The only item in the assembly that is looking likely to need to show a change that is perceived as adding an improvement through the change is the Material used for Damper.
A Change to the Stylus is potentially wear only and this will be deemed detrimental as it progresses.
The Cantilever and Pivot are certainly not parts belonging to the assembly that would be wanted to change their inherent properties.
The Damper is a material that is a Compound of materials that will ultimately become a Type of Rubber, the constituents/formulations will vary to produce the Rubber Compound. Designers will select a substance that in many cases will be a unique material, that satisfies the designers need for the elastic and viscous properties of the material, and possibly the known environmental effect on the Compound.
The Rubber Compound selected as the Part, can have a multiple of ingredients and these can vary in the parts added per 100 parts of rubber. The final selection of the Rubber Compound and effects on the Compound of the added Elastomers will undoubtedly produce a Part, when selected that is to have a multifunction role.
One such role which will be for the managing of vibration will be best served from a Compound that has the correct Static and Dynamic Properties engineered into the Rubber Compound. Knowing such information will be critical in the selection process.
It does seem that a Damper is to change its properties through usage and possibly time. It does seem a most likely Damper Selection will be limited to a selected few, who will be qualified in making the choices for these changing in properties materials.
It does seem a Damper has the potential to be impacted on by the environment it resides in, and through usage can change. It also seems likely a Damper that has been exposed to the environment/working environment for a long period can possibly undergo changes that become detrimental to the Cartridges performance. The question is do Dampers from a production have a uniform property or is there variances across samples, or is there Dampers used that might already be affected by the environment they are kept in. Is this a possibility a Quality Control issue and is contributing to the differences reported for Break In times.
It is possibly a selection of a Damper Material, that is one, that can make or break a Design and how it is received in the Market Place, so a very big responsibility to get it correct for the end user. Keeping a Damper material as stock item for an extended period in a particular environment might have an effect on the material and change the performance of product as it produced over a period of time.
The Suspension is one I am not sure of, it is known to change its properties through usage, but I am not sure where the detriment to the overall performance manifests due to these changes. It is not uncommon to see a report where a Suspension required re-tensioning, the question is does the tensioning vary between models when new. Is this a quality control issue and can possibility be contributing to the differences reported for Break In times.
