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It costs me $100 a week to listen to vinyl

I know the math is obvious, but with the price of high-end moving coil cartridges averaging $5000.00 and with me averaging 20 hours a week of vinyl listening, I was disturbed to calculate that I am paying $100.00 per week for the privilege of listening to my own records?
I realise that doesn't include the depreciation on my equipment or electricity costs etc so please don't remind me of this?
How smug those who can bare digital must feel about this?
And how much worse for those committed to valve replacements in their pre and power amps?
How can we expect younger audiophiles with mortgages to pay, families to raise and education to provide for to afford the price of entry into an analogue system with such a potential maintenance impost?
I realise there are cheaper cartridges out there and the MMs are a bargain compared to the MCs, but once 'hooked' on vinyl, the desire to 'upgrade' is encouraged by the reviewers and the audio magazines continually announcing a newly anointed 'Kingpin' cartridge which is inevitably a moving coil with a price approaching the GDP of Namibia.
There seems to be no critical challenges to the assumed supremacy of MCs over MMs except for the lone crusade of Raul on this Forum?
Well I have taken the 'Raul challenge' and switched to a 15 year old MM cartridge which cost me $300. The 'running costs' of this are obviously a 'snip' compared to my $5000 MC but the best thing is the revelation that this moving magnet cartridge (and probably many more), are not only as good as some of the vaunted MCs in the market place, but better than most and sometimes by a considerable margin.
As Raul continues to implore us.........."try it, you may be surprised?"
128x128halcro
halcro's avatar
halcro OP
2,664 posts
 
Dear Axel,
I didn't say that I could re-tip a cartridge like Brian Garrot who did it every day.
Removing someone's tonsils is not a difficult task for a doctor but I surely could not do it?
Your summary of some of the attributes of the MMs opposed to the MCs are interesting as I am doing a direct comparison at the moment between the Garrot P77 and the Dynavector DV1s and ZYX Universe.
Whilst I agree with you that the MM appears to have more bass, this is not quite true in reality. I can best describe it by comparing the bass of the MMs to the bass of a ported speaker. It seems to go deeper but is not as well defined as the bass of the MCs nor does it stop and start as quickly. The bass of the MCs have a tightness and a three dimensionality that the MM can't quite achieve.
On the other hand, the apparent lack of treble you perceive is actually an illusion. All the treble information that I hear with the MCs is there with the Garrot as well. Again, it is the quality of the treble information and its balance that is different. With the MCs, the harmonics of the high frequencies appear to go higher and last longer then the MM which maintains the fundamental rather well.
The primary differences I am finding at the moment is the Midrange strength of the MMs and the overall frequencies balance which seems to me more natural and relaxed than with the MCs.
I will be writing more at length on these differences when I have completed the listening tests.
paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Raul,

I respect your op on MM carts. I have had a couple that I liked. But could you recommend something specific to try that would perform well on a heavier arm like an SME 3012?
emailists
923 posts
 
The high cost of replacing a top quality phono cart was one of the main reasons I got involved with Soundsmith's Strain Gauge first as an owner, and now a dealer of that product.

It allows the owner to replace the relatively inexpensive stylus in a few seconds, and have an extra stylus or two on hand in case of an accident, or even to just compare the sound of a brand new stylus with the current one in use, and of course to try different stylus profiles for different LP's.

Before investing in this phono cart "system" I used to run my cartridges too long after they had worn, (for financial reasons) which is obviously not a good idea for our precious vinyl collections.

I have always lusted after owning the best phono carts available, but it was not a financial reality, simply because of the wear factor. I don't mind spending five figures on an amp I may keep 10 years or longer, which will still have some value even at that point in time. But replacing a $3500 cart after 2 years (or less since I listen to vinyl almost exclusively) is a hardship which many of us can't endure.

Now that being said, on the digital front, even though there is no wear factor, I believe the cost factor is similar in the sense that a good digital front end can be expensive, and then a short time later due to advancements, the owner may want to try the next latest and greatest, or some new product comes out at 1/10th the price that is equally as good. That very scenario is playing out right now with a just released digital front I am getting this week - it may very well equal a 10 times more expensive top digital rig.
axelwahl
788 posts
 
Hi Emailists,
your post brings up some interesting questions for me.

1) Why would a stylus be worn out after ~ 2 years of intensive / exclusive listening ---- if the records are CLEAN / cleaned.
Vinyl has some 'self-lubricating' properties that aught to prevent this wearing so soon. Are you actually using a RCM?

2) This stylus swap and change item / idea. It is my understanding that the stylus-carrier, so far as my experience goes, is at about 2/3 of the MM cart's price. This makes for only a minor saving in not replacing the hole cart?

Next, I come to understand that it is the STYLUS type (fine-line, micro-line, shiabata, replicant, etc.) and the cantilever material (boron. period) that makes MMs closer in performance to an MC.
Now, to replace e.g. a Fritz Gyger Special stylus (on a boron cantilever) cost me ~ 850 Euro (by J. Allaerts). If that's what's actually needed to get an MM into the top league, this whole 'savings' idea starts to sound be bit challenged to me.
Any 'more basic' stylus (round / elliptical) and cantilever (alu-tube) sounds like just like what it is --- economised, yes? Any of these top MMs use 'fancy' stylus and cantilever, correct me if I wrong.

Food for thought.
Greetings,
Axel
stringreen's avatar
stringreen
6,475 posts
 
YPES... I own a Porsche that gets about 15000 miles on a set of tires if I don't bring it to the track. At 500 dollars a tire...... If I do bring it to the track, I can go through a set in a few hours.... The cost of doing business....
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