Ixoz Carbon Fibre Record Brush

I recently bought an Ixos carbon fibre record brush at a local store that sells vinyl in the Baltimore area. It looks a lot like the Clearaudio brush, and was about $25. It is very soft, and seems to pick a fair amount of dust off my LPs, but I have one complaint, and this is a big one--this brush sheds like an angora cat in the springtime...

Last night, I put a new 180g Johnny CAsh LP on my TT, and since it's new, it's VERY clean, but I ran the brush around it anyway. Lowered the tonearm, and started playing it, and there was all these strange intermittant pops and crackles. I jumped up, stopped the table, and looked at the record, and lo and behold, it had a lot of tiny ittle gray-black "hairs" on it, just like the ones in my new brush! I took the brush over to the kitchen, where we have white countertops, and flicked the bristles with my finger, and sure enough, about a dozen of those little fibers came tumbling out!

I'm probably going to take it back tomorrow, if I can find the receipt. Good thing I bought an extra pack of LAST brushes with the LAST 12345 kit I recently ordered from Needle Doctor (which came in the mail in three days!). I suppose I'll just be using a dry LAST brush for last-step swiping of my vinyl now.

Just wanted to see if any other vinyl junkies out there had similar experiences with these IXOS brushes...

--Richard

Dreamer said:

I recently bought an Ixos carbon fibre record brush at a local store that sells vinyl in the Baltimore area. It looks a lot like the Clearaudio brush, and was about $25. It is very soft, and seems to pick a fair amount of dust off my LPs, but I have one complaint, and this is a big one--this brush sheds like an angora cat in the springtime...

Last night, I put a new 180g Johnny CAsh LP on my TT, and since it's new, it's VERY clean, but I ran the brush around it anyway. Lowered the tonearm, and started playing it, and there was all these strange intermittant pops and crackles. I jumped up, stopped the table, and looked at the record, and lo and behold, it had a lot of tiny ittle gray-black "hairs" on it, just like the ones in my new brush! I took the brush over to the kitchen, where we have white countertops, and flicked the bristles with my finger, and sure enough, about a dozen of those little fibers came tumbling out!

I'm probably going to take it back tomorrow, if I can find the receipt. Good thing I bought an extra pack of LAST brushes with the LAST 12345 kit I recently ordered from Needle Doctor (which came in the mail in three days!). I suppose I'll just be using a dry LAST brush for last-step swiping of my vinyl now.

Just wanted to see if any other vinyl junkies out there had similar experiences with these IXOS brushes...

--Richard

Click to expand...

FYI-

Carbon Fiber these days is used very improperly. Everyone buys it because it looks really cool. I would not use one anyway even if the bristle's didn't come out. Why Bob? Great question. Carbon Fiber is a great conductor. Can you say more Static? Yup, more static. There you have it.

and for YOUR information . . . . . .

you are using your carbon fibre brush incorrectly! . . . .but I'll get to that in a second. I too have had carbon brushes shed. Not the Ixoz, don't know that one, but it's due to improper manufacture. They absolutely shouldn't do that!!

The Gold Standard IMO is the Decca 2+2, so called because it has two sets of two brushes: carbon+fiber, either long or short, look here:

http://www.everestaudio.com/price-pages/Decca-2+2-Record-Brush.htm

As for proper use, well this is a pretty good story: long, long ago, I was at the home of an audio friend and noticed he had his carbon brush attached with a small metal screw to a length of light switch chain. I made some stupid crack about his paranoia, and was soon informed that the other end was connected to the ground lug of his preamp. So, right to the chase: if you want your carbon brush to REMOVE the static from your record, you need to give it (the electrical charge) a path to ground! Hello!!:rocker: I live in Tucson, AZ. 6% humidity! Lotsa static! I know this works!

If you just want to test this idea (before buying the chain ;--) next time you go to brush your record, first lick the fingertips of both hands (for good contact), and while you brush the record, touch the finger(s) of your other hand to something gounded, some exposed unfinished metal or chassis screw on one of your components. Static GONE!

I know this is the kind of magic audiophile knowledge we all wish were in a book somewhere!!

I'm happy with my "Hunt".

Do some research next time, I could not find much on the Ixos myself.

The Hunt was my favorite too, until I tried the Decca.

jtwrace said:

FYI-

Carbon Fiber these days is used very improperly. Everyone buys it because it looks really cool. I would not use one anyway even if the bristle's didn't come out. Why Bob? Great question. Carbon Fiber is a great conductor. Can you say more Static? Yup, more static. There you have it.

Click to expand...

Or, if you take your shoes off, you can channel the static of the record to ground thorugh your body and the brush, and have an even charged vinyl...also the zero-stat is a great tool for this unwanted static charge. Happy listening,
Roberto.

The old Oracle brush came with a drain wire that you attached to the ground lug of the preamp. That sucker worked like a dream. I currently use the AQ brush which works well with nsgarch's hand trick. No static at all. Wish I could find my Zerostat however.