I have cryo treated lots of tonearm wires, but not the tonearm itself. The wires were a positive change once they were broken in.
I experimented with only one cartridge with permission from Musical Surroundings (who I do work for). We cryo treated a Benz Ruby to see what changes might occur. The cartridge was provided by Musical Surroundings with permission from Benz in Switzerland so if the project failed, I would not have to pay for damage.
The cartridge survived the cryo treatment just fine. The cryo process was done by a vender in Chicago (different people from the ones that I use for my Porter Ports).
The cartridge never seemed to break in after the treatment. It was not damaged but failed to regain the textures in the midrange and the bass lost impact. It was returned to be rebuilt.
Other cartridges may react differently and perhaps the sound I heard was just not to my liking. I do know that any transformer that is cryo treated takes FOREVER to break in. I did the high frequency toroidal transformer in my Sound-Lab Ultimates (when I owned them) and they did not exceeded the PRE- cryo (stock) performance, until after about 7 months of persistent use. I had an original pair of back plates from the Sound-Lab factory so I could compare after each month, so I am certain of the results.
I like cryo treatment, but it is not a universal panacea, I don't like the effect it has on NOS power tubes either. Other than those two items (transformers and tubes) I have had good luck.
Hope you have good luck with your project as well.
I experimented with only one cartridge with permission from Musical Surroundings (who I do work for). We cryo treated a Benz Ruby to see what changes might occur. The cartridge was provided by Musical Surroundings with permission from Benz in Switzerland so if the project failed, I would not have to pay for damage.
The cartridge survived the cryo treatment just fine. The cryo process was done by a vender in Chicago (different people from the ones that I use for my Porter Ports).
The cartridge never seemed to break in after the treatment. It was not damaged but failed to regain the textures in the midrange and the bass lost impact. It was returned to be rebuilt.
Other cartridges may react differently and perhaps the sound I heard was just not to my liking. I do know that any transformer that is cryo treated takes FOREVER to break in. I did the high frequency toroidal transformer in my Sound-Lab Ultimates (when I owned them) and they did not exceeded the PRE- cryo (stock) performance, until after about 7 months of persistent use. I had an original pair of back plates from the Sound-Lab factory so I could compare after each month, so I am certain of the results.
I like cryo treatment, but it is not a universal panacea, I don't like the effect it has on NOS power tubes either. Other than those two items (transformers and tubes) I have had good luck.
Hope you have good luck with your project as well.