[RileyD]

I have a 12 year old Linn Adikt MM cartridge.  My dealer is urging me to replace the stylus or get a new cartridge since it is beyond it's useful life.   I am lucky if I get a few hours of playing records a month.
 Although I might not be able to discern a slight decline in fidelity over the years, it still tracks and sounds great to my ear today.

Do some of the internal parts of a cartridge go stale?  Or, is my dealer just looking to make a sale?
Thanks. 

[toocool4]

They do have dampers and such which I believe are made of rubber / elastomers or material like that, which do deteriorate with age.

[Chewbacca]

I've heard Peter Ledermann say the same about the dampers and or suspension (depending what they use on either) that they can degrade with time.

I mean... this may or may not be extremely obvious for me to state, but of course the diamond is where you're going to see the most wear. If this has not been replaced... You're probably due Depending on the type of diamond these (according to Peter) will last about 500-2000 hours. Alot goes into this, shape of diamond, proper setup on the arm, quality of the vinyl pressing, how dirty the vinyl you're playing is, etc... BUT I guess if you've only played, say 5 hours a month, @ 12 years, you're only at ~ 720 hours. But IMO it's very easy to undersell how much you actually play it. Thus I've started a non-stop note on my phone of approximately how many sides I've played with each diamond. It's probably +/- 20% accurate, as you can forget to do it, or over estimate how much you've played... but it works for me

Also - as you may or may not know, if a diamond starts to wear, it will not just make your records sound bad at that point... You may be damaging your precious records for good. That is the main reason I will never overuse a stylus. My records are worth far more to me - many of which are forever irreplaceable, compared to a re-tip of a stylus

[lazydays]

have a Grado F1+ that still sounds and plays well after nearly fifty years
gary

[Chewbacca]

@ lazydays Nice!

@ RileyD There’s just so many variables with it, there’s no one answer. It just needs to be inspected/heard on a case by basis I’d think. It’s easy to forget the baseline of it sounding best, because it’s over so many years. But I’d be more concerned about stylus rather than internals. You can easily inspect with a USB microscope - they’re pretty inexpensive nowadays. I’ve been meaning to invest in one myself.

[toocool4]

have a Grado F1+ that still sounds and plays well after nearly fifty years
gary

Unless you play it side by side with a brand new one you will not know how much it has degraded over the years. It would have degraded slowly and you will not notice the degradation, but a new one next to it will really show you the big difference.

[Carlman]

I have a mid-80s era Adcom cartridge that I suspected was having some kind of issue because it made a ticking noise.  I thought it might also be the table, but I wanted to rule something out.

I sent it to a guy named Joe in New York who checked it out under a microscope. Turns out my diamond was mostly worn and the suspension had hardened to the point of not getting anywhere near the separation it was supposed to.

Joe usually only just re-tips cartridges, but I asked him to attempt to replacing the suspension on the cartridge.  He said he would give it a try and in the meantime sent me a loaner Adcom.

To put it mildly, the difference is startling. No more ticking, so that's fixed too.  I was planning on getting out of vinyl for the most part, just wanted something that was functional.

I sold my fancy tubed pre and replaced it with a bugle 3. Turns out it's pretty nice. My current loner plus inexpensive phono stage almost makes me want to go back down that rabbit hole... Almost... Ha.

Every cartridge is designed differently, uses different materials, and therefore will have different wear rates.  The only thing you can do is have a checked out by somebody who really knows their stuff.

A place that sells cartridges telling you that you should probably replace it after a while it's just giving you anecdotal information and likely trying to help themselves as much as you.  Nothing wrong with that, just not solving a specific issue.

[Chewbacca]

Well said, guys!

Oh and Carlman, I can confirm your old phono pre has been sounding quite wonderful and is getting plenty of use!

[rotarius]

Like another person said, I have carts that are 40-50 years old and have zero issues.  There seems to be some confusion about dampers/suspension.  That is part of the stylus assembly and not the cart body.  Once the stylus is replaced, it is like a new cart because cart bodies last forever.

[Carlman]

I think it depends on the stylus, and how it's assembled with the body... I know in my case it's not straightforward.  I don't know all the details, but I think this is where the water gets muddy. 

Chewbacca, so glad to hear you're enjoying that phonostage.  After I got the new cartridge, I wondered what it would sound like. I dare not think too much as I have other priorities at the moment.

[lazydays]

@ lazydays Nice!

@ RileyD There’s just so many variables with it, there’s no one answer. It just needs to be inspected/heard on a case by basis I’d think. It’s easy to forget the baseline of it sounding best, because it’s over so many years. But I’d be more concerned about stylus rather than internals. You can easily inspect with a USB microscope - they’re pretty inexpensive nowadays. I’ve been meaning to invest in one myself.

my first decent turn tables were Technics and JVC Q series. I don't remember which one I was using at the time, but I remember destroying the wand in an act of stupidity.  I went to the shop and told them I needed either a new wand or a new cartridge, and they recommended the Grado (never heard of the brand name). He told me to bring the table in, and he installed it and aligned it. Went home and put the table in the car and never looked back. Brother inlaw came over to tell me he bought a new SL1200 turntable. That afternoon he was in that shop buying a Grado! (He's still using it) Then my brother did the samething with a belt drive table. At the time those Grados were the hot item for direct drive tables. Seems like they were about sixty dollars out the door.

