not so much the AT electric brush but the way it is used. Many users use it dry and leave their cartridge on it for 10 minutes - not at all good for suspensions. If you use it dry it can be very effective if you don't switch it on but simply drag it across the stylus a few times, this gets rid of the built up fluff. To get rid of ground in deposits with it - wet it or the stylus and within 5 seconds the stylus will be clean.

So don't use it too long and don't use too much fluid. If you have not got the original fluid then a stylus cleaner like AT make will do, or half and half ethanol and distilled water from the chemist.

---

When lowering the sytlus onto the pad you should have removed antiskate bias first.

I use mine wet for maybe 1 minute, but often just drag it wet and vibrating under the stylus on the arm rest. You shouldn't damage the stylus unless youve got the DT's

Why would you need to 'chock' the LP12 platter? Why would it move?

Mekon,

what is an AT637 clone exactly and [echo]where did you find it[echo/]?

duncan

Email: djcritchley at hotmail.com

One is a Signet SK305, the other is unnamed. I'll be selling the Signet on Ebay. I don't know anything about it, other than the fact that it is discontinued, though the cleaning fluid is still available from Signet, and that it was used by some Stereophile reviewers. It appears to be a direct copy, if not actually made by AT. The only difference I can see is that it has no lamp.

Mekon,

It is not so much the AT electric brush but the way it is used. Many users use it dry and leave their cartridge on it for 10 minutes - not at all good for suspensions.

Clearly you must follow the advice of YOUR cartridge manufacturer. I didn't realise when reading your original post that you were using Dynavector. Fortunately no danage was done.

Me?. I have used my cleaner as I described for about 15 years. I swapped the (as new) Troika at 5 years for the Arkiv. The Arkiv has only lasted about 10 years so far. It still sounds sbetter than the CDS2 so can't be knackered.....

Each to his own

Cheers

Don

quite an interesting thread!.
i've had my AT637 for about 19 years now,with the original batteries still going strong!.
it cost about £23 back then and has seen various decks/carts...DUALCS505 MK11,REGA PLANAR 3 and Sondek.carts have been NAGOAKA MP11 BORON,DYNAVECTOR 10X4,DV20HX,DV17D KARAT.
it's a great wee cleaner wet or dry after a quick rub with Linn green stuff.
mabye i should have looked after my Dinky toys better!.
dennis

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

I do wonder what Dynavector think about people actually playing LP records with their cartridges?

I mean to say that I've some 12" singles that put a shite load more energy/amplitude into a cart than the AT637 ever could.

If it is the suspension tie wire that they are concerned about being over extended by the vibrating pad, then DV carts may not suit at least one quarter of my record collection.

And the fluffy little makeup brush that they've supplied for decades - that thing wouldn't shift a nats shit. A bit o' dust accumulation is the least of the problems associated with dirty styli - it's the caked on crud that needs shifting.

Me thinks they are still a bit shaky after having all those early Karat Series fall to bits. Someone must surely have been required to comit sepuko after than one.

Craig

PS. Signet was an audio-technica brand name.

Ah ha, thanks for the tipoff.