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Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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Vinyl Asylum Welcome Licorice Pizza (LP) lovers! Setup guides and Vinyl FAQ. |
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In Reply to: Stylus life based on stylus type? posted by dtyoshih on December 20, 2014 at 11:11:16:
The definition for "worn out" is very imprecise. Those figures are very much on the high side and would suggest a point where the stylus has worn sufficiently for record damage to result.
Some manufacturers define the point of "wear" when the harmonic distortion at 15kHz exceeds a pre-determined value (say 1%). When you use this metric, then the life of the stylus is of the order of 150 to 200hours for spherical, 200 to 250hours or so for elliptical and some 350 hours for a VdH. These figures are NOT when it is time to replace, but when the specification is no longer met. Of course, the tip manufacturers would love for you to take those numbers as the time replace!
It depends on your financial position and how risk averse you are as to whether you try and push the limits of those original numbers. Those numbers are ideal - no crud build up on the stylus during play, pristine vinyl with no prior wear and perfectly optimised antiskate and geometric alignment.
You can of course carry on using the stylus, but this is the point where the contact surface has worn sufficiently to stop tracing to the same technical ability compared to when new.
The other variable to consider is the grade of diamond used. High end tips use a jewellery grade gem - you will notice that the better ones are transparent and have a "wet" look to them and are nude (the stone is directly mounted into the cantilever.
Cheap MM styli are industrial grade and are opaque or grey looking. Often these are bonded. This type won't last anywhere near as long as the figures you quote. Expect somewhere between 500 to 600 hours for an elliptical at the maximum (which is what Ortofon quote for their low end replaceable styli). The additional risk with a bonded tip is that the tip separates from the bushing!
Whilst it is true that a line contact design will last significantly longer than an elliptical due to reduced pressure in the groove, the line contact (especially a Microline) will fail catastrophically (as in fragments of diamond may break off) and cause irreversible damage to the groove, whereas a spherical or elliptical gets "flats" worn into the contact portion.
It becomes very obvious with a spherical or elliptical when they are past their best because inner groove distortion and frequency response suffer as they wear.
I personally keep an accurate log of play time (in 15 min blocks) and I consider swapping out an elliptical after 300 hours (when the inner groove distortion becomes noticeable) or 600 hours for a Microline (for safety). I know AT advertise 1000 hours, but I won't take the risk with this particular design because the contact portion can easily fracture. I have a lot of second hand vinyl, and goodness knows what has been left behind in the grooves...
However, YMMV as they say!
Regards Anthony
"Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty.." Keats
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Follow Ups
- RE: Stylus life based on stylus type? - flood2 15:14:47 12/20/14 (0)
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