Extreme Phono Revisited

I know this product seems to have fallen out of favor over the past few years, but I would bet that many of you die hards have one sitting around, as do I. I recently purchased a new cartridge that warns against liquid cleaners, as do many. I always used them, and never had an issue, but I thought that I would at least start off without liquids. I bought a new Onzow, as the residue issue with them has been related to old age and started using it as my only method, along with inspection with a lighted magnifier just to make sure.

So it sounded decent, but a little muted and what sounded like slight mistracking. I rechecked my setup and it was fine, so I thought it’s probably just break in.

The other day, I came upon an old thread about ExtremePhono and remembered I had one sitting around. I stirred it up and let it sit overnight and tried it today. The difference was night and day. Less groove noise, no mistracking sound and much more clarity, as one would expect from a new diamond  

I’m not going to say it’s the best or even great. But if you have one sitting around, consider giving it another chance. Just use as directed- lay it on the platter and a quick 1-second dip and up. It might work for you. Happy New Years BTW.