What should be my next cart and tonearm?

[abeidrov]

Hi Aziz - I"m more aware than worried. I try not to get to that point.

I have several cartridges (listed under my system link) and rotate through them ... maybe make a change every 4-6 months. I will buy a new cartridge maybe every 2 years, but the hard part is finding the right cartridge for me -- I found my last one through review. Now that my tonearm universe has expanded with the 3012R there should be more opportunities. I have never re-tipped a cartridge.

It’s a good thing and fun to have several carts and rotate them But still, you can’t be sure how badly your stylus is worn out unless you track each cart’s usage and check it under a microscope.

 

[mtemur]

Don’t worry it will not reach to a point to damage your records if you wear it out listening clean records. Because while it’s wearing out it will be polished or rasped by vinyl becoming a blunt knife on the edges. But if a crack or chip develops due to a drop then it will damage records badly. In the end it’s inevitable wearing out of your records. There will be some damage even if you use a new stylus but I don’t think damage on the records reaches to a concerning degree as it happens to stylus. Unfortunately wear out/damage on stylus after 500 hours is very noticeable. There is a saying; new records eat itself while old ones eating stylus. Clean records and stylus really helps.

 

[abeidrov]

Don’t worry it will not reach to a point to damage your records if you wear it out listening clean records. Because while it’s wearing out it will be polished or rasped by vinyl becoming a blunt knife on the edges. But if a crack or chip develops due to a drop then it will damage records badly. In the end it’s inevitable wearing out of your records. There will be some damage even if you use a new stylus but I don’t think damage on the records reaches to a concerning degree as it happens to stylus. Unfortunately wear out/damage on stylus after 500 hours is very noticeable. There is a saying; new records eat itself while old ones eating stylus. Clean records and stylus really helps.

Thanks, this is good to know. Do you think the Opus stylus will last at least 1000 hours before I really start to hear its damage? It’s mostly in the HF area and I probably won’t hear it anyway. Maybe other people with Opus 1 cart can share their experience.

 

[mtemur]

Thanks, this is good to know. Do you think the Opus stylus will last at least 1000 hours before I really start to hear its damage? It’s mostly in the HF area and I probably won’t hear it anyway. Maybe other people with Opus 1 cart can share their experience.

All I can say that a micro ridge or super fine line or equivalent stylus starts to show deterioration on SQ because of wearing out after 100-150 hours. After 500 hours it becomes more apparent by HF getting sharper. Actually it starts to lose top end (above 20K or 30K depending on the cartridge) and mistrack just below it which is heard as increased sibilance and harsh top end. I exaggerated it for a better explanation. This also applies to Opus 1 besides all cartridges.