Stylus Wear

Yep. This is what I use as well.

Love the initial post stating that no one would keep a tally…

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Hi @ricsimas
I just click each album it’s only a guide.
Experienced ears know when it’s off colour. :wink: :+1:t2:

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With complex geometry cartridges you kinda have to put them in a microscope with the right lighting to see how the ridges change. If your loupe if showing issues it’s already in a new stylus profile by then.

Keep a track of number of sides, and if you don’t get there in about 6/7 years, replace anyway. Simple enough, IMO.

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Honestly, I just go by the hours played or time since install. I don’t want to get to the point of hearing any issues.

Bet you there are a bunch of people hearing issues at the moment unaware that cartridges don’t perform very well below about 21 degrees Celsius ambient temperature.

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No little spotlight on the deck table these days cold LED. :wink:

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Shhhh… don’t tell anyone, but I kept a floorstanding lamp with a regular 75W bulb (and a healthy supply of those) just for this.

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:face_with_hand_over_mouth:

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I thought that you were so upset that the cartridge sounded off after 500 hours that you decided to destroy it with a hammer.

You don’t heat your house then?

Critical listening is a skill it’s not all about good hearing but how one uses it in combination wth your mind. It can take a while to develop and some like many skills in life do not manage to perfect it.

Stylus wear is a physical thing between the vinyl groove and the diamond (usually) tip. It is not about temperature fluctuations, which indeed can have a bearing on the sound, but not in the same way as dirt or wear affecting the tip.

A worn tip will not damage your vinyl a chipped diamond could but that is not very likely.

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A worn stylus will mis-track thus causing damage.

It’s best to replace a cartridge early before significant wear, this is easy with an AT95 but with expensive cartridges owners may be reluctant…

It would have to be very badly worn or more likely damaged to miss-track. I have never experienced a worn cartridge mistracking. Dirt build-up can cause mistracking, but the record must be particularly dirty to do it.

I am not so predisposed to want to do what the marketing people at the cartridge companies tell me.

I would like someone to explain how a worn tip can cause damage all that has happened is that the tip has lost some of the special shaping/cut/profile of when it was new. It means it does not pick up the groove as well and so not sound as good but cause damage?

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To above 21 Celsius? No, I’m not a sauna guy.

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This is what I use. One for the stereo cartridge and another for the mono. $25 on Amazon.

Another tidbit that will likely be on my list at some point

As the stylus wears the contact patch will increase and effective tracking force will be reduced.

Ive replaced several K9 styli in the past because of worn styli mis-tracking on difficult passages.

It’s best to replace before there is an issue and I learnt to get my dealer to check it over every year.

I just had a rebuild of an Apheta 2, £572. That was due to me accidentally breaking it, but I felt slightly better having had it for 5 years and probably not that far off needing replacement.

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You have not said how any of that will damage records or any evidence that they have done.

a larger contact patch may reduce tracing force but only by a tiny amount.

I have almost every cartridge I have used over 45+ years none of which have damaged my record collection and apart from a couple that lost a channel and one that lost its, tip all would produce music if I mounted them on a TT.

Mistracking can be caused by several things.

You can of course change your cartridge as many times you wish by any measurement. I will do the same by my own methods that I know work.

True, for audio enthusiasts who listen closely to the music and their systems, audible degradation will be apparent long before damage can become a thing.

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I also track my listening time with a spreadsheet. I started it when I got my current Kandid. Before that, I had only the vaguest idea of how many hours my cartridge lasted.

The ever-rising cost of Linn’s top MC cartridge along with wildly varying estimates of cartridge lifespan - I’ve seen estimates ranging from 500 to 2,000 hours - made me want to get a sense of what my actual running costs were.

I track the actual time (either timed from my iPhone’s stopwatch or from the track listings), along with the details of what I’ve listened to. I enjoy the ritualistic aspects of my daily listening sessions, and it’s gratifying to see a running log of what I’ve listened to.

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P = f/a. If you double the contact patch the pressure is halved. So your 2.0g becomes 1.0g.

The contact patches are tiny to start with.

YMMV.