Quote Originally Posted by NRG View Post
Hmmmm.....no, its because its a stupid idea I like to wear my stylus down by playing records not by cleaning it!

Its still an abrasive though and its not a good way of cleaning a stylus, its not thorough enough....a small brush is much better...trust me I've seen close up under a stereoscope how much better a brush is than a bit of sandpaper....

Here's a close up of the sandpaper....sorry green stuff.....

I knackered a Troika because of this stuff and the recommendation of its use by a now defunct Linn dealership.
I use a size 8 squirrel hair artist's brush for removing loose dust from the stylus and the odd fleck from the record. If the stylus is dirtier, then I use an electronic stylus cleaner (made by Goldring) with one drop of neat isopropyl alcohol on the carbon fibre bristles. The stylus is cleaned by this method for 10 seconds.

Apropos mistracking, the correct adjustment of overhang is much, much more important than the VTA. The latter tends to affect the response and dynamic range. Once the VTA is correctly set (preferably be ear) there ought to be no need to change it, though there there are some who claim that it should be adjusted each and every time a record is played !

Most cartridges seem to prefer an enviromental operating temperature of 22 - 25 degC. To achieve this, I use a small 'spotlight' style reading lamp trained on the deck.