Let's all keep in mind that alignment is futile unless the zenith angle (the relationship between the stylus and the cantilever, viewed from above) is such that the stylus is perfectly square to the long axis of the cantilever. If not, you are deluding yourself if you think you've got it exactly right. Once I was made aware of this source of error, I started examining my cartridges under a microscope. Very few are perfectly squared or even look to be squared. Namiki and Ogura (and whoever is the 3rd source in the world) tolerate an error of +/-5 degrees in cantilever/styli they sell to cartridge makers or re-tippers. I can only hope that the big time makers of expensive MCs are hand selecting assemblies that are perfect or nearly so.
"HI All,
I have been tracking stylus wear using a stylus microscope for 30 years. I have run two different hi fi repair shops for a total of 13 years. I would examine every stylus that came into my shops under a Shure SEK-2 purpose designed microscope.This amounts to thousands of styli. Of course, I have examined my own styli as well.
I have found that around 1000 hours is the usual life time for a stylus. It varies a little but not much. Remember a diamond is a diamond. And a groove is a groove. There are not many variables here, VTF being the primary one. But VTF does not seem to make much of a difference mostly because most cartridges are at their best within a fairly narrow range of VTF's.
I have also found that most owners are wildly optimistic about the number of hours on their stylus.
Do not kid yourselves. Don't make the mistake of over using your stylus. It WILL tear up your records.
Wear can be detected by ear. It first shows up as mistracking in the inner grooves on the left channel on highly modulated passages where you never heard distortion before. As the wear progresses distortion will become more common until you can no longer ignore it. This may be too late for your records.
Since many other things can cause mistracking, a microscope is invaluable for detecting that the problem is actually stylus wear and not a set up problem. This and you can actually see the degree of wear. Do not mistake this as a simple magnifier. It's a serious instrument that you can observe stylus wear facets at 200X.
For those that wish the best for your records you should have a stylus microscope. Unfortunately, today they are rare and hard to find. The most common one was the Shure SEK-2 but good luck finding one. I have one but it's not for sale.
Because of the availability issue, I designed a substitute using a laboratory microscope that anybody can build. I posted this project on Audio Karma. Here is a link to the build article:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225960
Check it out. You may need to build one. It's easy, sort of. I can't be without a good stylus microscope.
Sparky"
discussion
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another
We have recently observed a number of discussions about stylus life time on HiFi forums. We have therefore decided to bring clearance in this matter and come with Ortofon official response:
With proper care we find that up to 1000 hours is possible without degradation of performance. The stylus does begin to exhibit changes after 1.000 hours, but the stylus life as a whole is expected to top 2.000 hours.
Proper care comprises the following:
1. Cleaning of record by means of carbon fibre brush before and after every use. Cleaning of record by using record cleaning machine once in a while.
2. Cleaning of stylus by means of a fine antistatic brush. Please remember to remove dust from the diamond tip before and after playback of each record.
3. Proper adjustment of antiskating, azimuth and tracking force"
discussion:
https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/new-ortofon-claim-on-stylus-life-expectancy.6018/