2. analog
  3. 149638-16074

Real world life expectancy of a high end cartridge?

While I know they’re supposed to last 1000 hours how many make it all that way?  

Question prompted by my brushing a knuckle on my AS Palladian this afternoon and trashing it ... lesson learned not to try tonearm adjustments without full access to the table (normally I move the table off the wall shelf to a more convenient location to make adjustments, but not this time 😬)

And doesn’t it just happen that the cost of a recipe/trade is exactly my deductible so even insurance is no help 😲

Anyway just needed to vent ... but anyone playing with these expensive baubles better be prepared to reup on a replacement at any moment 🤪
folkfreak
david12
1,454 posts
 

I use the golf clicker too, but have settled on 20 minutes a side. I keep two cartridges, an SPU Synergy and Benz Micro LP and have re tipped them both once.There seems to be two issues regarding cartridge life, sound quality and record wear. Of the two, record wear concerns me most, my ears are too old to notice sound degradation anyway.

Anyone care to comment, assuming no damage, which would tend to come first, sound decline or record damage? I have always assumed it's sound degradation.

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mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
Benjie, You see the cat eyes when you look straight down on the stylus. The eyes will be adjacent to the very tip, one on each side, not 1/2 way down unless you have a stylus that is smaller than anyone knows how to make. The Windfeld is a great cartridge. You would have to spend a lot more to get anything that sounds appreciably better. In terms of tracking you can not find a better tracking cartridge at any price. Send it back to Ortofon and have them re-manufacture it. 


mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 
When I was in high school I worked for DBx in Waltham. I constructed the chassis for 32 channel noise reduction units. We had a large bath that cleaned the flux off of circuit boards. We filled it every morning with a Freon. I lived with that smell for a year. Most Chlorofluorocarbons smell pretty much alike. I did not say brake cleaner was Freon. It is another Chlorofluorocarbon that smells pretty much like a Freon. Last is a Freon and nothing else. Its your money. 
Neither Iso propyl or Ethyl alcohols will attack the adhesive used to fix styli in place. You can use Ethyl (denatured) alcohol to clean up uncured epoxy but once the epoxy has cured the alcohols won't touch it. 
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