Just wondering what the warning signs are for a knackered cartridge? Albeit I may have answered my own question.
My system started sounding a bit off a while back but I hadn't been well and to compound my misery I was also suffering with Covid which took ages to clear up so all in all I didn't pay that much attention.
In many ways I suppose that it was a gradual process of deterioration that my ears had adjusted to. But, in recent days when sibilance became more apparent than was acceptable and well known tracks started to sound 'off' in various ways that I realised that something was very wrong.
After checking all the basic things I couldn't find anything obviously wrong, I researched how long cartridge should last and found conflicting information indicating anywhere from 300 hours through to 7 years but the consensus seemed to put around 1000 hours of use up as a limit.
My initial reaction was that I was no where near 1000 hours of listening but then realised that the cartridge was around 30 months old and listening to it around 10-12 hours a week took me well over this notional 1000 hours limit.
So I decided to bite the bullet take the Elys2 upmarket and replace it with a Rega Exact, this came from Acoustic Streams my closest dealer and was installed last night.
First listen was an original pressing of Joan Armatrading - Me Myself I, a recent second hand pick up from Musical Nostalgia in Truro, wow what a difference, I was shocked at just how poor the Elys2 had become, all of a sudden I could hear the band, subtle sounds that have evaded me in previous listens with the Elys were now coming out of my speakers.
I am sure that we adjust to deteriorations in many aspects of our lives, hearing, eyesight etc but I wondered if a cartridge should be replaced after a set period of time depending on use or whether it is just down to our ears to get a message to our little grey cells and say 'enough is enough - replace that cartridge or stylus'.
If everything goes to plan my TT will get replaced later this year but irrespective of that I plan to replace the cartridge/stylus every 12-15 months but what do other vinyl lovers do with their cartridges, how often do you replace, is it over set time or based on use or something else? I would be interested to get your feedback.
My system started sounding a bit off a while back but I hadn't been well and to compound my misery I was also suffering with Covid which took ages to clear up so all in all I didn't pay that much attention.
In many ways I suppose that it was a gradual process of deterioration that my ears had adjusted to. But, in recent days when sibilance became more apparent than was acceptable and well known tracks started to sound 'off' in various ways that I realised that something was very wrong.
After checking all the basic things I couldn't find anything obviously wrong, I researched how long cartridge should last and found conflicting information indicating anywhere from 300 hours through to 7 years but the consensus seemed to put around 1000 hours of use up as a limit.
My initial reaction was that I was no where near 1000 hours of listening but then realised that the cartridge was around 30 months old and listening to it around 10-12 hours a week took me well over this notional 1000 hours limit.
So I decided to bite the bullet take the Elys2 upmarket and replace it with a Rega Exact, this came from Acoustic Streams my closest dealer and was installed last night.
First listen was an original pressing of Joan Armatrading - Me Myself I, a recent second hand pick up from Musical Nostalgia in Truro, wow what a difference, I was shocked at just how poor the Elys2 had become, all of a sudden I could hear the band, subtle sounds that have evaded me in previous listens with the Elys were now coming out of my speakers.
I am sure that we adjust to deteriorations in many aspects of our lives, hearing, eyesight etc but I wondered if a cartridge should be replaced after a set period of time depending on use or whether it is just down to our ears to get a message to our little grey cells and say 'enough is enough - replace that cartridge or stylus'.
If everything goes to plan my TT will get replaced later this year but irrespective of that I plan to replace the cartridge/stylus every 12-15 months but what do other vinyl lovers do with their cartridges, how often do you replace, is it over set time or based on use or something else? I would be interested to get your feedback.
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