ortofon 2m blue stylus always picks up dust even on new clean lps but 2m red didn't?

Rite so this is getting on my last nerve!
I've had a pro-ject debut carbon esprit for a couple of years now. Started out with the red stylus that came preinstalled, upgraded to blue, accidentally broke the red and figured I may as well upgrade!
the sound is better, yes, but with the better sound comes this annoying problem, it seems to gather up incredible amounts of dust! I don't remember the red having this problem.
Another problem to throw into the mix is I'm totally blind, so only really notice when stuff starts sounding muddy. I clean with a zerodust, but that doesn't seem to get the finer stuff off and particularly sensitive passages, pianos and violins mostly, distort like mad. Only when the stylus has been cleaned does the distortion lessen, sometimes disappear completely sometimes not.
Like I said I really don't remember this happening with the red, and my 2m blue is pretty new, this has basicly happened since day 1, it isn't bent or anything like that (I've had a sighted person double check)
I've just bought a pro-ject vc-s rcm and figure clean records will help, but what to do? this is so annoying I'm conciddering downgrading to red again

 

The blue is a finer stylus that gets deeper in the groove - comes with the territory. The are finer stylus shapes that will dig up even more dirt if records are filthy. RCM is a good move, clean your records.

 

I'm wondering, then, should I get a red stylus for the charity shop VG dusty stuff? though I find changing them a royal pain, much harder than on any other tt I've had due to the shape.

 

No, you should clean those records. It' s not that hard.

 

Up to you, or you could just have the records cleaned first before play. For beater records my choice is a cheap conical cartridge, but your turntable doesn't have a removeable headshell and therefore not conducive to changing carts.

 

I don’t think having a cheaper stylus around for poor condition records is a bad idea, but the RCM really should improve the issue for you. Eliminate the dust and grime, then if you do have a red stylus to change out, you will probably only feel a need to do so for scratched/beat up records.

 

Thanks a bunch so far guys, I'll see how I get on with my rcm but comments are gratefully recieved!
I have a goldring lenco gl75 and a bunch of stylie/carts for it, 2 goldring g800s (not so great) and a shure m-44 with an expert paratrace stylus, loudest cart I've ever heard by miles so classical music in stereo sounds really odd on it as in some cases it's loud enough to hear the next groove! Maybe I'll just play my junk on that, though I prefer the pro-ject.
As you folks say cleaning with an rcm should help.

 

This is really maddening. If I get an rcm and it isn't solved I may end up reverting to red or even, shock horror! the shure m-44 and ditch this tt entirely. How do you audiophiles cope if you have this issue? if not, why not?

 

I've just recently upgraded my 2m red to a blue and I've not had this issue.

However,even with new records I always at least put it in the spin clean a few spins.

 

Did you upgrade stylus or the entire cart? I hope it's as simple as just giving it a clean. What sort of music do you tend to listen to? high pitched instruments are most effected.

 

An RCM will help you sort records from the "A" pile to the "B" pile. Some used LPs are still going to be noisy after 2 or 3 thorough cleanings. For those I either try to find a better copy, buy the album on CD, or play back using a cheap conical. Uncleaned thrifted or used bin albums are just asking for trouble. They often have way more dust and junk in the grooves than people can imagine.

IME some records also fall into a gray area. I have a Sandy Denny LP I bought used a few years ago and it always sounded a bit noisy even though it's been cleaned. As such I rarely played it and liked to use my conical Shure M35X with it.

I recently cleaned it again (at least the 3rd or 4th time I've cleaned it since owning it) and played it back with my current main cart/phono stage combination (GS Reflex M + AT VM95ML) and surface noise was dramatically reduced compared to any other time I've played this album.

This could be due to more than one factor 1) The LP needed another deep clean 2) the ML stylus tracks below wear on the LP and 3) the GS phono stage tends to push noise far into the background.

 

That's not how it works. The type of music or instrument used has not bearing on the amount of dust a stylus would pick up.

Get a good RCM and be done with it. An Okki Nokki is what I use and I have never experienced that problem. There are cheaper manual ones if you want to give it a try.

Or, if you know of someone who has an RCM or a shop that does, bring an LP which showed this problem and have them clean it. You likely won't encounter the issue afterward.

 

Just the stylus. The turntable I have has interchangeable headshells. I have the ortofon mounted on one headshell, a Nagaoka mp-110 on another and a cheapie Audio Technica 91-R conical for beater records on another. My ortofon is my main cart. I've had the Red for a year and upgraded to the blue about a month and a half ago.

I usually listen to classic rock/blues/R&b. Some country.

 

So, is it worth rcm cleaning even new lps? as they too have this problem, even after using a zerostat the stylus picks up all sorts of dust!
I love Sandy Denny, btw, most of her lps that I have are fairly beat though!

 

I just changed the stylus as well. I hope the rcm I'll get soon helps with this issue!

 

Ideally you want to clean your new LPs also. Some pressings plants (not all) are very dirty and vinyl shavings and other debris often make it into the groove. Cleaning before play removes all that.

 

I'll keep that in mind!
Is there a more effective way of getting rid of static than the zerostat? not too impressed with that so far!

 

Not really, but the Zerostat is really only designed to remove static charges off a record that's already clean. I use it away from the turntable with the record held away from me and squeeze the trigger very slow and release very slowly. Mine is the old red type and always worked well for me. However some systems are prone to creating a lot of static during playback or maybe you have very dry air in the room. The Zerostat can't really fix that.

 

I clean all my records on my RCM, then play it with my deep groove digging AT ml440b and if there is still crap on the stylus, great, that means the RCM didn't get it all...so it's off for a second clean.
After that it's REALLY clean

 

I suppose I'm just worried about damaging my 2m blue stylus playing incorrectly cleaned records on it, and who wants to have to fiddle with that every 10 minutes?

 

Damaging a stylus from a record cleaning error would almost be impressive, it’s hard to get something that wrong.

I’ve gone through every step of the record cleaning process. From not doing it to being weird about it. I’ve come to a place where if I can’t hear a problem, there isn’t one. Clean your records if they’re dirty and don’t worry too much about damaging a stylus.

 

Thanks everyone for your thoughts on this. I'm noticing that not even the zerodust quite gets all the dust off and this is from clean lps. I'm having to use a finger to get rid of it and play something that sounded bad until it sounds good again, how rediculous is that?

 

Today I recieved my pro-ject vc-s, also bought a carbon fibre brush.
Yep, this has made the difference, I am so far very happy however I've only cleaned 3 lps so far. Presently listening to the brahms violin concerto played by Erica Morini on hmv concert classics, this had been badly cleaned by a previous owner, all sorts of stuff in the grooves, then probably badly cleaned by me before I knew what I was doing,
It now sounds beautiful! all that nice stereo separation you'd expect from a golden age recording. It's not mint, but it's now respectably vg+
Record collectors, don't be like I was and cheap, get or make a vacume rcm, the difference is rediculous. I know they're expencive, I had to save up for months, sell stuff, etc to get one, but the difference on lps is massive.

 

Glad to hear things are working out! I think classical music benefits from clean vinyl in particular due to the levels it is cut at as well as the quiet instrumental sections.

 

The 2m Red and Blue are the same except how they are joined to the cantilever.