Are 500 hours too many for a used hi-end cartridge?

chakster

... if an LP can be destroyed from one play then all those 30-40 y.o. vintage LPs must be unlistenable, but they are better than new reissues. 

That's the logical fallacy known as the excluded middle. It's certainly true that an LP can be destroyed with a single play; it's absurd to suggest all 30-year-old records have been improperly played.

Then there's the advantage of often being able to get good sound out of a damaged record by using a more modern stylus profile.

Here's the question, is your record collection that valuable to you that you will risk the next record, or the next, if the stylus is  considerably worn and the result is a gradual destruction of your groove wall due to a 500+ hour stylus?

@cleeds Dave's statement is questionable because many audiogon users claimed they're fine with cartridges with 500hrs on it even if the profile is conical, they do believe "it is well polished".  

I'm fine with used vintage records purchased not from audiophiles, but from the record dealers and private collectors (if the condition is strong VG+ or better). Still better than 99% of the reissues.  

Seems that you guys don't listen mono records.

@chakster Before you call someone’s statement as questionable, look at what you are going to write first. Your post about a conical stylus is comical.

@bukanona I own a number of mono records, some of them are just about unlistenable...because they have been played in the past with a worn out cartridge. Just because it is a mono recording does not stop it from getting damaged in the first play by that worn out stylus.