Has anyone cryo'd a tonearm,or phono cartridge?

Hello 76doublebass,

I haven't tried cryo on a cartridge and I would not want to do it because of the delicate rubber suspension for the cantelever, as Nsgarch already mentioned. Albertpoter experiment just reinforces my reluctance.

Do you remember the investigation of the space shuttle Challenger disaster? Richard Feynman, the late Nobel physicist from Cal Tech, convincingly demonstrated the cause of the fatal accident on live national television. He did it with an elegant, simple experiment: he dunked a rubber O-ring into a glass full of ice water and showed how the cold o-ring turned brittle and could no longer seal properly!

With a much colder cryo treatment, the question is will the rubber ever regain its original elasticity? Better yet, what does the rubber have to gain from the treatment? I see mostly negative effects for the rubber and few if any beneficial ones. For a cartridge, the cryo treatment should probably be done without the rubber, prior to full assembly.

Actually, I am cryoing a cartridge this weekend. I've done others before, with mixed results. this time I'm doing a fairly high dollar cart, whereas my earlier experiements were with "backup" carts.

I'll report my findings after the cartridge breaks back in after cryo.

Like Albert mentioned, cryo is not a panacea and is not suitable for everything, especially electrolytic caps. Also, different parts require different cryo "profiles" to elicit the best performance from them. One can't treat fragile audio gear with the same profile as used for tool steels and expect optimal results.

BTW to elaborate on Albert's comments, cryo is great for transformers, with two caveats: The cryo treamtment house MUST use a profile with a VERY slow cool down rate. And, yes, break in seems to take forever after cryo, although once the tranny is run back in, in my experience, it is much quieter.

To further comment on Justin_time's post, don't forget about the "coefficient of expansion" differences between dissimilar materials, which is the operating principle behind your home's thermostat. This is a switching device that works by using a temperature sensitive BI-METALLIC strip or coil that flexes and bends.

Cryoing was originally used as a tempering process for HOMOGENOUS metallic materials, such as surgical instruments and car brake discs. Cryoing of different materials used in an audio device or component, having different coefficients of expansions, may theoretically result in damage or a shortened life span due to the contraction/expansion stresses placed upon the item. Personally, I would never cryo any device with non-homogenous materials, as this would be exposing it to conditions way, WAY outside of the operational design parameters.

Of course, theory may not be actuality in the real world, but I'm not going to chance it!