Help with stylus cleaning


Hi. I have recently delved back into vinyl after many years. I have a very nice Denon turntable with a fairly new Ortofon Samba MC cartridge. Perhaps its an indictment of our housekeeping, but my stylus needle seems to accumulate a lot of dust and tiny fibers, even after one play. I try to clean the stylus after each play, but some of the dust/fibers are difficult to remove. I don't have the best record cleaner (SpinClean), but the dust still seems excessive. Ortofon warns of using liquid cleaners, although several brands claim not to damage the cartridge or stylus. My stylus brush is a cheap one at present. Is there a consensus stylus cleaner/brush out there? Is my problem unusual?? Many thanks.

Perreaux SVX1 phono preamp
Musical Fidelity A3cr dual mono preamp
Denon DP-47f turntable
Ortofon Samba low output MC cartridge
Odyssey Audio Stratus Plus SS amp
Cambridge Audio Azur 740C CD player
Albert Von Schweikert VR-4 loudspeakers
Panamaxz 5000 line conditioner
klipschking

I don’t know if it’s related, but when I was using the Onzow Zerodust, my left channel went out on a MC cartridge with less than 200 hours on it.  Since then I tried the StyLast stylus cleaner, the Magic Eraser, a nylon brush, and an electric blower.  Presently, I prefer not to touch the stylus tip, and just use the blower to blow the debris off.  Sometimes, I also use the same blower to blow dust off the LP before use.

If you're going to use a solution-based cleaner then do it sparingly.

My method is a dry stylus cleaner after every side. I got a very nice one included with a My Sonic Lab cart. Then, once a week I use a solution from Audio Intelligence--Enzymatic Stylus Cleaning Formula. It was recommended to me by the J.R. from Wally Tools. He sees a ton of carts, so I figured it's good enough for me.

My two cents.

Since I got my Ultrasonic record cleaner and am half way cleaning all my records I got a feeling my Stylus won't need as much cleaning, I only use the Mofi fluid maybe once a month (I put it on the little stylus brush it came with, back to front motion)

eryoung2k

Since I got my Ultrasonic record cleaner and am half way cleaning all my records I got a feeling my Stylus won't need as much cleaning

Exactly! Since I went US years ago, I've found my stylus accumulates dust v-e-r-y slowly. I'll clean it after a dozen sides or so, but only because it makes me feel better.

Many audiophiles have never heard a truly clean record. I cringe when I see those silly turntable sweep arms to collect the dust. It's so much more effective to simply clean the record.

I use MoFi LP#9. It comes with a good quality brush as well.
Not a fan of Onzo ZeroDust, never tried magic eraser.