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How will I know when my stylus wears out? - and other Qs.


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Im still on my first proper modern cart/stylus which Ive been using for a couple of years now.

It will be wearing out slowly with each use, but how will I know when it has passed it's used by date?

Will it be a sudden change or a slow one that I may not even notice?

Roughly how many hours can I expect from a stylus?

Do you wait until you can hear degradation or change the stylus after a given time?

How many do actually change the stylus only rather than the entire cartridge? I understand this is not even possible on some MC carts.

Cheers,

Jake

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Im still on my first proper modern cart/stylus which Ive been using for a couple of years now.

It will be wearing out slowly with each use, but how will I know when it has passed it's used by date?

Will it be a sudden change or a slow one that I may not even notice?

Roughly how many hours can I expect from a stylus?

Do you wait until you can hear degradation or change the stylus after a given time?

How many do actually change the stylus only rather than the entire cartridge? I understand this is not even possible on some MC carts.

Cheers,

Jake

Hi Jake,

I am only going by my personal experiences, and often wondered the same thing. My ears were the best indicator as to the stylus wearing out, and I found it a gradual thing. As for life expectancy... not too sure but have read somewhere that you should be able to get a minimum of 1000hrs out of a stylus.And most mc's should be able to be given retips when the time comes. I would wait until you hear a change in sound personally, but each to their own.

And shop around if thinking of retipping, I used Garrott Brothers ( is it Tivoli Hi Fi now that do it?) in Vic to retip a Koetsu I once owned and they did a super job.There are also plenty of OS folk who do retips. I sent it to Brian at Decibel Hi Fi in Brissy and he sent it south, they gave back a report as to its condition after an inspection, and a quote for work.

I have heard that these people do really good work.

http://www.sound-smith.com/

Chris

Edited by soundfan
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Im still on my first proper modern cart/stylus which Ive been using for a couple of years now.

It will be wearing out slowly with each use, but how will I know when it has passed it's used by date?

Depends on several factors. These include:

* Tracking pressure. Too much or too little will accelerate wear.

* Record quality and condition. Scratches and crap in the grooves will accelerate wear.

* Diamond quality and orientation. High quality diamonds and, more specifically, those that are 'grain oriented' will last considerably longer than crap, non-grain oriented ones. The Garrott Bros diamonds are high grade, grain oriented diamonds, though some high quality carts are also similarly equipped.

Will it be a sudden change or a slow one that I may not even notice?

Depends. A chipped diamond will make it's prescence noticable immediately. A worn diamond exhibits far more subtle and less damaging problems.

Roughly how many hours can I expect from a stylus?

Assuming a quality, non-oriented diamond is being used and the recordings are clean and free of scratches, you should expect 1,000 - 1,500 hours. With a grain oriented diamond, you can double that figure.

Do you wait until you can hear degradation or change the stylus after a given time?

Me, personally? No. I regularly examine my stylus under a binocular microscope. I suggest that it is a good idea to have a stylus regularly examined (every 500 hours or so) for faults.

How many do actually change the stylus only rather than the entire cartridge? I understand this is not even possible on some MC carts.

Cheers,

Jake

Correct. Many MC carts are swapped over by the manufacturer. Usually, however, the Garrott Bros, Van Den Hul and others can replace the diamond only.

Edited by Zaphod Beeblebrox
Brain fart
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Thanks for your considered replies Chris and Trevor.

Im probably approaching the 1000 hours mark with my current Ortofon (MM), and I suspect that the highs have rolled off a little since new.

Unfortunately I dont have a binocular microscope, but may try and get a macro shot with the camera which would be my next best option perhaps.

If and when it needs retipping I will send it locally, probably to Brian.

In future it may be interesting (and completely anal :)) to keep a log of hours of use to see how long I get out of a stylus.

Cheers,

Jake

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Hi Jake,

I asked a certain person(importer and distributer) these exact Q's just last week and he said

@ 3000 hrs use out of a very good quality stylus is the norm

@$600 for a rebuild of your stylus when req'd should cover it and it would be "as new".

As Trevor said, with a sudden chip in the diamond it would be akin to a sudden blurry eye. Otherwise a very slow degradation over time you probably would not notice. Like when I went for a medical lately and struggled to read the 2nd bottom line on an eye chart. Because it is slow, the brain compensates for the degradation and until it is "put to the test" you don't know the results. Remember that 3000 hrs is ALOT of listening over @ 5 yrs to average person, so the degradation over such a long period is very hard to comprehend unless you did an A/B comparison with old/new stylus's or "styli".

Cheers

Dave

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$600? I presume that is on an expensive cart, as that is more than twice what I paid for the Ortofon to start with.

Like Trevor said, given excellent vinyl the life of a stylus must be dramtically improved over one that is scraping over debris daily, so maybe 3000 is quite possible for a good setup.

Cheers,

Jake

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Hi Jake, I've always worked on about 700 - 1000 hours as being half life for a good set up, but you're probably right about keeping a log..........at least for a month or so!:) If I was using a really expensive cart/stylus then I'd probably be paying a little more attention but I guess I would be getting close to half life in around a year to a year and a half.............and I'm only spending around $300 for a good Denon cart, so it isn't a big deal really to just buy a new cart.:cool:

Cheers,

Keith

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I had trouble tellling which stylus where any good when collected from the dump - 2 sheds kindly sent me plans for a fail safe method - he said it was all op do with correct tracking and if the stylus was any good you really needed to check the tracking in the cart -

Im testing this one out acording to the plans he sent me - i find the gravelly path helps you pick correct tracking in the cart:love

myPod-Portable-Music-Player.jpg

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afternoon jake,

the suspension of the cantilever will more than likely give up before the stylus gets worn significantly.a full rebuild comprises of new rubber suspension as well as a new diamond tip.some companies offer a trade in allowance of old for new around 40%.

1500 hrs is a pretty general time frame of playing hours.

regards,g.

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I always think they generally degrade slowly and you get used to the sound changes as they are subtle and slow. I figure on 3 years for a cart then I have to decide whether to retip or replace.

By the way, which cart do you have? If it is an Ortofon MM you should be able to replace the stylus. My understanding is that very few MCs have replacable stylus, I've never seen one.

DS

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By the way, which cart do you have? If it is an Ortofon MM you should be able to replace the stylus. My understanding is that very few MCs have replacable stylus, I've never seen one.

DS

Ortofon 2M Blue. Im sure I read somewhere that the cart body is the same as the more expensive bronze/black cart's, and that by replacing the stylus with one from either of these I can basically upgrade the original blue cart.

Might have to drop Brian a line on that one.

Cheers,

Jake

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Hmm, not sure. I thought that the red and blue had the same body and that the bronze and black have a different but shared body. I could be wrong though.

Stylus would be very easy to get for this, in Queensland do Decibel sell Ortofon? I'm sure they do.

DS

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Ortofon 2M Blue. Im sure I read somewhere that the cart body is the same as the more expensive bronze/black cart's, and that by replacing the stylus with one from either of these I can basically upgrade the original blue cart.

Might have to drop Brian a line on that one.

Cheers,

Jake

I think you are correct on that one, Jake. I have the 'red' and recently bought a spare stylus on ebay having had similar thoughts to yours.

Cheers

wolster

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