Life After Technics SL1200 Mk5

@dsper The one thing that isn't getting mentioned here is that your cartridge is beyond its freshness date.

The cantilever has a suspension which fails over time. It perishes and might get really stiff or might simply melt. Either way the cartridge will sound wrong- no bass, harsher highs, possibly poor tracking. If the cartridge has a replaceable stylus you replace it. If not you get the cartridge rebuilt or replaced.


It ***DOES NOT MATTER*** if the cartridge was stored for a while- that's a pretty good guarantee that it won't sound right years on! Sort this matter out before any other investments, else you'll be dealing with the same issue as you've already seen.


Its also worthy of addressing how the cartridge is loaded and that sort of thing, but not worth discussing now since the cartridge has to be dealt with right now.

Everyone can check cartridge suspension visually, if a cartridge is not a low rider (which is a bad sign) then its compliance can be measured with Hi-Fi News Test LP on your particular tonearm. I’ve seen a few samples out of 60 samples with softened suspension, but not with stiffer suspension.

Audio-Technica MM cartridges are fine for Technics tonearm.
I have never ever seen an AT moving magnet cartridge with deteriorated suspension, even 30 y.o. samples are all great and I’ve tried so many of them.

Now please look at the brand new TopWing super expensive cartridge, this is a low rides and suspension is probably dead or it's normal? Hard to tell. Here is the review. The cost of this brand new High-End cartridge is $16500 and it looks like the suspension already collapsed. 

I've seen it happen quite often! I'm sure some might make it but you would be lucky indeed to see any cartridge last 30 years!

@atmasphere I know you’re not a collector of the best vintage cartridges and never was, but I’m constantly buying rare vintage cartridges hunting for them everyday, I’m telling the truth here, I have never seen a cartridge with collapsed suspension in my collection and all my cartridges (made 30 years ago) are still like new. You’re probably buying junk or you have no luck at all in what you’re buying. Not everyone looking for junk. Age of unused cartridge is not a problem at all (if it’s not Technics cartridge).

I will repeat it again: new MC cartridges are much more problematic than 99% of good old MM/MI. When you have collapsed suspension on $3000-5000 NEW MC cartridge in the first year of using it - this is serious problem.

If you’re so unlucky with vintage MM/MI do yourself a favor - buy spare stylus, don’t try to tell us they are all must be bad simply because they are made in the 80s!

P.S.

My latest discovery: LEVEL II Ruby EXP from the 80’s with original ruby cantilever. Believe it or not, but suspension is perfect. Do I believe in fairy tales you and many others posting here about collapsed suspensions on all vintage cartridges even if they are NOS? I don’t believe, because my own experience is today experience and competently different than yours. All NOS cartridges from different brands were just as good as new without any single problem with rubber damper. No difference in multiply samples of the same model too. Maybe we’re buying different cartridges and maybe I never tried what you tried. But my experience with brands like Audio-Technica, Grace, Pioneer, Stanton, Pickering is ONLY positive! Those carts I bought in so many samples over the years, so I can tell for sure they are just fine! I believe the designers choose the right material for dampers. 

Regarding vintage LOMC:
For some reason my experience is also positive, remember sealed suspension on FR-7f series ? It will last forever, just another great example that old is gold. Fantastic cartridge! 

Actually I don't buy MM cartridges all that much; when I do they are new. I see them on turntables that we service. I've also experienced the phenomena with my own cartridges as they've aged. It does not seem to matter whether they are MM or LOMC. I examine the stylus with a microscope to see if there's any wear and then make sure its set up properly in the arm. If it doesn't sound right (tinny) then I replace the stylus. No need to set it up again- just change it and the unit immediately sounds better. Since its not wear, not dirt and not a bent cantilever, the only thing I can attribute this to is a perished suspension. Given the size of the suspension, its not hard to imagine that it will perish like a lot of other polymers that also perish in a similar amount of time. If the customer is a smoker then usually the suspension has melted (just like the rubber parts in a tape machine might in a similar situation). But otherwise when the suspension is gone I've found it more likely that its gone stiff. I've been able a couple of times to restore some suppleness to the suspension by using a tiny amount of brake fluid (which is a trick I learned from antique motorbike restoration for vintage irreplaceable tires) and letting the cartridge sit upside down for about a month. That restored things for a while, but then the sound went back downhill as the fluid worked its way down the cantilever and began collecting dirt. So really the only way I know to deal with this is to simply replace the stylus which isn't that hard (or expensive) with most MM cartridges.

So two anecdotes, contradicting each other. But we do know that polymers perish; for me its more than a bit of a stretch that somehow the polymers used in all cartridges won't perish where they do so commonly elsewhere in the world. Occam's Razor solves this one nicely!