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Would you pay more than 25% of MSRP for a used cartridge?

Seems most seller want to price their "low-hour" used cartridges at 50-80% of MSRP. This seems ridiculous to me because there is no sure way to verify these "low-hour" claims. You need to have specialized microscopes and even then it's a just a guestimate if worn or not. 

 

Another point is even a cartridge with 1000+ hours can still sound very good. A worn stylus will mistrack only on certain passages of certain demanding records. So it is nothing obvious.

 

So why do all these folks price their used cartridges so high? Are folks actually paying these prices?

 

My max. would be 25% of MSRP for any "low-hour" claim. 

12inch45rpm
ghdprentice
6,969 posts
 

I personally would not purchase a used cartridge. It is a very fragile piece of technology. There is no way to know how much it has been used, This is me… actually I don’t touch a cartridge… my dealer does. My rule of thumb is buy nothing used with moving parts. So, no CD players. Audio equipment with no moving parts can be a great deal.

 

That is me. The pull of a good deal has been offset by the disappointment of the failure of what I bought… when I was young.

sns
3,217 posts
 

I find it difficult to purchase used consumables, used tubes same issue for me. Wouldn't it be great if they could build in some kind of hour counter on these consumables.

rdk777's avatar
rdk777
572 posts
 

I seriously doubt that anyone would sell you a high-end cartridge (> $3k) "low hour" cartridge for 25% of MSRP - highly unlikely.  Maybe a Denon 103, but nothing more.  Buying used cartridges is risky, but people do buy used cartridges. The popular models get snatched up quickly like the A95, XV-1S etc,. If the seller had excellent feedback and it was a model I wanted, I'd pay more than 50 % for a "low-hour" (< 200 hrs) cartridge.

saburo
58 posts
 

lemme guess. you low-balled a seller at 25% of retail for a scarce and hard to get cartridge that rarely shows up new let alone used. you were then turned down multiple times by many sellers. your rationale is that all sellers are liars and not to be trusted re claimed hours of use, etc. got it. 

mulveling's avatar
mulveling
1,896 posts
 

I guess as audiophiles, we’re all gonna be OCD about SOME things - but hopefully not all things. I’ve been pretty relaxed about buying high-end used cartridges. If the seller has good feedback here, I’ll trust them - especially if they look like a hobbyist who knows what they’re doing. It’s generally worked out pretty well for me. You want to see pics that show at least two things:

  1. A straight cantilever that is not askew, and if possible an "on record" pic to show it’s not riding too low.
  2. That the previous owner(s) have practiced good cleaning hygiene. Particle "beards", a blackened stylus, or crust atop the cantilever are bad signs.

You could also be paranoid about L/R channel balance, but the only cartridge I’ve encountered yet with an imbalance of >= 1dB was 30 years old.

The last cartridge I bought used was an Ortofon A90 from here - and I forget the actual price but I guess ~40% of MSRP? It's a real gem; if anything the seller undersold it. 

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