A pragmatic view of cartridge expenses / many questions

@pindac What is "exotic" for you ? Could you recall an exotic cartridges you're talking about and tell us why do you think they are exotic ? 

My reply was intended for audioquest4life who was inquiring about owner/user thoughts on a using and maintaining a expensive cartridge.

The OP has expressed that are in their view,  a Cartridge is a consumable (hence the tyre reference) and their inquiry is based on how expensive cartridge owners choices are made to maintain it when the time arrives for this.

The OP expressed a lust to own a High End Cartridge, but was also wanting to know if it was a Sunday Best type approach for some owners who may user a lesser value cartridge for general listening.
My suggestion to the OP is a method to enable them to get to a Place where a Cartridge that is of a Unique Build, that will comfortably sit with a Cartridge that is a £-$ 3000+ retail value MC.
For the outlay if this as a option is to be considered, it might also seem that this is a Cartridge that can be used for all occasions and may not need to have a Second Cartridge as a Substitute, if that were so, then the OP would see a further benefit is saved outlay.

I myself entered into my latest Cartridge Experience with similar thoughts, as I have low usage Hours MM's, High Out MC and a MC.
Not one of these spare Cartridges has been put into service since my Rebuild has been in use.
The sale of one of the spare Cartridges will be more than enough raised funds to cover the Retip for the rebuild when the time arrives.   

I personally would refer to a Branded Cartridge costing over £-$1500 as a Market Place entry into offering a High End/Exotic range from a Company that produces Cartridges Model Range.

I also would refer to a retail value for Branded Cartridges more than £-$3000+, as being a Company's representation of setting the bar for the level of High End/Exotic on offer from their Model Range.

I hope my post to the OP has helped them to consider an alternative avenue for investigation, and help them see for a reasonable budget there is a option to achieve a very attractive MC in both Purchase Value and Performance. 

The only problem pindac is that you have no idea what you have unless the "rebuild engineer" has some very exotic test equipmment. Just because it sounds OK does not mean that it is.

@pindac,

You get an A+ for your reply. You literally interpreted the essence of my post quite literally. Thank you for your insight and providing the information about how you rationalize your cartridge purchase decisions. Definitely going to take that strategy into consideration.
Ciao, Cheers, Tschuss

Audioquest4life

If you are looking at TCO, Van den hul's have 2 advantages:

1) They have a special shaped tip that supposedly lasts between 25-3500 hours, 25% or more longer than ellipticals and the like because of the way they sit in the record groove. Mine just completely wore out after 9+ years (definitely over 2500). There was no degradation of sound until the very end when it sounded terrible for one song and then wouldn't track at all. This benefit is for all VDHs, not just the most expensive ones.

2) Van den hul services them and brings them back to original condition and only charges for what is needed supposedly for a very reasonable fee. Since the ugly virus, shipping in and out of the Netherlands is an unreliable venture so they bent over backwards and replaced it with a brand new one for not much more than a complete service that assumes replacement of all wearable parts. I think this is due to their new US distributor, VPI, really emphasizing customer service and satisfaction. A pleasure to deal with - even with a person coming in with a table from their competitor, Rega (luckily, I live within an hour of their offices - a really cool place). If I ever look to make a tt change, they will have a new client, assuming they can get their gimbal arms to be competitive with Rega. 

A non-economic advantage - VDH cartridges simply present the music as intended IMHO - accurate, fast, and tight. Not warm, lush, dry, humid?, crisp, or whatever coloring terms you like to use or may like. If you want it to sound like live music in a studio or real live music from a live album, they are a great choice. And a dealer told me that in a system that they won best in show in the last year - cost no object, the cartridge and phono stage were higher end VDHs, part of a $400K system that supposedly beat multiple $1 systems.