Wow you weren't kidding, it's actually in stereoscopic 3D.
One good solution is to get one of those magic eraser foams, cut them into good sized cubes and use them to clean your stylus. DON'T move the foam, lower the cart onto the foam like you are gonna play a record using the cue lever, and lift it back up again. Repeat if necessary. You'll see some black gunk stuck on the foam.
Magic erasers are those sponge-like foam blocks you use to clean, they're firm and squeaks when you rub with your hands. Feels more like a Styrofoam than a sponge.
There is a third form, sold under many names. Mine is from AM Kemi Danmark http://www.amdenmark.com/
- bought some 2-3 decades ago and still going strong and used daily.
Let me think, what do I get... a lifetime supply magic sponge for €0.10 or an expensive €129 high tech cleaner that needs €30 supply? I'm not knocking the Hifi-Sonic, it seems to work really well, but who is going to make a similar marketing video for the magic eraser with microscope shots?
Because it's so cheap doesn't mean it doesn't work. It basically does exactly the same: scrape off the gunk. The Onzow Zerodust does it by being sticky enticing the gunk to stick on the pad instead of the tip. The ultrasonic cleaner does it with a combination of soft fibres (HDPE is softer than vinyl) combined with fluid and going at it like a bunch of crazed elfs trying to soak and rattle the dirt off. Liquid cleaners just try to dissolve the issue by wiping it under the table, I mean... with a simple brush. These fluids can have an antistatic component while playing but can also be agressive.
Magic eraser or -sponge or wonder sponge or w/e it's marketed as is very simply melamine foam. The same hard durable resin (plastic) that's used for tabletops etc. and just slowly and gently scrapes the gunk off. Melamine is harder than vinyl so when scraping the vinyl yields and not the melamine.
Here is what it looks like
And this is what liquid cleaners can do to your stylus. From a very well knows reviewer who cleans his records and stylus meticulously. I'm not calling any names but it begins with M and ends with ichael Fremer... The probable cause is.. cleaning too often, before every play, with aggressive liquid.
In my opinion the magic eraser is the safest and best way to keep it clean. It's very much like cleaning your teeth.
Forgot FYI: I use the magic eraser every month or so, AT 607 liquid cleaning same, and the carbon fibre brush once a week when there is simple dust or fluff on it.
I was referring to vinyl debris that is stuck on the diamond. When you play vinyl it wears because of friction heat and pressure. It very slowly wears the needle, but also the vinyl. particles might get stuck on the diamond because of heat (like molten cheese in a frying pan).
I also use a (obviously different) piece of magic sponge to clean album sleeves of old records that I buy. Only when they are laminated (duh)! Very often 2ndH records have been handled by many, not the cleanest, hands. Or storage in an attic or garage for decades. Dust, dirt and many other things containing DNA material that will intrigue many a CSI investigator, but I don't want to know, or touch FTM. Eew. :rolleyes: Here wetting the sponge is usefull because the dirt needs to soak a bit to loosen better. Sometimes pen writing comes off. Works like a charm.
Only sometimes I use magic eraser to clean an lp, or part of it, when it has thick old greasy stains. Like fingerprints, mould, boogers (bless you) foodstains. You can get them off with a wet brush (on my Okki Nokki) and patience but this works quicker. The sponge only scrapes the top with hardly any pressure. So it doesn't do any damage to the groove. Normally i do this before using woodglue to really clean old records to get the last bit of muck out of the grooves. It's like any cleaning you do; different stains require different cleaning methods.
I am not sure but I think the stock cart is an AT-95.
I am not sure if Shure M97xe would really be an upgrade - their tolerances and QC have been slipping ever after the discontinuation of V15VxMR. Particularly the channel separation took a massive hit, forcing Shure to admit it in their specs ... I really did not fancy the sound of the last sample that went trough my hands - in the beginning, M97xe was a fair cut below V15, but still fine cart.
I would suggest an AT-120e instead - but you can read more here : http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=233370
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