Currently I'm using a Grado with the wood body on my Final Tool, but every once in awhile I switch off to a Denon 103. I like both.
gary

[Craig B]

When I was in college in the '70s, I estimated my turntable was used on average about 3 hours a day (I had an early, battery-powered stylus use timer that confirmed it). I discovered I could hear the audible effects of a worn stylus (and the beginnings of record wear) at about a thousand hours, so I got in the habit of replacing my cartridge once a year. Back then the carts I used (Shures, Pickerings, Stantons, etc.) rarely warranted seeking out hard-to-find replacement styli, so I just got all new cartridges. It wasn't until many years later that my record playing time dropped enough that I began to worry more about aging suspensions and stiffening elastomers than stylus wear and record damage. But that's why I got my current cartridge - the old one had insignificant playing time and stylus wear, but it was about 15 years old.

[RPM123]

I had a Kiseki Purple Heart N.S. for five years that I thought still sounded good and I was hoping to continue using it in my new tonearm/turntable setup. I sent it to someone to have it mounted and the person analyzed it first and he told me that it was so worn that there was no longer any "line contact" and it "would have the "same tracing error induced excursions as a conical or elliptical" cartridge." He sent me photos of my stylus. (I tried to attach them, but they are tiff files and I could not figure how to convert them to JPEG.) I was concerned that I might be damaging my records, so I ended getting a new cartridge and had it installed by him. And no, he does not sell cartridges, so no interests there.

[stonedeaf]

I have way too many cartridges. Was in the audio biz for a few decades starting in the late 60's. My take on this question aligns with other posters on this thread who care more about their records than the amount of stretching it out on styli will save 'em $'s. The majority of styli customers brought me to check for wear were obviously bent or mangled ,some had balls-o-crud adhered to the tips. If they were worn -they were REALLY worn out. I strongly suspect that  a significant percentage of the "200 hour" cartridges for sale today (and maybe on their third or fourth owner) have managed to amass enough hours to be worn out. MM/IM cart bodies don't wear out -unless somebody decides that they are going to try and fit something into them that isn't the original (OEM) stylus -then who knows ? The rubber or elastomer  blocks hardening was a real problem with earliest generation MM carts -but by the late 60's the problem had been pretty well dealt with -various butyl rubber compounds seem to last a very long time without loosing their bounce. But storage and that old devil cigie smoke can still make this a problem. Some  (mostly very high compliance) cart/styli had problems with suspension failure almost from the get-go - 50 years or more on -the odds are they aren't going to holdup today. But I have cart/styli that are 40-50 years old -made by Grado ,Shure ,Stanton ,Sony ,Audio-Technica, Ortofon  and Denon -that both are OK under the microscope and will track test records safely and surely. I have not so far been able to see wear patches with a USB microscope.

[SET Man]

I have a 12 year old Linn Adikt MM cartridge.  My dealer is urging me to replace the stylus or get a new cartridge since it is beyond it's useful life.   I am lucky if I get a few hours of playing records a month.
 Although I might not be able to discern a slight decline in fidelity over the years, it still tracks and sounds great to my ear today.

Do some of the internal parts of a cartridge go stale?  Or, is my dealer just looking to make a sale?
Thanks.

Hey!

  Well, there's no easy answer on this one. Actually what I've found is all over the place from 200-1000hrs+ Also, the shape of the stylus itself also have different lifespan... more fancier narrower type last longer than say simple elliptical/conical type I think. But I feel that elliptical/conical type can last up to 500hrs and fancier type like line contact can last 800-1000hrs.

   Beside the actual diamond stylus itself. You have to also consider another critical part with limited lifespan like the suspension of which are most made from rubber or similar and they are dry out over the years whether you use the cart or not. So, you can have an old NOS cart with new diamond stylus tip but dried up suspension.

   Yeah, all the things we have to put up with playing our vinyl records right?

Buddy

[TABARD]

Remember Dealers are there to make SALES. The best way to be sure the cart is OK is to send it to a reputable re-tipper for an inspection. I use VAS in the USA for my work but there are many others like Sound Smith.

Cheers

[davidc1]

I have two Shure V15 Type V MR cartridges with very low hours on them. Haven't used them since the early 90's. It pisses me off that I have two of what are considered to be among the very best cartridges available, yet I can't get replacement styli.

[rotarius]

I have two Shure V15 Type V MR cartridges with very low hours on them. Haven't used them since the early 90's. It pisses me off that I have two of what are considered to be among the very best cartridges available, yet I can't get replacement styli.

Have you tried Jico stylii for your Shure?

[Bob2]

I have two Shure V15 Type V MR cartridges with very low hours on them. Haven't used them since the early 90's. It pisses me off that I have two of what are considered to be among the very best cartridges available, yet I can't get replacement styli.

If those have low hours on them why would you need to change the styli?

[davidc1]

If those have low hours on them why would you need to change the styli?

It's not really the styli that need replacement of course. But the cantilever and its rubber and perhaps plastic components. I have been told that considering they are between 30-35 yrs old, they would have deteriorated quite a bit.