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Phono-Pre Amps & Cartridges Welcome to the Dark Side!

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  #11  
Old 12-24-2019, 04:35 PM
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What I’m not getting is the lower hours of cartridge yield, meaning performance.

My neighbor has a junk turntable in his unheated garage playing a stack of records that have never been cleaned, or brushed with a stylus that’s pushing 17 years that I can attest to and would guess another 10-15 on top of that.

When he turns it on in the summer time , and we are barbecuing and putting back a few beers, it sounds great for what it is.

While I’m curious to clean and play his records on my system, I just can’t. With this being said, I think his records would sound fine on my system if I did some maintenance.

I’ll keep things clean, maintained and pristine but do think you can get more than 200-500 hours from a cartridge.

I have about 80 hours on my new cartridge and people say break in is between 100-200 hours, if that’s the case I’m at 1.5-2.0 cartridges per year? I don’t think so, but it’s a “think” statement.

With this being said, I’m very happy with playing my setup.
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  #12  
Old 12-24-2019, 04:46 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Antonmb View Post
And after how many hours was that?
Don't know, Tony. For one thing, I bought it used (saved $4200 on it), as I have with ~80% of my stereo gear, and second, I don't track it.

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Last edited by Puma Cat; 12-24-2019 at 04:52 PM.
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  #13  
Old 12-24-2019, 08:24 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Puma Cat View Post
What did you decide on, Steve?

What will you do with the Dyna? Rotate it through from time to time? 2nd TT?
A Grado Aeon is on the way through the good graces of Ivan “The Godfather”.

The Dyna will become a back-up in reserve, if catastrophe strikes (only happened once so far in 50+ years of playing records, and thankfully only to a Denon 103D).

Steve
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  #14  
Old 12-24-2019, 08:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zettelsm View Post
A Grado Aeon is on the way through the good graces of Ivan “The Godfather”.

The Dyna will become a back-up in reserve, if catastrophe strikes (only happened once so far in 50+ years of playing records, and thankfully only to a Denon 103D).

Steve
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  #15  
Old 12-24-2019, 09:07 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by For The Love of Music View Post
What I’m not getting is the lower hours of cartridge yield, meaning performance.

<snip>

I have about 80 hours on my new cartridge and people say break in is between 100-200 hours, if that’s the case I’m at 1.5-2.0 cartridges per year? I don’t think so, but it’s a “think” statement.

With this being said, I’m very happy with playing my setup.
Well, it’s not as if cartridge makers, stylus manufacturers and rebuilders don’t have at least some interest in selling you a new product. . .

I have nothing to back up my sense that 500 hours is on the low side other than the fact that some of the LPs I have dating back to when I bought my XV1-S have been played with that cartridge fairly regularly over the years right up to this month and haven’t exhibited any increase in noise or inner groove distortion. But, I haven’t conducted anything remotely resembling a controlled study of this. I haven’t ever kept track of the hours on any of my cartridges, though going forward with the new Aeon I’ll be using a timer kept at the turntable.

Still, anecdotes don’t equal data in the strictest sense. It would be nice to have some more modern studies, or to see all the data the stylus/cartridge manufacturers haven’t disclosed.

Steve
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  #16  
Old 12-24-2019, 09:27 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Puma Cat View Post
Yeah, no kidding. I had to get my Koetsu Urushi Vermilion retipped back in 2014 and it cost me $2000. Then again, Koetsu completely rebuilds the entire cartridge in the process of installing a new cantilver and stylus.

Still...2 large is not chickenfeed.
SoundSmith and VAS (both mentioned in the excellent article - thanks tima) offer excellent retipping service on most all cartridges for considerably less than $2K. I've had five cartridges retipped by them over the years and have always been pleased.
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Last edited by Formerly YB-2; 12-24-2019 at 10:00 PM.
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  #17  
Old 12-25-2019, 12:35 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zettelsm View Post
A Grado Aeon is on the way through the good graces of Ivan “The Godfather”.

The Dyna will become a back-up in reserve, if catastrophe strikes (only happened once so far in 50+ years of playing records, and thankfully only to a Denon 103D).

Steve
Congrats Steve, enjoy!
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  #18  
Old 12-25-2019, 12:46 PM
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I believe SoundSmith announced last year that they would only work on products they sold.

I purchased my cart used, but it came with SoundSmiths paperwork, so I lucked out, and they rebuild it.

Very pleased with the results.
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  #19  
Old 12-25-2019, 06:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by keef View Post
Congrats Steve, enjoy!
Thank you!

Really looking forward to it.

Merry Christmas!

Steve
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VPI HW-40 Anniversary DD turntable, Grado Aeon3; Taiko Audio Extreme server, dCS Vivaldi APEX DAC and Master Clock, Cybershaft OP-21 reference clock, Playback Designs Pinot ADC.

D’Agostino Momentum M400 amps, Momentum HD preamp, Momentum phono amp, Wilson Audio Alexx, 2X3 SVS SB16 Ultra subwoofer stacks.

Shunyata Triton v3 & Typhon QR, Typhon. Shunyata Sigma NR & NR v2 cords and cables, Stillpoints ESS grid system rack, Stillpoint Ultras, ASC Tube Traps . . . and lots of music!
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  #20  
Old 12-25-2019, 08:30 PM
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For those with a USB microscope it might be worthwhile to look at your stylii. Take some pictures and keep those along with any information you have about your cartridges' use. This can be a reference / baseline for comparison going forward.

Also worthwhile is discerning the stylus geometry or shape of your cartridges as this can have an impact on wear potential. Shape info is often available from the manufacturer or sometimes via Web search.



My Benz Micro LP S with Micro Ridge shape and only a few hours on it. Frontal shots are also helpful.
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