2. misc-audio
  3. 134959-1975

I learned the hard way

I thought, (secretly hoped) some of you have had some hard luck stories to tell from your audio adventures that may have provided some benefit from sharing here so others may benefit..

I waited years until recently to try some Lyra SPT stylus treatment. The other weekend I opened the little top on the little bottle and turned it to an angle for application to it's little brush. The bottles' contents began spilling on my countertop. WTF! I then noticed/realized that there are two tops. The lower top came off when I unscrewed the smaller upper top. I just watched as $30 drained on to my countertop. I then made sure the lower top was extremely tight going forward. 

The good thing is, half a bottle will still last years.


128x128slaw
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
@mikexxyz - I took a read of the article and stopped when I got to...

It can be solid, stranded, copper, oxygen free copper, silver, etc.--or even "magic" wire--as long as the resistance is kept to be less than 5% of the speaker impedance. There is no listening difference as long as the wire is of adequate size.
The statement is flawed and he really shows his ignorance about the nuances of cable materials and geometries.

This statement trivializes the scale of the issue...
Unfortunately, in addition to sounding different with a small amount of overshoot, a few unstable or borderline amplifiers can even go into oscillation.
NAIM, Ayre, Gryphon are three I know of that suffer fron oscilation and I would not consider any of them "borderline"

Sorry - but then that's just my opinion :-)
 



mikexxyz
66 posts
 
@williewonka - I totally agree with you that NAIM, Ayre, and Gryphon are not borderline designs.  
infection's avatar
infection
808 posts
 
I was using stylus cleaning gel on my Lyra Skala after every record played. During one listening session I lifted the arm from the gel, lowered it onto the lead in groove & watched it skim across the record... The gel had pulled off the tip.


moofoo
290 posts
 
I own a Sound-Smith Zephyr MIMC Star cartridge and the maker/manual recommends lowering the stylus 2/3 times into a flat piece of Blue Tack, before/after each record is played. Seems to work very well.
jetter
3,033 posts
 
williewonka, by now you probably know that to prevent the oscillation you would want to buy a pair of zobel networks for $20 from Goertz Audio which is owned by Bridgeport Magnetics Group.
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