Timerette Ends Stylus Life Anxiety
automatically starts and stops counting
How long your stylus will last before it's too far worn to provide full, detailed musical pleasure depends upon a number of factors, including how well you care for it and your records. Dirty records, which includes new out of the jacket ones, create greater friction and the grit, though invisible, will cause greater stylus wear.
Bad stylus hygiene is another determinant of stylus longevity, as is stylus profile: the more extreme, the more quickly its sharp (but not dangerously so if properly aligned) facets will round-out. It's like your teeth: the longer you go between "brushings" the greater is the likelihood that oil from your fingertips will adhere to the stylus and dirt and dust will be attracted to it. Add heat and the result often is a hardened blob that not good for the stylus or your records. If you don't pay close attention to the stylus after each side or at least each record, you might not notice any of this. I could embarrass more than a few well known names by showing close ups of their styli, but I won't!
Instead, I'll alert them and you to the Timerette from Portugal, a product from the same folks who manufacture and sell the "Shaknspin", which I reviewed on my "previous endeavor" and now use for speed accuracy testing on turntable reviews here. It's not a scientific instrument but it's pretty good at giving you wow and flutter measurements using a 9 degrees of freedom sensor.
There's another stylus timing device called Stylus Timer™ that sells for $19.95 and it works well but if you forget to start it when you lower the stylus onto the record, it won't do any timing. The Timerette, which sells for 109 Euro is an automatic timer that will do the timing even if you forget to start it, because it's a 'self-starter'. It stops by itself as well and is said to have a very long lived battery.
Push a button and it will you how many hours you've run your stylus. When you start the platter spinning it gives you a read out. What's not to like?
Here's the Hitch
What makes it work are a pair of tiny "self-stick" magnet you affix to the side of the platter. The Timerette uses those to do its timing. The Timerette is not exactly a pretty device and if the two tiny magnets offend your esthetic sensibilities, perhaps you'll not want to add them and the device to your turntable. Another consideration: if your platter is set into a plinth leaving a narrow space between the two, should a magnet fall off into the crevice, it could cause a problem. Just something to consider. Also, does your turntable offer a convenient perch for the device so it sits close enough to the magnets? Can the Timerette be re-set to "000"? I don't know. The instructions (such that there are) don't say.
I get emails all the time asking about how long a stylus lasts. C!onservatively speaking, with proper care, around 1000 hours (or so). It's difficult to keep track of the hours. Timerette makes it easy. It's definitely an anxiety reducer! Easy to recommend if it fits your esthetics and your turntable's physical design. Here's where to go for ordering information or, just to get questions answered.
Specifications
Manufacturer Information
www.timerette.com
SMFT Unipessoal Lda. - VAT: PT514094125
R. Prof. Mario Albuquerque, 5-3B, Lisboa 1600-812, Portugal
