Ever Damage A Stylus Using Cleaning Brush?
I’m having a moment of audiophile anxiety. Help me Obi Wans of this forum!
I’d been using the DS Audio ST50 gel cleaner for my Benz Micro Ebony L cartridge. Due to recent uncertainties about the possible liabilities of those type of cleaners I bought a carbon fiber stylus brush, from boundlessaudio.
I use the Audio Intelligent cleaning fluid.
Everything has been fine, and I’ve never been sure how much pressure to apply to brushing the needle, so I’ve always tried the lightest touch possible. Sometimes, though, the middle aged hands aren’t as steady and I can give it a bit more pressure than I was planning.
So last night I lifted up the needle mid track to clean the needle. Couple of very light brushes just skimming the bottom of the needle, always back to front of the needle as recommended. With the system still on I can also hear how light or not I’m brushing, hearing the sound coming through the speakers. But the last brush stroke went up a bit higher, slightly submerging more of the stylus giving it a bit of a bump up and a louder sound through the speakers. Didn’t think too much of it. But when I sat back to listen I could swear the sound had altered slightly, like the sound had gotten a tiny bit lightened, brightened, forward vs the "inky black background" I’d just been listening to.
Just how plausible is it that I may have damaged or shifted something in the stylus?
In thinking it through it seems to me if any real force had been applied, since the stylus was not at all locked in to the holder, it would have bounced the arm up somewhat. But didn’t. Second, it seems to me there is at least as much force simply dropping the needle on to the record.
But I could be wrong. And I don’t know if the tonal change was all in my head. (I’m hoping it is...but even listening today I still seem to perceive a slightly different tone).
Any thoughts on this truly First World problem?
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Now back to @prof ’s problem. I’m suspecting overhang is the issue. We’ll wait until he responds if that was taken care of during set up. |
audphile1,
Thanks! The cartridge is on nice, tight and secure, so I'm sure I'm not knocking it off angle when cleaning the needle. Also, since I set the overhang precisely with the Mint protractor, I highly doubt it's off. I'm also not sure why that would cause random distortion, which can happen a track or two in on a record. My arm doesn't have anti-skate. Nor, I believe, can I change the azimuth. I sure hope my cartridge isn't "done" after only a year and a half! My previous Benz Micro Ebony L lasted at least 4 years of heavy use. I couldn't afford to replace this one. The sound is stellar...super clean...no indication at all of stylus wear that I can hear. It's just this weird, occasional sound turning in to distortion thing. It's rare, thankfully. Hasn't happened in a while.
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I’d be very surprised if your cartridge is worn after only 18 months. That’s hard to do; your Benz uses a very high quality stylus and doesn't track heavy. With a heavily worn stylus, you’d most likely hear a sonic fuzz/grunge/haze type distortion consistently on inner grooves, with still-good sound quality on middle and outer grooves. If the distortion you’re hearing is not tightly correlated to inner grooves then it’s probably something else. Also I think in most cases, your overhang / alignment will have to be off by a lot before you’ll notice significant distortion from that. If you’re off by a mm or so it should still sound OK. Even a perfectly aligned cartridge (on a 9 - 10" pivoted arm) is going to be somewhat "out of alignment" for most of the record. |
I don't use the ZeroDust, but I know of some issues involving its use. I know two people who accidentally pulled the cantilever out of their cartridge using the ZeroDust or similar product. If you lift it out of gel too fast, that force, which is in the opposite direction of the force the cartridge is designed to take, may do damage. If you use this product, use the cuing lever to very slowly lift the stylus out of the gel. Secondly, there are people who have reported a very difficult to remove residue depositing on the stylus and cantilever from the product. There was an article in Stereophile (Michael Fremer) about this in the past year. As to the OP reporting occasional distortion at about the same point on a record, that is somewhat unusual, but I've seen it happen. In one case, the arm would slightly bind when in a particular position--I think it had to do with the tonearm wiring. In the other case, the curing platform did not get completely out of the way when cued down and would slightly lift the arm at one point of play. I agree with Mulveling that excessive wear is not likely with a high quality cartridge after such a short time--if the cartridge is at fault, it is either damage in handling or the cartridge suspension is at fault. I also don't think your alignment can be that far off as to be the cause of mis-tracking, particularly if you use something as precise as a mint protractor. |
- 46 posts total