Stylus cleaners
I used to use Onzo ZeroDust with my first few cartridges years ago. With the last two cartridges, Hana ML, I have only been using the included Hana brush for every side of LP and the MoFi LP-9 liquid stylus cleaner (I get as much fluid out of the brush by pressing it against the neck of the bottle before I clean stylus) every 3-4 records.
Onzo is collecting dust especially since the Fremer’s The Tracking Angle article.
I’ve been looking at DS Audio ST-50 but at $80 I’m not sure it will do anything better than my current cleaning methods.
What’s your stylus cleaning routine?
Thanks for mentioning Lepro LED light. It appears to be well made. I got my heart set on Reliable UberLight 7200TL LED Light due to its clamping and swivel/tilt options. My shelf is 2-3/4” thick and most other light clamps taps out at 2” or less. And I’m glad to see, you did not fall for any gobbledygook type of stuff for your stylus care. |
other than occasional (every other week) cleaning of the stylus with my angle grinder I’m pretty much set on stylus brush and proper liquid cleaner. Just kidding :)
I was looking at Reliable Light. Music Direct has a $479 version of it. |
“I’m worried I’ll knock it over” Exactly, my concern as well with most lights. The one on music direct site is available on Amazon for $399. I see this as long term investment and be done! |
Reading Lamps, especially ones that emit a little heat, are great left on near the Headshell for 30+ minutes in advance of a Vinyl Replay session. The ambient heat local to the Cartridge does wonders for the Damper / Armature /Tension Wire interface A Cartridge will be heard at its very best, and better than what a few hours uszge can muster in a room with a lesser ambient heat. The Local light makes cueing a pleasure as well.
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That's a pity. Incidentally my incandescent bulbs strobe enough to allow me to set the speed on my Garrard 301, which has big strobe marks on the rim of the platter. My workshop LED lamps strobe beautifully. I joke about IKEA, and they deliberately design the layout to keep you meandering for as long as possible. I had to refit my partner's bathroom / laundry and we fronted up to IKEA with our sketches. In what felt like under two hours, we had professional drawings, a full bill-of-materials, and everything picked at their nearby warehouse waiting to be loaded. I mean everything! Impressed? You bet! |
