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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
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 ;^)

moonglum OP
619 posts
 
David_99....if NASA & the cryo-addicts can deep freeze their CDs, you can microwave your black pizza...  ;^)
moonglum OP
619 posts
 

Here is a related aside. An interesting little factoid for your mental archive. I’ve maintained this viewpoint for decades and I’ve never seen an "official" confirmation until now but, even today, many folk are still surprised when it is mentioned. The only difference here is that received wisdom indicated the recovery time was 24 hours but this source indicates that the LP could be played 50 times in succession without severe/audible effect and that it might take hundreds of plays (or more) before you start to hear a difference. Please bear in mind it is the writer’s opinion so stay safe! Quote :-


"Records are made from a polyvinyl chloride/polyvinyl acetate copolymer at 90/10 mix roughly and its melting point is between 110 and 120 degrees centigrade. I was a record production and development chemist at EMI for 6 years and mucked around with various record mixtures. The stylus does indeed ’melt’ the plastic at a macro level, the plastic immediately resetting itself back to where it was: there would be no noticeable degradation of the record in the short term but repeated playing, especially the heavy modulated grooves of the record, will over thousands of playing, eventually give a degradation that is discernable. Nowt to worry about in the short term though: dust is probably a greater enemy as is plasticiser migration from record inner sleeves."


Oh no! Now we have to worry about anti-static sleeves. Aaaaaarghhhh!!!

A final note : This report had me wondering how they could tell the difference between "thermal wear" and "physical wear" i.e. measure the heat at the interface? Then it dawned on me....thermal camera trained on the "hotspot" (?????)

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