Does Furutech lose effectiveness over time?

"Records attract no dust and require no cleaning"

Dear Kelly, I beg to differ. LPs develop significant static charge on their surfaces. And static charge attracts dust and holds it until the charge is dissipated. There are several causes, such as removing and replacing the LP in a paper sleeve (the friction that occurs because of sliding contact between paper and vinyl can induce a charge) and transfer by touch of the static charge on our bodies that develops when we walk across a wool carpet to approach the turntable, to the LP. These phenomena are well documented; it’s not just a matter of my opinion. What treatments or preventatives really work well to prevent or dissipate existing charge, now there’s the rub and the meat of many arguments. Shure Corporation showed that static charge can increase VTF by as much as 0.25 to 0.5g (somewhere in there; I forget their exact calculation).

It might be your record cleaning solution.  If you apply a topical anti-static solution I would look there first. I have no static problem at all after discontinuing some solutions. Records attract no dust and require no cleaning

@lucapelliccioli  I measure static after the record is cleaned. I use an ultrasonic cleaning method also. I only clean my records once, not every time I play them. They are stored in anti-static record sleeves. Most pops and clicks are from dirt and dust material in the record grooves. The Destat will not remove this.

Actually, thanks for the question and input folks,  I was wondering the same thing with my Destat III, cheers. 

Do you measure static after or before cleaning (if you do it each time) a record? My habits for old or new records is:

- washing with the Degritter machine 

- using (on hand not on the TT) the Furutech Destat

- cleaning with AudioQuest brush on the platter

- using the HiFi Flux Turbo 2.0

Then I start listening to.

IMO the most effective results come from cleaning. It seems that click and pops may almost disappear. If I use only the Destat III clicks and pops reappear after one or two tracks spinning.

@rsf507  You can not measure the surface with the record rotating. The meter is not able to get and accurate reading with the record spinning. What I have measured is the record is neutral when placed on the platter. Play that side and then take another measurement after the album has finished playing and I get readings of .002, to  008. Very small amount of static charge. Now here is the interesting part, remove the record from the platter and take readings again, +4.5 to +15.7 static charge on the surface of the record. It varies from record to record but you definitely pickup static charge again on the record surface after removing it from the platter.

@benjie quick question, once an album has been destated and then you drop the needle on the album how many rotations does it take before the album has the same static build up if measured by your meter? Seems to me static would build up quickly.

@kenrus 

I have owned the original Furutech Destat since 2007 and have used it for every vinyl album, CD and BlueRay disc that I have played since then. It has been used literally 1000’s of times with no issues. I think it is one of the best tweaks out there.

I don’t want to get preachy, but most people do not use the Destat properly especially when it comes to vinyl. Do not place the album on the platter when using the Destat. It is important to hold the album in your hand when using the Destat and only do one side. Play that side and when finished remove the album from the platter, Destat side 2 and place it back on the platter and play side 2. You can also Destat your platter before placing the album on it. Rubber mats definitely hold a static charge. I have a copper platter so it is not necessary for me to do that since copper does not hold any static charge. Same thing goes for optical discs. Hold them in your hand when using the Destat.

I know people will be think that this does not make a difference but it does. I have a Simco 003 Electrostatic meter which is used to detect how much static charge is on a surface. Holding an album in my hand when using the Destat the record becomes totally neutral, no static charge at all across the record. Placing the album on the platter and then using the Destat there is still a small amount of static charge left on the record. I have done this 100’s of times with different albums and the results are always the same. This is a very repeatable test to prove my point.

A quick way to check if your Destat is working, use a styrofoam peanut. Rub it on some fabric to get some static charge on it, stick it on a vinyl record and then use the Destat. If everything is working, the foam peanut will not stick to the record.

I can honestly say that my Destat has not lost any of its effectiveness after all these years of use !!!

After 2 years i notice the same effectiveness. Even if very subtle compared to washing a record with the Degritter machine (my routine every record I spin). I usually use the Furutech Destat III on CDs where I think is more useful. Frankly I do not use it on records because after a few minutes spinning the stat back again.