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Life Expectancy of a TT Stylus?

rexrider

rexrider

Active Member
This is a two part question.

1. What is the average life expectancy of a TT stylus. I have seen 500 hrs listed in Denon TT manuals. Is this about right?

2. Is there anyway to tell if a stylus is near the end of its life? Other then hearing distortion (which I would rather not get to).

I am currently running an AT 440MLa on a Technics 1301. Everything sounds great so far but I have been running it for awhile and it occurred to me this thing must be getting used up.

But then I guess when in doubt, buy a new one.

Figured it would not hurt to ask.
 
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This is hard to say.

Probably the better cartridges will last longer, if properly maintained. AJ van den Hull says 3000 hours for his.

I recently had to retire a Benz Reference after 4200 LP sides, which is probably about 1800 hours. You get $800 trade on a new one, so the total cost of use was $1200, or about 65 cents an hour.
 
I think the consensus for mainstream, decent quality carts is that if you keep the stylus clean you could expect about 1000 hours.

Also what I've heard is that it starts to damage vinyl well before you actually hear distortion, so I'd estimate hours used, and when you think you've got about 1000, go for a new one.
 
I've also seen that 500 hour rating and don't really put much stock into it. As long as everything is setup and maintained properly, I expect more than that out of it. I can't recall who did it, but somebody here came up with coolest hour meter for tracking usage. It may have been Wardsweb. :scratch2:
 
I just looked at JICO's site, they said 500 hours, but then again, they are in the replacement stylus business.
 
I did read a good one once, it said replace your stylus as often as you replace your water heater. I don't know that it is sound advise, but it's funny.
 
What I'd like to know is, how can anyone estimate the hours put on a cartridge? Let's see 1000 / 8 = 125. So if I used it 8 hours straight every day, I could use it for 125 days. That is if I keep everything clean as possible as I go. Or if I use it 6 hours only on weekends, I may use it for about maybe 2 years. And really like hakaplan says, you cant really "hear" it going out, damages vinyl first. Hopefully I get the upgrade temptation before it's worn out...:D
 
Not that I know a great deal about this but the owners manual on my Pioneer PL-9 lists 800-1000 hours as the life of the orginal equipment cartridge. Recognizing that logic doesn't always apply, it would seem that most replacement cartridges would have a service life of at least that long. FWIW.
 
The life of the Cartridge, or the Stylus? The stylus (diamond) wears out rubbing on the record (vinyl). Something I didn't understand, but the cartridges either have replacement styli avaiable (MM), or could be retipped (MC).
That's the impression I was under.
 
Strawman said:
I've also seen that 500 hour rating and don't really put much stock into it. As long as everything is setup and maintained properly, I expect more than that out of it. I can't recall who did it, but somebody here came up with coolest hour meter for tracking usage. It may have been Wardsweb. :scratch2:
Click to expand...
Before I veneered my Dual's plinth, I had thought of installing an hour meter in it, wired in parallel with the power switch. I didn't do it because I was concerned about hum issues, realized space was kinda tight, and I couldn't find a cheap enough meter. Maybe one could be put together in an outboard box with a power cord, an outlet to feed the TT, and some wiring?
Tom
 
hakaplan said:
Also what I've heard is that it starts to damage vinyl well before you actually hear distortion, so I'd estimate hours used, and when you think you've got about 1000, go for a new one.
Click to expand...

Ouch. It did not occur to me that the damage would start first.

I was trying to come up with a rough estimate using 500 hrs as "time to replace deadline". Lets see, if on average, I play two LPs a day. At an average time of 45 min per LP, that is 1.5 hours of play per day. 500 / 1.5 = 333 days of use

I bought the cart back in March. Looks like I am good for a little while yet. All my vinyl is in very good to near mint condition so I don't think I am causing an undue wear.

Probably the better cartridges will last longer, if properly maintained. AJ van den Hull says 3000 hours for his.
Click to expand...

WOW. I don't think I ever got 3000 hrs out of a CD player before it died. Of course they are a lot cheaper too.
 
hakaplan said:
Also what I've heard is that it starts to damage vinyl well before you actually hear distortion
Click to expand...

if this is true, i certainly hope i wont be playing any of my good records towards the end of my styli's life expectancy. so i guess i'll roughly calculate how many hours i listen each day on average and then do the math.....:headscrat since i use more than a few turntables, each stylus should last about 10 years!!!:thmbsp: that's not bad. now, do you really replace your water heaters that often?:scratch2:
 
Maybe someone with a high power microscope can tell us after approximately how many hours their stylus gets worn. I think the best thing to do would be to check your stylus' condition periodically, but you need pretty high magnification to do that with any certainty.
 
jfine said:
What I'd like to know is, how can anyone estimate the hours put on a cartridge? Let's see 1000 / 8 = 125. So if I used it 8 hours straight every day, I could use it for 125 days. That is if I keep everything clean as possible as I go. Or if I use it 6 hours only on weekends, I may use it for about maybe 2 years. And really like hakaplan says, you cant really "hear" it going out, damages vinyl first. Hopefully I get the upgrade temptation before it's worn out...:D
Click to expand...

I have a simple solution to this problem - I keep a log of all records played. Not only do I know I played 4200 sides on my Benz Ref, I know what they were, and what day I played them on.
 
Strawman said:
The life of the Cartridge, or the Stylus? The stylus (diamond) wears out rubbing on the record (vinyl). Something I didn't understand, but the cartridges either have replacement styli avaiable (MM), or could be retipped (MC).
That's the impression I was under.
Click to expand...

As I understand it, often the suspension is the first thing to wear out, not the stylus.

When you send a MC cartridge back to the manufacturer, they either trade it in, or do a complete rebuild.
 
Long ago, in a galaxy far away, a company named 'Pickering' marketed an hour-meter for just this purpose.

The digital age just keeps on chiseling chunks out of our Analog passion.

Seth
Forever Analog and Covered In Parrot Poop
 
Heh. I remember that gadget. IIRC, a small mercury blob moved along a scale and it sat on the TT deck. What I couldn't remember was the maker.
Tom
 
vinyl1 said:
I have a simple solution to this problem - I keep a log of all records played. Not only do I know I played 4200 sides on my Benz Ref, I know what they were, and what day I played them on.
Click to expand...

That's a lot of work. Do you keep the records on a computer or write it out by hand?
 
Strawman said:
The life of the Cartridge, or the Stylus? The stylus (diamond) wears out rubbing on the record (vinyl). Something I didn't understand, but the cartridges either have replacement styli avaiable (MM), or could be retipped (MC).
That's the impression I was under.
Click to expand...

I don't quite get that either. The diamond is the hardest known "natural" material. Vinyl is pretty whimpy in hardness, especially I would think in those micro grooves.

Does the diamond really wear out?
 
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