Jimbos Audio ramblings

[struth]

my older one is a vax.. blade 2 and its been very reliable. got a new one for upstairs a few months ago. its a shark.

[struth]

no record cleaner now; sold it to a member

[Pigmy Pony]

Not sure if you saw I had an issue with collapsed suspension on my new 2M Black stylus! However this was replaced by the dealer for another new stylus which looks way better and sounds superb.

Yes I saw your posts, nice that you got it sorted with little hassle. it will be a new stylus for me - I have no intention of moving from my 2M Black. It just sounds right to me, so why change?

[Jimbo]

Yes I saw your posts, nice that you got it sorted with little hassle. it will be a new stylus for me - I have no intention of moving from my 2M Black. It just sounds right to me, so why change?

Exactly, that's why I have used one for the past 7 years. Tried other stuff but they just don't deliver the clarity and dynamics of the 2M. I have considered MC but I would need to spend £2000 to get something really better and another phono stage or SUT. Rather spend my cash on more vinyl.

Just going back to my suspension issue, apparently a number of 2M stylus can suffer from this, not sure if its a quality control issue especially as Ortofon are now making huge quantities of cartridges for the world market.

A dealer I spoke to recently saw a huge carton of Cadenza Black MC cartridges at a distributor and he recons there must have been hundreds in the box so obviously there is a lot of demand.

[Pigmy Pony]

Yes I think pretty much on the same lines Steve. If I had bottomless pockets it might be different, but most of us in the real world have to choose one thing over another. At the end of the day it's the music that matters - we buy hifi to make our records/CDs sound better, rather than buying music that makes our hifi sound better! Or we should be...

Not sure where I'll be buying one (Amazon at £369 seems to be best price right now), but I will certainly be looking at it very closely, not a bargain if it arrives bent as a dog's dick.

[Macca]

last time I looked a few years back replacement stylus for mine was £240 which I thought was crazy, now up to £449.

That's almost a week's take-home which is just ludicrous.

Cheaper on eBay but probably fake.

[Jimbo]

last time I looked a few years back replacement stylus for mine was £240 which I thought was crazy, now up to £449.

That's almost a week's take-home which is just ludicrous.

Cheaper on eBay but probably fake.

MP300?

[Macca]

MP300?

MP500.

I would go through a stylus about every six months, doing that now would be almost a grand a year.

I can afford it but I can't stomach it. Same amount buy me about 200 used CDs.

[Pigmy Pony]

MP500.

I would go through a stylus about every six months, doing that now would be almost a grand a year.

I can afford it but I can't stomach it. Same amount buy me about 200 used CDs.

Two and a half years of those kind of savings could buy you a minty used Accuphase CD player that doesn't have a loading slot

You're shining a light on the harsh reality of vinyl replay costs, and it is something most record lovers try not to think about... my records and CDs don't get that many hours play per week (probably about 4/5 hours), and CD/vinyl ratio about 3:1, so my stylus would last a long time. But now I'm home more that will change, so I do need to get it replaced.

I'd be reluctant to chuck the old one away though - is a worn one easy to spot? Would one of those mini-magnifiers that jewellers use do the job? I think we have one somewhere.

[Macca]

Two and a half years of those kind of savings could buy you a minty used Accuphase CD player that doesn't have a loading slot

You're shining a light on the harsh reality of vinyl replay costs, and it is something most record lovers try not to think about... my records and CDs don't get that many hours play per week (probably about 4/5 hours), and CD/vinyl ratio about 3:1, so my stylus would last a long time. But now I'm home more that will change, so I do need to get it replaced.

I'd be reluctant to chuck the old one away though - is a worn one easy to spot? Would one of those mini-magnifiers that jewellers use do the job? I think we have one somewhere.

I usually have about a four hour session and when I was running both vinyl and digital it would be one or the other, I don't like to change lanes once I'm underway. So soon rack up the hours.

I would wait until I heard degradation before changing the stylus and that isn't a good idea as before you actually hear it going bad there's a risk of damage to the record.

I've read different things about looking at the stylus to check wear. Some say you can't tell others say that you can. Either way seems like a ball-ache too far. The CD is the same every time, no wear and when the player packs in you know right away. I mean my Audiolab transport cost the same as a replacement stylus for my cartridge and although it will die at some point it won't be after only six months and its 'objective' sound quality is better than any turntable system at any price.

Yes I like records, I like turntables, I like playing records, and good quality records on a good deck sound great but overall there's so many other problems aside from the expense (which has now got silly) - that's why the world moved on.

(Yes I do want that Accuphase but so far manage to talk myself out of it).