Like I said, there is always one favorite one. The others just sit in the drawer.
Are There Any Risks to Your Stylus From Using Magic Eraser
I guess I'm late to the magic eraser discovery.
I read a blog about sibilance, and it was suggested that cleaning your stylus with magic eraser, cleans so well that sibilance issues can be greatly minimized.......assuming all other factors have been optimized (SRA etc.).
However, someone mentioned that the magic eraser fibers grabbed onto the cantilever and damaged their cartridge.
I clean all my LP's before playing and use a Zerostat. It cleans the stylus "OK" but "if" the magic eraser is safe and provides better stylus cleaning, I would really like to try it.
I read a blog about sibilance, and it was suggested that cleaning your stylus with magic eraser, cleans so well that sibilance issues can be greatly minimized.......assuming all other factors have been optimized (SRA etc.).
However, someone mentioned that the magic eraser fibers grabbed onto the cantilever and damaged their cartridge.
I clean all my LP's before playing and use a Zerostat. It cleans the stylus "OK" but "if" the magic eraser is safe and provides better stylus cleaning, I would really like to try it.
Showing 6 responses by mijostyn
And you don't think you get schmutz on the front sides of the stylus? Wiping the stylus from back to front will remove all the lint and if your records and playback method are pristine that is all you need to do if you see lint on the stylus. However if you records were exposed over time to cigarette or other smoke, cooking fumes or pollution like in LA, the stylus will collect a layer of tar. If you look under a microscope what you see s a ball of schmutz with two opposing shiny slits at the tip which are the contact patches. A brush might remove a little of this but far from all. Last stylus cleaner is the same chlorofluorocarbon (Freon) they use as a record preservative (which it is not). It is a great solvent and will clean the stylus (and records) nicely. I would use an artist's brush. Nice and soft. If you want to save a lot of money just get a can of fluorinated brake cleaning fluid, basically the same stuff. Regardless of what someone is about to say it will not hurt anything. You could easily use Last Stylus cleaner to clean your brakes. Same stuff. As always the best way to keep our records and stylus clean is don't let them get dirty in the first place. Now, no matter how good you are at this occasionally some lint is going to get caught on your stylus which you can see and wipe off. By the time you can see the schmutz it is late in the game and you are spreading it to your records where it is coming from anyway and you have a mess. Do not let people smoke, cook or live in LA near your records. If you are going to buy used records you need an ultrasonic record cleaner with a little more than distilled water in it say just a tsp of Triton X-100 and a tsp of alkyl dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride 1:750 (benzalkonium cloride) to kill the fungus. |
Here you go noromance
https://theproaudiofiles.com/sibilance/
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Noromance, that is all marketing crap like "jitter" All that stuff just causes tracking distortion which is not sibilance. Sibilance can occur with any program source including all digital sources and it has to do with our ears sensitivity in that frequency band. I can erase it immediately with a 3 dB notch filter centered on 3000 Hz. If you had the ability to digitally modify the frequency response of your system at will you would know this to be true. I have that ability and can demonstrate this to anyone in a heart beat. Also I am not trying to sell anything to anybody and because I no longer work in the industry I do not have to be politically correct. I revel in being politically incorrect. Soundsmith unfortunately persists in perpetrating a lot of mythology which is probably the major reason I don't have one of their cartridges. |
First of all, sibilance is due to boosted frequency's between 2500 and 4000Hz. Instruments like female voices and violins have a lot of output here. Cutting those frequency's just 2 or 3 dB smooths things out beautifully. A dirty stylus when it gets bad enough causes miss tracking. Any stylus cleaning method can damage the stylus if used aggressively. Most methods just remove the lint. If there is any "gunk" on there it will require a solvent. A Zerostat does not work. It is an unfortunate waste of money. Yes it will temporarily remove static but as soon as you put that stylus down in the groove you generate thousands of volts in just a few minutes. Then if you are not using a dust cover the record attracts dust like a magnet and you wind up with a filthy stylus. You have to discharge the record while it is playing using a conductive sweep arm which also removes any incidental dust. Use a dust cover also and you will hardly ever have to clean your stylus. |