Hi Montgomery, all:
We do get cartridges that are returned for mistracking, and the percentage of dirty styli far outweighs those that are damaged.
However, if your Delos has a tracking problem and you suspect stylus damage, I recommend that you either have Acoustic Sounds return the Delos to Audioquest, or that you contact Audioquest yourself (I'd suggest talking to Alasdair Patrick) and return it to him. We would be happy to take a look at it and determine if the stylus is dirty or damaged.
As regular cartridge care, I clean the stylus either after each side, or after each LP, depending on how much degradation in resolution and openness that I hear. If I don't clean after playing two LP sides, I find the degradation in resolution and openness to be too much to tolerate.
I use our SPT (Stylus Performance Treatment), which is a water-and-detergent-based cleaner, with a small applicator brush with soft bristles that is kind to the stylus, cantilever and suspension.
I have used some of the reusable gel-based cleaners, and I think that they clean well enough to be used on an alternating basis with SPT - that is, one side with SPT, one side with the gel - something like that. I suggest that you use your ears and go with what they tell you.
I have tried various harder-surface cleaners, such as Mister Clean, microfibers, motor-driven cleaners such as the Audio-Technica, also various hand-held bushes with short and stiff bristles.
Some of these can clean styli pretty well, but overall I don't recommend their use with our cartridges, because I feel that the possibility of damage to the stylus, cantilever or suspension is too high. Some people possess the precise, gentle touch needed to successfully use harder-surface cleaners, but not everyone is like this.
Some of the service cartridges that we have received were almost certainly damaged or misaligned due to improper cleaning procedures. It is no fun rebuilding a damaged cartridge when the nature of its damage was clearly avoidable.
In general, I suggest only using soft surfaces to clean the stylus. This is to stress the stylus, its glue bond to the cantilever, the cantilever, the suspension elastomers, and the suspension wire as little as possible.
With all of our cartridges we package a short-bristle brush that nominally looks like many other hand-held stylus cleaning brushes, but there is a difference. Our brush has been deliberately made so that its bristle surfaces are softer than normal, again so as to avoid overly stressing the stylus, its glue bond to the cantilever, the cantilever, the suspension elastomers, and suspension wire.
Incidentally, some chemical cleaners can weaken the glue joint that bonds the stylus to the cantilever, so there, too, caution and prior investigation are advised. For example, I absolutely wouldn't recommend any cleaner that uses alcohol or other chemical solvents.
In closing I will note that using a good LP cleaning machine will cut down drastically on the amount of stylus cleaning that you need to perform, and will likewise add many hours to the lifespan of your stylus.
kind regards, jonathan carr
