A Company that has a very healthy turnover can carry out a lot of R&D and Testing on their products.
I don't live and breathe Stylus Life, I accept that if I get close to 1000 Hrs without a catastrophe having occurred I am home and dry, from this point on, I will be wondering how my maintenance of the Vinyl and Cart' and my overall usage has affected the Stylus.
From a few hundred hours of usage, my experiences of undertaking a inspection has shown there is unwanted Micro Debris collecting and entering the Cart' Housing, by a 1000 Hrs when viewing the Stylus and as far into the Housing as can be achieved, the collection of Micro Debris is very concerning, as their is no doubt it is collecting on parts with a critical function that the Cantilever is attached to.
I have spoke to professional services about this contamination collecting, and it said to be lifted from the LP and airborne.
I know one case where a metal dust has been responsible for one channel being detrimentally affected by the contaminant being on the Coil and was not a repairable condition using the original coil wire as the rewind material.
Stylus Wear is only one consideration that can be detrimental to a Cart' maintaining a high level of performance, if the Cart' has been placed as a device with a importance and value, it is worth having the Cart' inspected by a professional service at 500hr intervals and cleaned if required, at 1000hrs this can also include a stylus inspection. It would be great if a professional service made this service a well known option with a accurate overall fee offered inclusive of shipping and insurance, it might encourage others to budget it in as part of Cart' ownership.
If a Company were to make claims for a usage life of a part that is beyond the commonly seen guideline for the part in questions usage life, it is quite possible they can back this up.
What might be the case is that the Testing is planned to be a success and the figures being made known, are not produced from a everyday usage scenario, the failures of the Cart' owner might be eliminated and exposure to airborne contaminant might also be a factor to be eliminated as a impact.
A Cart' Stylus could be tested on a perfectly cleaned, purpose produced Test LP, with a Groove produced that enables a continuous play.
The environment the Test is carried out in can be controlled and filtered to ensure the airborne contaminant is not present.
It can not be said that the Stylus was not in contact with a Groove on a rotating Vinyl LP Pressing and that the Stylus could not last for a period of time as being suggested. It might have lasted longer, but the Company chose to reduce the figure allowing for real world scenario's
