Shocked

[walpurgis]

The average enthusiast does. By a fair margin I suspect.

Ah, but I didn't say enthusiast. Many people play records.



(I admit I spent a little more than £50 myself )

[Barry]

The average enthusiast does. By a fair margin I suspect.

Yes, Koetsus and other high-end cartridges can cost up to £5,000. So at the quoted "about £5 a record", or £7.50 an hour, that implies a stylus life time of about 660 hours. Not much different to the typical 1,000 hours lifetime expected of a stylus.

But is the stylus lifetime really doubled if records are cleaned using an RCM?

[walpurgis]

1000 hours seems a little short Barry. ZYX quote 2000 hours, which I'd have thought probably typical of modern MCs and I'd expect many to exceed this. I'm sure some of my cartridges have.

[Macca]

Yes, Koetsus and other high-end cartridges can cost up to £5,000. So at the quoted "about £5 a record", or £7.50 an hour. that implies a stylus life time of about 660 hours. Not much different to the typical 1,000 hours lifetime expected of a stylus.

But is the stylus lifetime really doubled if records are cleaned using an RCM?

I'd say it is significantly increased. Sufficiently so that the RCM will pay for itself quite quickly if using £100 plus styli and putting in a lot of vinyl hours a week. But hard to quantify the variables. Someone who has bought all their records new and been very careful might get the same lifetime as someone who buys a lot of used records and cleans them properly.

[Barry]

Depends on the stylus profile. Quality control personnel, checking the quality of LPs using headphones, could discern stylus wear after only 200 hours.

I think 1,000 hours is typical - I wouldn't expect much more than 2,000.

[daytona600]

Yes, Koetsus and other high-end cartridges can cost up to £5,000. So at the quoted "about £5 a record", or £7.50 an hour, that implies a stylus life time of about 660 hours. Not much different to the typical 1,000 hours lifetime expected of a stylus.

But is the stylus lifetime really doubled if records are cleaned using an RCM?

2000 hours for a £10k ( $15K ) = £5 per hour cartridge like Clearaudio Goldfinger or Koetsu Stone body
1000 hours then stylus starts to go " off " with a lifespan of about 2000 hours when speaking to cartridge designers
high end cartridges do have much longer lifespans

Even a mid price cartridge £150-£500 a RCM will pay for itself on stylus replacement or re-builds
not to mention sounding better & reduced record wear & gets rid of the static , pops & clicks

[walpurgis]

Anybody experimented with 'wet playing'?

[Barry]

Anybody experimented with 'wet playing'?

I think some enthusiasts who have been plagued with static problems have reported success, but it's not something I would undertake lightly.

[Barry]

I'd say it is significantly increased. Sufficiently so that the RCM will pay for itself quite quickly if using £100 plus styli and putting in a lot of vinyl hours a week. But hard to quantify the variables. Someone who has bought all their records new and been very careful might get the same lifetime as someone who buys a lot of used records and cleans them properly.

That's my experience. Whilst I agree that an RCM is an essential piece of kit (especially for someone whith more than say 200 LPs), I don't believe that cleaning a record once with an RCM will double the stylus lifetime. It is just as important in my opinion, possibly more so, to inspect and clean the stylus regularly.

[Kit1cat]

Sounds like I am lucky mine is still working after nearly 30 years