FLUX HiFi Sonic - electric needle cleaner works wonders

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Baron Von Talbot, May 13, 2015.

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  1. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Checking out an email I received from my anaog dealer PHONO in Stuttgart, where I bought my THORENS TD 206. At 129 Euro this needle cleaner is a big investment but since my old but still okay SUMIKO EVO III packs up dust so easily and fast I wished on a better cleaning tool than my CLEARAUDIO stylus cleaner. You won't believe ho a new needle looks after just playing one LP. The diamond is covered with dust, Then after puting the stylus down to the fabric and adding one drop of special cleaning fluid hat FLUX system starts vibrating and after 10 to 15 seconds the stylus looks like new again.
    SG akustik released a movie on youTube to showcase the system but it is in german.
    You still can get what this thing is all about. I bet it will sell like hot cake to those with high quality MC carts After all a clean stylus brings so much more info out of the frooves AND improves the life span of your treasured cart.Even with a cart like mine for 450 Euro this investment makes sense. Instead of buying a new stylus because of the dust collecting. Once the EBO III is clean the sound is fantastic but play a dusty LP side and within 5 to 10 minutes i have to get up and clean up that mess - and it is not easy to do.
    The FLUX does the job for you.
    Here is the link to the video.
    I bet this will be a hot topc at the Munich High end show this weekend !!!!
     
  2. Madlove

    Madlove Hare Hunter Field

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Seems very cool. I do wish the before and after pics were taken at the same angle...It's hard to tell how clean it got. I was expecting a "wow" factor but instead I was like "huh?"
     
  3. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Really ? I thought the pics speak for themselves, you can see the whole clear diamond after the cleaning. The angles look about the same to me but whatever, if you can clean your stylus so easy and with always the same cleaning results it beats whatever is on the market. The worst you can use are those fluids . I got one bottle from Nagaoka, which was not cheap - around 30 euro and that makes then eedle catch up more dust agter a short span, where it actually helps. Like those darn LENCO all you do is smearing some sticky stuff on the diamond. I never had a cart catching up dust that bad as now after using that cleaning fluid every now and then. After a few cleanings the sirt dissolves in the fluid and you only make matters worse, not better.
    Before i buy the FLUX I wait till I have seen it in action.
     
  4. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    I watched that part with the dirty and clean diamond and watched the angles - they are EXACTLY from the same perspective - you can see the same part of the tonearm on both
    They are just seconds away from each other.. So check it again - I cannot copy the parts..
    BUT I can show you the source of these pics and the angles are the same..
    http://www.flux-hifi.de/index.cgi?f=flux-hifi.html
     
  5. Bubbamike

    Bubbamike Forum Resident

    Still have my Signet electronic cleaner.
     
    DaleH and Baron Von Talbot like this.
  6. thegage

    thegage Forum Currency Nerd

    If you go to their website there are before-and-after pictures that certainly have a "wow" factor. But, it appears to me that not only are they removing dirt from the stylus, but are also removing most of the adhesive on the underside of the cantilever that surrounds the stylus and helps hold it in place. It looks clean, for sure, and I can't read German so perhaps this aggressive cleaning is the intent, but it doesn't look right.

    John K.
     
  7. Baron Von Talbot

    Baron Von Talbot Well-Known Member Thread Starter

    Maybe they cleaned the tonearm tip as well but the electric vibration used by this app works with low energy, not harming any parts of the stylus. That is a major step-up from older models from the 70ies and 80ies who used LED's that were too hot and could therefore do some damage over the years. Ths is safe because the vibration is dome with a very low frequency. At least that is their claim. We'll see how this item works. I personally would prefer using this vs a record washing machine. The impact will be about the same - as long as the records are not too dusty or too much static on the surface. The guy fromm SG Akustik/Fono.de was very happy with he superior sound from these ultra clean styli. Brings out a lot more precision and clarity than your average hand cleaned stylus cleaner. I was a bit sceptical about the fluid used. Seems it is necessary to clean the upper parts of the diamond and maybe even a bit of the tonearm. But the difference vs LAST Stylus or the Nagaoka is you add a drop. Instead of putting the used brush back into the fluid, where it starts making the cleaning fluid dirty. I am trying to use my Clearaudio brush the same way as the FLUX. Drop it on the surface and rub it along. This actually helps as long as I clean every side before playing it. Still with my DUAL or Technics playing a dusty side with a cheaper MM cart usually didn't catch up dist that fast. Then again I changed carts every few years or swapped between various carts. The Suniko is an MC type, which means a replacement costs as much as a brand new cart - 350 Euro. So I use it as long as it plays fine, when clean. It is a fact you catch more dust, the older and less sharp pointed the diamond tip - the easier for dist to hang onto..
     
    Bubbamike likes this.
  8. luxen

    luxen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    I bought it.

    Tried it today on my dps2 with Lyra Delos.

    Unbelievable....what a difference...

    Easy to handle...and nope, nothing will be "destroyed".

    I am amazed about how much more is coming through....
     
    Baron Von Talbot likes this.
  9. Madlove

    Madlove Hare Hunter Field

    Location:
    Upstate NY
    Congrats. Where did you buy it?
     
  10. luxen

    luxen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    SG Akustik, Germany.
     
