What's a reasonable expectation for cartridge life?

I was always told that the region between 700 and 1000 hours is optimistically what you should hope for. Also expect a gradual loss of performance to occur over the final 20% of the cartridge life.

How on earth do you know how many hours you've used it for?

I simply play records when I feel like it and certainly don't keep a log!

Or does one assume that if you play records for about 5 hours a week, that's 260 hours per year so it should last about 7.6 years........

Computers are supposed to work on 1's and 0's - in other words "Yes" or "No" - why does mine frequently say "Maybe"?......

I don't keep a log either - can't imagine anything more nerdy, to be honest - but it would be good to know how long to expect out of a cartridge...

TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."

I think you should expect a bit more than 700 hrs.

I roughly worked out how much I'd used my last Lyra Lydian for when I changed it and got 1400 hrs, though it probably should have been changed 100-200 hrs earlier, basically when it doesn't sound as good or the tracking isn't what it should be then either a good clean or a change is in order.

I used to go about 3,000 hours but now rebuild after 2,000 hours. ES recommends 800-1000 hrs but I'd be retipping every 6 months if that was the case. These numbers were when using LP12, Ittok/Ekos, Troika/Klyde on level purpose-built supports. YMMV

It might be useful if somebody sold an elapsed time clock that could be connected to the T/T to keep a track of the hours it was running. Better still, the makers could build one into the deck or into the external PSU

David

David

Someone - Goldmund, Basis, Rockport Systems, one of those guys, can't remember which – actually did make a T/T with a cartidge life clock. If you want to find out more, type "turntable lust list" into Google.

Kevin

Jonathan,

Would I be correct in making the link that you are the guy responsible for the Helikon? I'm fairly sure some of my web cartridge research threw up your name before.

Anyway, just to confirm - I will be buying a Helikon; either a new one or a nearly new one - probably new. It will be mated with a Naim Aro on an LP12/Armageddon. In other words, a wobbly arm on a wobbly deck

Most of my records have been VPI cleaned - though not all, as record cleaning is a bit of a time-sink. The deck will be setup by one of the country's foremost decksmen - by reputation, at least (I have never met nor heard a deck set up by this individual, but he is legendary in the UK). Operating temperatures will be within your range.

2500 hours? Doesn't seem too bad - but one question remains: what is the typical lifespan of a Helikon's internals - i.e. the other bits, which I believe degrade slowly over time. If I (say) managed to spread my notional 2500 hours over five years, would the internals still be in a good enough shape after that time, or is there a finite lifespan of the internals which would ultimately require rebuilding regardless of cartridge miles?

Thanks,

John

TC '..'
"Girl, you thought he was a man, but he was a Muffin..."

Jonathan,

Thank you for a very useful post. Temperatures in Tokyo must be well beyond 'optimum' currently?!

TC,

with a Helikon/ARO/LP12/Armageddon I would hope you would be listening more than 10 hours weekly.

duncan

Email: djcritchley at hotmail.com

Perhaps we could talk Jonathan into using something like 'cartridge guru' as his moniker here. Based on his record, I think all of us would agree he knows far more about cartridges than most participants in the forum.

It would be helpful to readers to get some signal that Jonathan's contributions may be more reliable than the most...it's mostly opinion here, but some opinions are more equal than others.

Jonathan,

I, too, am interested in your views on the longevity of cartridge bits beyond the stylus. What bits deteriorate significantly over time? How often would you replace or rebuild a cartridge?

Thanks.

Phil