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drdna wrote:

1. This may simply be a symptom of electricity variability.  I would listen for a few days and see if it improves.

Do you mean that electricity affects the sound of one cartridge but not another? I doubt that, particulary considering that all my cartridges are driven into the same phonostage.

drdna wrote:

2. Cartridges not used for a while need to loosen up a bit in regard to the suspension.  Again, it may improve with continued listening.

OK, I will play it for a while, I hope you are right. Still, the magnitude of result worsening is much higher then what I would expect from a not broken in cartridge.

drdna wrote:

3.  Aging suspensions may need mass loading adjusted to compensate for this natural aging process which changes how the cartridge responds to the set-up.  The set-up may not have changed, but the cartridge HAS physically changed and the setup needs to be adjusted to compensate for the new physical characteristics.  Mass loading reduction is usually where I start.

I was trying it changing VTF for .3g up and down. I did not detect any improvement. Adrian , are you sure that the loading REDUCTION is the direction to go with cartridge ageing?

drdna wrote:

4. As a last resort for a moving coil, consider degaussing it.  It is a 2-edged sword, as it can bring a tired, dull cartridge back to life, but requires subsequent maintenance treatments.

Well, I am not a huge supporter of the idea of cartridges degaussing. It is not that that I did not observe an employment after the demagnetizing/degaussing of cartridges – the employment is obvious but I feel that the way the industry suggest doing it barbaric. I usually sort-cross-join the cartridge’s channels and run them for a few minutes in the groove. The cartridge magnetically gets reborn after this exercise. I never do any “forced” degaussing.

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