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MC cart rebuild frequency: a question for you

I heard an interesting -albeit a little discouraging- point of view regarding fancy MC carts installed in highly revealing systems. I am not sure what to make of it all.

The gentleman in question listens to several hours of music on vinyl records seven days a week. He says he notices his cartridges sounding tired after a few months, and that cartridges should be rebuilt/replaced every year or so irrespective of use, and after they have been cued a few thousand times the fragile assemblies need replacing or rebuild. They still work, but the difference in the sound is noticeable once you put a fresh new cart in. Notwithstanding "break-in" sound, of course.

I like to think my system is revealing and my VDH cart -purchased new- is an expensive item in my world. It still sounds good to me after two years and I am I not noticing it getting "tired" because the decline -if any!- is so progressive, kind of like getting fat with age: if we gained 20lb overnight we would freak out, but since it is gradual we hardly notice...
...until we install a new identical cart.

In other words, would one be better off having two identical $1000 carts on a rotation (one in use, the other in the process of getting rebuilt) of one rebuild per cart per year to keep all moving parts "fresh" and carts always in peak condition, or would one be better off with a $5000 cartridge getting a rebuild every 5 or 6 years, or 2000 hours, whichever comes first.

See what I mean? Is the sound of a lesser -but fresh- cart better than the greater cartridge on a less frequent rebuild/replace schedule, all other things being equal, using only freshness and newness of the suspensions, cantilever, diamond, as a criteria.

I do not have the financial means to conduct the experiment for myself. I figure since the market for used cartridge is alive and well, the difference between a "aged" low-hours cart and a fresh one have to be minimal, otherwise no one would buy them and it would be well-known.

I'd like to hear what you think, what your experiences are.
Best,
Jerome
jkalplus1

Showing 1 response by david12

david12
1,454 posts
 
To extend this discussion slightly, does anyone believe there are differences in wear rates between makers. I have seen it said that Koetsu, for example, are the Mack diesel trucks of the cartridge world and will last 3000 hours. Certainly, I used a Rosewood Signature I bought here on the Gon and used it quite heavily for 3 years, with no easily detectable change.

The trouble with retips is, by the time it is returned, you can't really recall how it sounded before.

I am a big enthusiast for retipping. I have had several cartridges done by Expert Stylus here in the UK, with uniformly excellent results
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