    Madlove likes this.
  11. luxen

    luxen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    From Google:

    The Cleaning

    The stylus is the primary component during playback. The motion, voltage is induced by the later created here.The aim is to follow the groove in the micrometer range accurately. To achieve this perfectly, the producers of pickups make great efforts. If the needle is contaminated, however, may the diamond - no matter how polished and this is - not exactly follow the deflection. He reacts too early or too late, there will be distortion. Even supposedly clean records are covered with dust, partly visible, partly invisible in the groove. This includes particles of silicates, polymers and organic materials. This stick during the scanning of the needle due to the high temperature. How quickly this happens is illustrated in Fig. 1. Already after playing a record side of the needle from dirt almost nothing recognizable. Fig. 2 shows the needle after cleaning with a normal, dry needle brush.Fibers are removed, the crust remains. Only an aggressive liquid cleaner ensures a reasonably cleaned surface of the diamond, see Fig. 3. However, as these cleaners can attack not only the glue of the diamond, but also the sensitive rubber parts of the suspension of the needle carrier, caution here is needed. Fig. 4 shows the needle after use of the flux Sonic. Without parts of the pickup attack, the result is outstanding. The needle shines in new splendor. (Fig. 1-4)

    The technique

    The operating principle is similar to an ultrasonic cleaner from dental technology or an ultrasonic bath for spectacle lenses. A strong high-frequency vibration makes for a surface cleaning. For some substances, such as aluminum, resulting from the treatment with ultrasound damage. Even if the diamond would perfectly cleaned, the splices as well as the suspension of the needle carrier would also be jeopardized as well as the use of aggressive cleaning liquids.
    The Flux-Sonic Vibration cleaner, however, operates at a low frequency. The circuit and mechanism are designed so that a three-dimensional vibration acts on the needle, which ensures that all dirt particles are removed. The frequency is exactly tuned so that damage is excluded at the bonding or on the suspension - the cleaning result but is maximum. The excursions are far from the values of the actual scanning. The movement of the needle corresponds only a fraction of the load on the playback operation.
    For the transmission of vibration from the device to the needle is a fluid required. This has an additional, gentle cleaning action and is prepared in isopropanol basis. After applying it evaporates without leaving a residue. Flux-fluid is applied to a specially designed pad finest PE fibers. Already these fibers produce by their number and density of the resulting capillary action, which is very similar to the action of a liquid. In connection with Flux-fluid results in a perfect combination, which transmits the vibration and simultaneously absorbs the dirt. It is recommended to use before each playback.
     
  12. luxen

    luxen Forum Resident

    Location:
    Germany
    BTW...the vibrations of the pad are much "smaller/lesser" than actual playback...:)
     
    J.Uotila likes this.
  13. Arnold_Layne

    Arnold_Layne Forum Resident

    Location:
    Waldorf, MD USA
    Time to retire my Magic Eraser.
     
  14. Manelus

    Manelus Forum Resident

    Location:
    Barcelona, Spain
    Any feedback from long term use?
     
    Andy Saunders likes this.
  15. Linto

    Linto Mayor of Simpleton

    The price is an utter joke, I still have my old Audio Technica
     
  16. Rolltide

    Rolltide Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vallejo, CA
    Audio Technica made an ultrasonic stylus cleaner?
     
  17. royzak2000

    royzak2000 Senior Member

    Location:
    London,England
    Yep the AT-637, Many years ago, mine still works a treat.
     
    nm_west likes this.
  18. DaleH

    DaleH Forum Resident

    Location:
    Southeast
    Been done.... for $25 bucks. Very effective though.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]
     
  19. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    Looks like a lot of baloney to me. Junk. I'm not even going to look at the price because I might throw up.

    I knew the minute he put a drop of cleaning fluid on that pad that the rest of the device is most there for showmanship. So you wet a felt pad with cleaning fluid and drop a stylus onto it and it gets cleaner. There's something new there? I'm sure the cleaning fluid and the pad are doing 90 percent of the actual cleaning and the vibrations may jiggle the pad around to help a bit. Here's an alternative: Get a two cent piece of felt ("replacement mats available for only $20!"), put a drop of alcohol on it, and drum "Wipe Out" with your fingertips on the turntable. Voila! Previous versions of the funky blue LED to were "too strong" before? What?! A LED light doesn't throw any heat. Tell me how it could be "too strong"?

    Eau de reptile.

    I'm sure that device is built in China for around $3, tops. And it looks it.
     
    Last edited: Sep 12, 2015
  20. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    "That is a major step-up from older models from the 70ies and 80ies who used LED's that were too hot and could therefore do some damage over the years"

    FYI, LEDs were invented in 1990.
     
  21. MrRom92

    MrRom92 Forum Supermodel

    Location:
    Long Island, NY
    What? LEDs were not only invented but commercially available long before that. Hell, I'm sure some of us have audio gear dating back to the 70's with LEDs of some sort. I know I do.
     
    JohnCarter17 and TarnishedEars like this.
  22. rebellovw

    rebellovw Forum Resident

    Location:
    hell
    I had one of those cool LED clocks in the 70's.
     
  23. Agitater

    Agitater Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    LEDs of all kinds were in use in the 1960s mainly as indicator lamps and for small scale displays. Mainly Monsanto tech. 70s calculators needed little plastic lenses over each LED to make them more easily visible, but they worked. Higher output LEDs were available back then too, but they were crazy-expensive and restricted to industrial and scientific uses.
     
  24. Ghostworld

    Ghostworld Senior Member

    Location:
    US
    My bad. But never the less, what difference does an LED mean to this device except as a blue flashlight?
     
  25. markshan

    markshan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    You lost me. Why would a stylus cleaner replace a RCM?
     
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