Wet Cleaning the Stylus

No one mentions LYRA SPT. I used it for years. There's something about it that actually made the records sound better vs ME to my ears. I recently switched to EMT from a Helikon and Delos and EMT recommends just a brush so that's what I do now.

I might cave and try the Lyra product.

Lewm,

Very good question, which Fjn04 addressed nicely. Others do the same or similar for just the reason you noted, including my ex (who first discovered/gleaned/invented this use for the ME).

DIYAudio folks prefer to use a penny. Audiogoners tend to use a quarter. Private audio club members use gold doubloons. It all works!

Steady fingers, caution and good closeup vision are required for the ME-on-a-toothpick method. I have those, but for any who don't, dipping into a (stabilized) chunk of ME cleans nearly as well... and better than dipping into little vats of goo, a blob of Silly Putty or dry brushing alone.

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Czarivey,

Nandric's cautionary post was reasonable, for the reason I explained in mine. No qualified chemist would opine that this is safe without knowing details of the chemical makeup of the cleaner, stylus glue and elastomers in the cartridge. IOW, you're just guessing.

You run an audio store. Do you recommend wet stylus cleaning to your customers? If so, do you at least warn them that this may void the warranty from some cartridge manufacturers? You owe them that information, regardless of your opinion as to its safety.

Dhcod- I also use an EMT, great cartridges BTW. I discontinued use of the Onzow, based on recommendation! So now 90% of the time I use a dry brush.
The other 10% of the time is either ME or wet brush. The latter with just one drop of Disc Doctor. When Cleaning my Dynavector, I use ME more often, and and still dry/wet brush. So yes, as Doug mentioned, do check with specific manufacturer.

Personally I do wet stylus cleaning only in case if gets contaminated so can't clean it dry. Otherwise I'm too lazy to open the bottle, drop on the brush and never had any kind of thought about it being not a good idea after all.