A pragmatic view of cartridge expenses / many questions


Trying to see what your thoughts are on cartridge expenses? Do you buy cartridges and replace or retip after it’s worn? Cartridges are like tires for cars in some ways. You have to replace the tires after they wear out.

If you own an ultra expensive cartridge, let’s say, over 7k, is that your main spinner? Do you do a factory retip at costs exceeding thousands? Do some of you who own high cost cartridges use them only for special occasions, similar to drinking Dom Perigon for some special event, and use a normal not so exotic cartridge for regular day to day use and perhaps non-audiophile records.
I am sure each of us have our own price threshold and thoughts of high end cartridges. I only said 7k, because that seems to me a fair price point to describe a very expensive cartridge.

My thoughts are that having a few normally priced cartridges around is a good thing, due to the wear and tear, and replacing or retippimg would also be less costly. I do lust after some high end cartridges and if I do obtain one, my philosophy would be as described above. Enjoy for special occasions, and use a less costly for normal day to day listens. Geez, it feels like we are trying to separate our car cruises from a sports car feel to a luxury limo ride feel, in some ways. 
What’s your opinion on expendability of cartridges?
audioquest4life

Showing 4 responses by unreceivedogma

I neglected to add that I use the Onyx for serious listening, which is 95% of my listening, the Rosewood as backup when the Onyx is being refurbished, and the Benz for parties and certain monophonic and pop LPs from the 50s and 60s. 
Yes. vdH. Been sending them there for decades. 

I get nervous with the thing in the mail but there haven’t been any mishaps yet. 

I hear there is a guy in NJ that is supposed to be good and that I could drive it to but I have no experience with him. 
My personal experience for what it is worth.
- I bought my first vinyl LP - Rolling Stones 12 x 5 - when I was 9. That is 57 years ago.
- when I was 14, I built my own “serious” system: Dyna PAS and Dyna 70 kits, Lafayette speakers, Grarard table and arm, Pickering cartridge.
- I graduated to Shure, Stanton cartridges in that system.
- my mature system can be found here: theaudioatticvinylsundays.com
- Over time, I have used maybe 20 different cartridges as that system evolved.
- for 25 years, I have relied on a Koetsu. First the Black. Then a Rosewood. Then an Onyx. I still have a Benz Micro from 35 years ago.
- I do believe in the law of diminishing returns. I did believe that there is no point in paying more than $1,500 for a cartridge. After that, it’s component interaction, and it is personal preference as I believe that we all learn to hear and listen differently. This was shown in a recent demonstration by Poppy Crum (neurologic scientist at Dolby) in the YouTube video “Audio Myths”. However, after continuous listening, the Benz sounded better than what came before it, the Rosewood sounds better than the Benz, and the Onyx sounds decidedly better than the Rosewood. (I still have never spent more than $1,500 on a cartridge: I bought the Rosewood used, and the Onyx was a gift from a California environmentalist musician as a thank you).
- a friend who has won 6 Grammys for his work with Deutsche Grammophon and has done some work on my amps for me (since undone by someone else, lol) swears by the Shure ... is it the V5? It’s no longer made.
- I send them to the Netherlands for refurbishing. Koetsu is too expensive, and even though Soundsmith is a 20 minute drive from me, It is still cheaper - a lot cheaper - to send them overseas.
- I have had a specific philosophical approach to the assembly of my system over a 50 year period. It hasn’t changed, it’s just been carefully upgraded, with costs kept under control by buying used or demos.
Hope that in some way addresses your concerns.
Cd318,

I found the Shure V15 type III, IV, V and MR on eBay. 

ONE of them is supposed to be the one, the others, also-rans. 

Supposedly useless without the microridge stylus. 

?