Question- I don't have the ability to change VTA or azimuth on the fly which I understand is recommended for Micro Ridge , MicroLine or similar stylus profiles.Then again I don't play LPs very often- maybe 4hrs per week. So is a spherical- aka Denon or elliptical -aka Denon 103 OK? Kenwood KD500 w/ Grace 707 arm. I have those carts.
- ...
- 34 posts total
You write the following:
Advanced profiles like MicroRidge can be used for more than 2000 hrs, This is a cut n paste from SoundSmith's website. https://www.sound-smith.com/articles/stylus-shape-information
Where are you seeing where a MicroRidge can be used for more than 2000 hours. I'm interested in that kind of longevity! I may be missing something here so pardon my ignorance. |
All, The current definitive discussion on stylus wear and life is here: https://thevinylpress.com/the-finish-line-for-your-phonograph-stylus/. |
Where are you seeing where a MicroRidge can be used for more than 2000 hours. I’m interested in that kind of longevity! I may be missing something here so pardon my ignorance. @malatu Yes, you’re definitely missed something, especially the last paragraphs, SAS stylus is MicroRidge, see below: "This is not to say that at 500 hrs (SAS) stylus is "worn out" - but at that stage the wear has reached the point where distortion at 15kHz surpasses the level specified by Jico for a new stylus. (Which I believe is 3%). Some manufacturers have traditionally defined a stylus as being "worn out" when it starts to damage the record... in these terms the figures provided by Jico can at least be doubled, and in some cases quadrupled." -SoundSmith You can be confused with different names given to specific profiles, but what you have to understand is that Conical/Elliptical profiles are the simplest and cheapest with short life span, the advanced profiles are much more complicated if you will look at them, very long life span, it depends who hold the patent (sometimes it’s just different name, but same profile), but the best are MicroRidge, F.Gyger, VdH, MicroLine just to name a few. Shibata, LineContact are somewhere in the middle, but better than Elliptical, i think in the modern world it must be a starting poing (conical and elliptical must be avoided). When you buying a cartridge you can read the manual, modern Micro Ridge profile can be used for 2000 hrs at recommended tracking force with clean records, simply check the specs here scroll down and you will see Micro Ridge contact radius and life span ( 3μm×60μm, 2000Hour/2.0gm). Vintage Stereohedron profile can be used for 1000hrs. I’ll give you the quote from the Stanton/Pickering manual: ● Stereohedron stylus can be used for 1000 hrs. We recommend to check your stylus every 250 hrs. Like its cousin, the Quadrahedral, the STEREOHEDRON stylus is shaped to provide an enlarged area of record groove contact, while providing the ability to accurately trace the high frequency, the level modulations found on today’s records, thus, the Stereohedron stylus provides superior performance which low stylus wear and low record wear for your stereo records. This cartridge will perform superbly not only with stereo, but with four-channel matrix derived systems (SQ, QS, etc). P.S. Modern equivalent of the Stereohedron is Paratrace from Expert Stylus (UK). |
- 34 posts total