Is this stylus worn out?
Hello,
I own a Lyra Delos. After several years, it began to sound a bit off. I think I was detecting some distortion in the high frequencies. As I had a 2nd cartridge in a similar price/quality/performance category (Transfiguration Axia), I switched to that one and put The Delos in the box for a while. Recently I began to play with a USB microscope and took some photos of the styluses on both cartridges. I was wondering if you would look at my photos of my Delos stylus and comment on its wear. I do not know what it looked like when new. Actually, I would love to see an image of a Delos stylus at the beginning of its life! (I also attached one photo of the transfiguration axia for comparison. Apologies in advance for the poor photo quality. my microscope is not great. Not sure if the image is attaching properly. if you click on it, it will take you to a page with both shots that I have.
thanks!
Mark
Moving coil carts should be cleaned quite often. I find that after about 2 weeks or about 20 hours of play, enough debris accumulates on the cantilever that it begins to deaden the sound a bit. I use a 50/50 mix of distilled water and isopropyl alcohol to gently brush the stylus. MC cantilevers and output are so delicate that you’ll notice an improvement. Also, you’ll be better able to see what’s going on with a clean stylus. |
@sandthemall , that is too much alcohol! 10% will do fine. wally is correct, no big surprise. You need an optical microphone to see it and you have to know what you are looking at. At higher magnification depth of field is limited making stylus wear difficult to evaluate. At 3 hours weekly that is only 300 hours. |
I am a long time Lyra Delos user (and before that Lyra Argoi). These are superb sounding cartridges if set up properly. There are a few points to consider here: (1) the photos that you have shared are both labeled "Delos" so its not obvious what we are looking at ! .....I am surprised no-one else has noticed this. (2) both photos show considerable cleaning needed. Lyra has a special Stylus cleaner (SPT). the easiest way to safely use is to place a drop on the red stiff stylus brush that comes with Delos and gently brush back to front. You could also use the brush that comes with SPT but be carful you don't get too much liquid on the cantilever. (3) As you probably know all Lyra cartridges are extremely sensitive to setup. It is worthwhile to recheck all parameters (VTA,VTF in particular) once a year as these may go out by just the use of the cartridge. (4) last but not least make sure your records are clean. Nothing damages sensitive stylus as much as dirty records. If all fails contact Lyra (or the distributor) to evaluate the stylus. It may mean that you will be without Delos for some time but you have other excellent cartridges to keep you listening! Good luck and let us know how you get on. |
