Dear Raul,
Thank you for your kind remarks.
I agree that based on long term studies like this there is a fundamental cause-and-effect which cannot be ignored and unilateral stylus wear is not an option.
I think for this analysis they must have been using short-life styli (perhaps of the order of 400-500 hrs?) as opposed to todays 1200 hr MC tips?
To quote Len Gregory, “…the stylus burns more than it wears. Diamonds, unlike the song, do not last forever….”.
(Len has always been of the firm belief that 1200 hrs is the point where we should be considering a re-tip or replacement - significantly, "regardless of diamond quality...".)
Of course, coming from a professional re-tipping company I would expect such a strict definition of cartridge life :)
Granted, careful use and the judicious application of anti-skate could prolong that life but with, e.g. £5K carts, I wouldn’t be leaving anything to chance.
In the case of higher quality and more finely finished diamonds like the Allaerts it has been said that Jan Allaerts inspected diamonds 17 yrs old or higher and affirmed very little wear. In such an event my attention would turn to the records :)
I recall even in the decade that followed that report, the industry thought they were minimising record wear by tracking at 0.5g when in fact they were exacerbating it.
Sometimes the best intentions can be misguided.
Best regards,
Thank you for your kind remarks.
I agree that based on long term studies like this there is a fundamental cause-and-effect which cannot be ignored and unilateral stylus wear is not an option.
I think for this analysis they must have been using short-life styli (perhaps of the order of 400-500 hrs?) as opposed to todays 1200 hr MC tips?
To quote Len Gregory, “…the stylus burns more than it wears. Diamonds, unlike the song, do not last forever….”.
(Len has always been of the firm belief that 1200 hrs is the point where we should be considering a re-tip or replacement - significantly, "regardless of diamond quality...".)
Of course, coming from a professional re-tipping company I would expect such a strict definition of cartridge life :)
Granted, careful use and the judicious application of anti-skate could prolong that life but with, e.g. £5K carts, I wouldn’t be leaving anything to chance.
In the case of higher quality and more finely finished diamonds like the Allaerts it has been said that Jan Allaerts inspected diamonds 17 yrs old or higher and affirmed very little wear. In such an event my attention would turn to the records :)
I recall even in the decade that followed that report, the industry thought they were minimising record wear by tracking at 0.5g when in fact they were exacerbating it.
Sometimes the best intentions can be misguided.
Best regards,