2. analog
  3. 149638-16074

Real world life expectancy of a high end cartridge?

While I know they’re supposed to last 1000 hours how many make it all that way?  

Question prompted by my brushing a knuckle on my AS Palladian this afternoon and trashing it ... lesson learned not to try tonearm adjustments without full access to the table (normally I move the table off the wall shelf to a more convenient location to make adjustments, but not this time 😬)

And doesn’t it just happen that the cost of a recipe/trade is exactly my deductible so even insurance is no help 😲

Anyway just needed to vent ... but anyone playing with these expensive baubles better be prepared to reup on a replacement at any moment 🤪
folkfreak
mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Oh Uberwaltz there is absolutely nothing funny about Freon. In making comments like that you just demonstrate your ignorance on the topic. 
Freon is a large molecule. All you have to do is keep the top on and very little will escape. If you want to have fun just leave the top off over night and see what happens:) Let us know about the results. 
Millercarbon, you ever use brake cleaner? It costs maybe $2.50 a can.
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
I think the only thing we demonstrated is your touchiness on the subject...lol.

TBH Freon is a bad term to use anyway as I think you realise with the description in one of your posts.

"The term "freon" is a common descriptor or proprietary eponym (similar to a generic trademark) like "xerox" or "kleenex." It is commonly used when referring to any fluorocarbon refrigerants. "

Yes Wikipedia is a wonderful source...….


Note to self, must try harder!

lewm
13,469 posts
 
Mijo, Besides your insistence and your claim that the Last products "smell" like Freon, you have presented no evidence for your claim beyond your observation that it evaporates without leaving a residue.  I guess we're going in circles, but many solvents evaporate, leaving no obvious residue. I think there is a very old thread where someone claimed Stylast was an alcohol, which is why it might harm the adhesive used to bond the stylus to the cantilever, in that person's way of thinking.

By the way, I think brake cleaner, as sold in spray cans, is ether or closely related chemical, not freon.  Ether also does evaporate leaving no detectable residue.  I don't doubt that Stylast is a re-packaging of something not too exotic, and that it is very expensive on a per ounce basis.  But we have lots of testimony, including my own, that one small bottle lasts for years if not decades.  There are much bigger rip-offs in audio.  Of course, I stopped using it a few years ago because of those rumors about damage to the glue or the migrating-up-the-cantilever story. Plus the fact that Magic Eraser works so incredibly well while avoiding any danger that might be posed by any liquid cleaner.
It might be a volatile substance diluted in water, suggesting that after a certain amount of time, the volatile active ingredient may evaporate, leaving only water.
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bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,095 posts
 

Rather than relying on someone who obviously knows very little (if anything) about the products of The Last Factory, head over to the company’s website and have your questions answered. Neither Stylast nor Last Record Preservative (used by The Library of Congress to prevent the deterioration of their historical discs) contain any alcohol or other solvent, and certainly not Freon. That statement is absolutely false, and if I were Walter Davies (owner of the company, and one of the three chemists who developed their Patented products (ever tried getting a patent on Freon? ;-), why I’d.....

David Wilson did a study of Stylast when he was a reviewer at The Absolute Sound (he was at that time primarily a recording engineer and record company owner, very concerned with LP playback gear), measuring the improvement afforded by Stylast. His findings were published in Issue 32, the measurements validating the improvement in LP sound provided by Stylast as reported by Tam Henderson in Issue 20.

Last Record Preservative and Stylast reduce wear to both the vinyl of LP’s and the diamond of stylii. Neither contains Freon, alcohol, or any other solvent. Stylast not only doesn’t in anyway harm the elastomer suspension of cartridges, the Stylast fluid that makes it’s way up to that suspension is absorbed into the rubber, keeping it from drying out. Davies reports the use of Stylast can prolong the life of a diamond stylus by a factor of ten. Last Record Preservative is just as effective at reducing wear of LP vinyl.

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