What is the average lifespan of a phono cartridge?

@daveyf you do know that the majority of
stylii are inferior conical/spherical contact? Even a lowly bonded elliptical stylus can track virgin vinyl that the dreaded conical/spherical stylus has not spoiled. Then microline styli can go even further. Don’t give up so easily!!

It is possible to trace a different part of the groove and mitigate at least some groove damage; I've heard this myself.  When a record is damaged by mis-tracking or a bad stylus, chunks of vinyl are removed so that the wall becomes pitted, it is possible to avoid these pits by contacting the groove above and below that area.  When a record is played, the stylus deforms the groove slightly, but because vinyl is highly elastic, it snaps back to its original shape.  The pits will affect how the groove deforms, so even though a different stylus might not be tracing the pits, the absence of vinyl will affect how the groove deforms, so, in that sense, the pitting cannot be totally avoided unless one uses a system like the ELP laser table.  I saw a demonstration of that table where a severely worn record was played with the laser focused at different groove depth--when the laser avoided the damaged part of the groove the record sounded like it was new.

Dear @tbbromguard: Years ago Ortofon made a research about and they found out that after 500 hours any stylus tip showed signs of deterioration and this means that after those 500 hours that stylus tip it’s not tracking as is new: obviously.

In those times they said that when cartridge approach the 1K hours it’s time for re-tip.

Those informtion from Ortofon makes sense because if it’s true that at 500-K hours the stylus tip can has more hours to play with it’s true too thta’s is performing aginst listening enjoyment and against the LP grooves lifespan.

I know that through our ears and even after 1.5K-2K hours we just do not listen nothing wrong ( we are not aware of. ) but the damage exist in the stylus tip and will ruin those LP grooves.

Any one decides when to re-tip but maybe is time to think about again.

R.

What is clearly stated in the manual of ZYX Premium 4D cartridge is that a LIFE TIME of the 3 um x 60 um (Micro Ridge 0,07 mm) stylus is 2000 hrs at 2g tracking force. I believe that Nakatsuka-San is qualified to say the truth even if he’s got a profit on every exchange of the worn cartridges to a new ones!

So 2000 hrs at 2g tracking force is a life time of brand new Micro Ridge stylus according to ZYX.

Buy cartridges with Micro Ridge or similar ultra high-end needles to use them for 2000 hours without retiping them.

@chakster 

that advice is not universal. Any stylus can be damaged and worn in far less time, depending on whether the arm is adjusted correctly, the overall treatment of the cartridge, and most importantly- the condition of the vinyl that is being utilized. A record that is full of pits and has dirty grooves will wear down any cartridge in a much quicker time. Some cartridges may last even longer than 2000 hours...depending on how they are treated, OTOH, the exact same cartridge may last just a mere fraction of that time.
Stylus shape is no guarantee of long wear.