To guard stylus or not?

The Linn Krystal guard is very nice, it fits from the front on, rather from underneath and up. That said, I tend to use the lid on my LP12 which solves the entire issue I guess.

YES!!

Hi,
anal retentive for expensive cartridges?
I have destroyed a Clearaudio Delta S and that did hurt.
ZYX guard is awkward but use it when cleaning the table.

My favorite cartridge, which I run 90% of the time in my main system, is a ZYX Universe and I have never had an issue with installing the stylus guard on it.

No stylus guard unless turntable maintenance is required and / or there’s a cartridge change.

ZYX has the worst stylus guard - hard to get on and off.  So don't use.  Might use if it was designed properly.

I never realized audiophiles were so anal retentive. 

I say not. I can't even find one for the installed cart. The other 3 are covered.
Flux busted it without. 
Of course if I had a strain guage I'd revisit that thought.

Always install my stylus guards after playing music, too many things going on in my house to leave to chance, cat, dog, 7 year old, me and cleaning lady. Have a Grace F9 OCL stylus coming for my back up cart upstairs and have already built a stylus protector for it as it does not come with one. Awoke  one night after playing music wondering if I had put the stylus guard on my Dynavector XV1s, rushed downstairs to discover I had not, installed it and went back to bed where I slept like a baby. Enjoy the music

On my Lyra, I always utilize the stylus guard between listening sessions. I am VERY pleased that the Lyra’s feature this design.
Admittedly not a good idea to remove or put on the guard if you are drunk or otherwise impaired, lol. So, like all things analog, a steady hand is a must, and carelessness does NOT get rewarded. 

If you can lock the armwand then no need for stylus guard (imo)

cakids, you are the very first person I have ever heard of that uses a stylus guard between sessions. 

Right. Even a really intelligently designed stylus guard like Soundsmith uses the fact is you get that close you don't have to be all that big a spaz to do some real damage. I keep mine handy and mount it any time I think the risk of a something catching it by accident is greater than the risk of botching it with the stylus guard.

Also keep a strip of Scotch tape handy. Usually when the stylus guard goes on the next thing is to secure the arm in the arm rest with the tape.

I leave the guard off always, unless installing or removing a cartridge.

Dear @cakids :  +1: :

The stylus guard could be only if you have kids that like to " play " down there or pets.

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R.