Lyra SPT Stylus Treatment

The Lyra SPT’s primary function is straightforward - by helping to keep your cartridge's stylus scrupulously clean, it assists tracking and minimizes damage to your records and cartridge. [...] Unlike any other stylus cleaner, we employed extensive listening tests during the development process of SPT, [...] Not only will it work well with our own Lyra models, but you will likely find that it offers a significant sonic boost to other high-performance cartridge designs as well.

The Lyra SPT’s primary function is straightforward - by helping to keep your cartridge's stylus scrupulously clean, it assists tracking and minimizes damage to your records and cartridge. However, its benefits extend far beyond just stylus cleaning.

Unlike any other stylus cleaner, we employed extensive listening tests during the development process of SPT, with the express purpose of improving the sound of your phono cartridge. Not only will it work well with our own Lyra models, but you will likely find that it offers a significant sonic boost to other high-performance cartridge designs as well.

Another thing we have been very careful about is to design the SPT so it won't dissolve or damage any glue joints between stylus and cantilever. This cannot be said about all other stylus cleaners on the market, some of which causes damage (diamond styli fall out because of dissolved glue), especially if used excessively.

The Lyra SPT should be applied in a small quantity with the accompanying brush each time it is being used. However it has been designed so it can be used frequently, even after each LP record side of play, or as often as you deem necessary in your particular environment.

Features:

Long term economical and cost effective

Stereophile Recommended Component
Includes a small,wedge-shaped applicator with which MF brushed a drop of this fluid carefully, back to front, along the stylus. Don't get any on the cantilever, he warned, and wait 10 seconds before playing a record. Pricey fluid said to lubricate the stylus, to improve S/N ratio and tractability, and to last for one sides playing time. (Vol.23 No.11) October 2001, page 79


With their cartridge, Immedia very graciously sent a 5 ml. bottle of their stylus cleaning and lubrication fluid, the STP. Made by Scan Tech, the same producer of the Lyra, it is formulated to clean the stylus without doing damage to the mechanism. Until this point, I had been using LP #9 Stylus Cleaner from Record Research Lab, and the comparison was very informative. Using a 30x microscope, I alternated cleaning the stylus with the two fluids, looking with the scope, then playing a side of the record. While I couldn’t hear any difference, the microscope did show that the STP removed a layer of haze that the LP#9 did not. Whether this will make any difference in the short or long term, I have no idea, but I think cleaner is better if damage isn’t being done. At $45 a bottle, it ain't cheap, but well worth the cost if, as claimed, it will add hours to the stylus useful life.


Lyra SPT Instruction Manual PDF