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Vinyl Lovers-- Cartridges!!!! Do you have a daily driver?

About a decade ago, some kind soul told me that the phono preamp was ever so important and that I could keep spending here and there, but to get to Oz I'd need a good one.  Since that time I've had a Manley Chinook and now Modwright's reference phono stage. 

These pieces have allowed me to get deeper into vinyl.  I have a lovely LTA Aero DAC (tubes and R2R), which I adore. Yet, nothing is the same as vinyl.  Ok--maybe my reel-to-reel stuff but I only have about a half dozen albums. 

At any rate, here's my dilemma.  I'm finding cartridges just don't hold up that long.  I keep a clean shop and my records are in very clean shape. I do not, however, have a laboratory clean room here. I run VTA generally at the middle of the spec. Still, cartridges are easy to run through--or so it seems to my ear.  

I've had mixed results retipping moving coils.  Sometimes it's fabulous!

I think I'm getting a little tired for buying cartridges only to wear them out. I've run through a Benz Micro LPS, Kiseki Purpleheart, Dynavector 20x something, Audio-Technica ART9, Ortofon 2M black, and a few others I cannot recall.  The initial outlay doesn't bother me. What's getting me is they just seem to fade off.  I doubt I'm getting more than 1000 hours before they sound raggedy. Yet, I've never counted. 

I've noticed with a high quality phono preamp you can use a lower priced cartridge to amazing results. So, I just scooped up an $800 Nagaoka MP-500, hoping I could use it as a daily driver to spare my Goldring Ethos (fantastic cart by the way). I don't have the Nag yet to evaluate.

What are others doing? If you're someone who plows through lots of vinyl in their listening sessions, do you just pony up ever year for a new $2k, $5k cartridge?  Do you run lower priced, value carts? 

128x128jbhiller
tablejockey
3,957 posts
 

If you liked the ART9, I'd look at this:

Audio-Technica AT-ART7 cartridge

It's the 1st gen, $500 less than latest.

Subjectively, maybe more refined sound quality. Air core construction as some big buck $$ carts.

Presently satisfied with my backup Soundsmith Otello that I purchased when they were $399. Now $599-still a good deal for what you'll be hearing IMO.

If you comfortable buying used you can find 1st gen ART9 for less than 1/2. Used Soundsmith whatever will be a good buy since you can send them back to SS for nominal cost.

billstevenson
445 posts
 

Stylast is used before play of each side at my house.  A very light brush or two is all it takes. It extends the life of a stylus by at least 50% when used as directed.  Another mitigating factor for me is that in my main system there are two TTs, mono and stereo.  You might also consider SoundSmith because their retipping service is very cost effective.  VAS is good too.  Finally, as you have experienced already with your Ortofon 2M, there is nothing wrong with the better MM cartridges on the market.  Audio Technica has some good ones too.

ghdprentice
7,320 posts
 

Wow, you flip a lot of albums. That's like 8 sides a day. 

 

I had a Van den Hull Frog that I am sure I had 2,000 hours on. He advertised they would run twice as long as your typical cartridge... which the rule of thumb is 1,200... so 2,400. 

lewm
13,335 posts
 

If you want to minimize use of an expensive MC that needs to go to the factory or to a re-tipper or to be discarded apparently, when the stylus is worn out, then it seems to me you want as a daily driver a cartridge that has a user-replaceable stylus. That means either MI or MM. Seems to me the OP is already on the right track with the MP500. IMO, you cannot do much better than that, in fact. But also remarkable to me is that the OP seems to be buying a new MC every time his stylus wears out (the criteria for which judgement are not stated), when in fact the cartridge can go back to its maker or to any good retipper for restoration, at a lower cost compared to buying an entirely new cartridge. Seems to me this is a tempest in a teapot.

jbhiller's avatar
jbhiller OP
1,444 posts
 

@lewm ​​​​@dogberry , thanks for the vote of confident on the Nagaoka!!!  

@awise1961 I'll check out that grado. Haven't owned one in 20 years!

@billstevenson I love VAS.  I had Soundsmsith tell me they couldn't do anything with a couple of carts and VAS jumped right on them and the results were great. No offense to SS--I know he knows what he's doing.

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