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Stylus Warm-up Time

Do you prefer to warm up your stylus before listening i.e. by playing one side (or 2) of an "expendable" LP?

How long is considered acceptable warm up time?

Do you listen immediately or do you wait until the optimisation period is up?

Also what temperature range do you listen at? (My preference is 21-23 degrees C ambient although it doesn't mean I'll stop listening if it goes to 23.5 ;^)

moonglum
tbg
5,263 posts
 
I tend to listen to vinyl more in the Summer, when I find I need not worry about the cartridge warm up. 

I must say that I find cleaning the cartridge stylus and the record surface and removing static electricity also important. I find 45 rpm rereleases quite good but so short duration as to be a pain. Until I learned that most master tapes were being redone in quad DSD, I was hellbent on digitally capturing my 45s and doing equalization post digitizing. Now I await the quad DSD downloads.

david99
1,467 posts
 
Audiotomb-the LP spins on the microwave turntable of course.
I push the button for the popcorn setting.

ct0517's avatar
ct0517
2,041 posts
 
I think Stylus warm up time exists, but imo Listener warm up time plays a bigger part, and takes longer, especially for those still working, married, kids... 
In this case Listener warm up time will vary based on the kind of day one is having. During extended periods filled with anxiety, audiophiles have been known to liquidate gear, as they just can not get set up to listen, and put the blame on the gear :^)

don_c55
1,025 posts
 
The "stylus" is the diamond, and does not warm up, or is it affected by temperature.

The elastomer suspension in the cartridge lossens up after the first few sides of play (after a period of non use), and then the sound improves noticeably (with a high resolution system).

Elastomer properties change with temperature.
moonglum OP
619 posts
 

Not to be too pedantic, "warm up your stylus" is a figure of speech, Don, but your input is much appreciated. ;^)

While diamond is an excellent thermal conductor the contact area is minute and generated heat has to go somewhere so I would surmise it will both manifest in the vinyl and travel elsewhere. Since the interface is small the heat-sinking effect of the cantilever would be similarly small. Whether that transmitted heat has an influence on the suspension I'll leave open to discussion.

I would also imagine the vibration of the elastomer generates a certain degree of heat as well. Would it be as much as the former? I don't know.

How any change of state affects SQ is the reason why were here ;^)

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