2psyop, Thanks. I purchased a microscope that sits on a stand. The cartridge is a super fine line. I can look cartridge shapes up on google. Thanks for the info.
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Kennyc, does a Soundsmith cartridge last longer? I have an Audio Research PH-7 phono stage. What do you mean by adequate? Thanks.
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dogberry, thanks for the heads up on VAS.
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2psyop, if I do buy the microscope what am I supposed to look for on the stylus? Thanks.
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inagroove, thanks for the suggestion. My system sounds great. I play all kinds of classical music, string quartets or bombastic pieces like Scheherazade that also has a very musical violin. I have pieces with fat-sounding violins and thin-sounding violins, and they all seem natural. Part of the challenge is I recently purchased new Sonus Faber Olympica Nova 5 speakers which portray a much more lifelike sound than my last speakers. I guess I am worried about a slow diminution that I have just gotten used to. But what I am taking out of this forum is that at least by 2,000 hours I should have the cartridge rebuilt. If I were feeling rich (which I'm not right now) I would have wanted to jump up in pricee to perhaps the low-end Koetsu, but I am very happy with the EMT. I think it's very good for its price range. Well, maybe just plain very good. I've never experimented with cartridges over $2K.
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In regards to cleaning a cartridge, I once sent a Grado Reference into Grado because the cantilever had been bent by an errant hand. I am pretty sure Mr. Grado himself fixed the cartridge. One thing he told me was to stop using that gunk to clean my cartridge. (I was using Last cleaner.) He said diamond stylus's are so hard that dust brushes off them without the use of cleaners which build up on the stylus. Opinions?
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Viridian, thank you for the in-depth article on stylus wear. There are a lot of variables involved, but one that is important to me is $ per hour a stylus costs, and also what my ear is hearing. The article mentioned female vocalists and how sibilance can be heard from a worn stylus. I played Joni Mitchell's live album "Miles of Ailes" this morning and my God her voice just hung in the air clear and pure. This is on a super fine line stylus with about 1500 hours on it. Am I damaging records? I can't really hear it. So, does it kind of become a tree falling in the forest thing?
I have put an awful lot of money into my system lately, and a very big variable is a grouchy wife. She very much wants to believe the salesperson who told me the change wouldn't be subtle when I needed to replace my stylus. I started this forum to try to understand better when I would need to change my stylus with all variables considered.
I have forty-year-old records and older. I have played them on pretty cheap cartridges I never changed. I have only begun to pay attention to that in the last ten years or so. Do I hear wear on my old records. Yes. Do I hear wear on all my old records? No. I really don't hear the wear on some of them. I do get pops and clicks that I hear, but I find that cleaning records in my Degritter gets rid of a lot of them. The grooves are picking up gunk the Degritter cleans out.
Back to the money, which is an important variable. If I can't hear change, does it matter? I'll give you an example. When I buy a new cartridge do my newer records sound better? In other words, could I hear the damage on my old cartridge? The last cartridge I changed was a Sumiko Starling which I would have bought again but it's too difficult to mount. The pins are small and the wire leads slip off. It began to sound distorted like it had dust on it at around 2,000 hours. And it could have damaged records, but when I put the new EMT on those records, they didn't sound damaged to me.
Judging subjectively, the variables are ridiculous. I have old records that never seem to wear. The newer 180gram records seem to wear quickly. I think the vinyl is softer on those records. They sound worn after maybe even five plays with a new cartridge. I know it sounds stupid or ignorant to put my subjective judgement up against in-depth studies, but from a money-per-hour perspective, I wouldn't want to buy a $2,000 cartridge and have to change the stylus after 500 hours. I'd probably stop playing records. So, I need to take that into consideration. And I'm looking for a kind of middle ground that also sounds reasonable to my pocket book. So, as far as the record wear variable, does it matterr if I can't hear it? Again, I'm thinking in dollars. If I had the money and an audiophile wife, I would happily change my stylus after 500 hours, but that's not my real world.
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Viridian, I think the salespeople at my online retailer told me that my stylus might even last up to 3,000 hours because of what you've said about its shape. Anyway, now that I know I can send it in and have a new stylus put on for about $400 to $500?, I'll have it retipped. If it gets up toward $1,000, I might reconsider. My online dealer will give me a 20% discount on a trade in. I have a Clearaudio Maestro (1200 hours?) sitting around that I could use in the meantime. It sounded great, too. A bit more bloom than the EMT.
I must admit that being an audiophile is not easy because most people look at me as if I'm crazy, spending $2K on cartridges and $18K on speakers. I have a Hovland Radia amp that is 20 years old and I was worried about its deterioration. I was lucky enough to have access to Bob Hovland, the designer and manufacturer. He looked it over and said it was to spec. Less than $500. My wife still thought that was too much because it wasn't broken. But it is one hell of an amp.
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Viridian, sounds like a plan. I'll have it evaluated like I did with my 20-year0old amp.
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whart, thank you for your clear write-up. I hate to be the "real-world guy," but looking into VAS for retipping they quote four to eight weeks, with shipping probably more like six to ten weeks. I would not be able to tell if the retipped stylus sounded better after that amount of time, especially since my ear would have gotten used to my Clearaudio Maestro over that waiting time. I'm not at all denying that you are correct. In fact, I believe you are correct.
In my mind as an audiophile with a budget, the question would be how much better. For example I use Audioquest cables. Not their most expensive. In the middle of their line. I have no doubt that if I replaced my cables with high-end Nordost my system would sound better. But how much better at what cost? Of course, retipping my stylus would only be about $500, so we're not in Nordost territory. Just an example.
Anyway, you and others have convinced me to have my EMT retipped. Thank you for the well thought out explanation.
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elliottnewcombjr, thank you for that great diagram. It made the point clearly.
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BTW, with this new amp change I am beginning to understand the difference between overly "analytical" systems in which the instruments are well separated, but they lack air. With my Hovland Radia, there is a definite separation between instruments both in width and depth, but the instruments sound as it they are enveloped in air, not just coming out of a black background.
My new speakers were demoed to me against Vienna Acoustics in the same price range. The Vienna Acoustics were extremely accurate, but they were not "musical" like the Sonus Fabers. Again, that had to do with the air. Some people like a system where instruments come out of a black background. They see that as accuracy. I go to the symphony and hear music live a lot. The instruments do not come from a black background. They are in a kind of musical soup, but when I listen carefully, I can distinguish were the sound of each instrument is coming from. It's not always easy, though.
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whart, yes there are so many variables in improving a system. I inherited my Hovland Radia amp from an audiophile friend of mine who passed away. I was using a McCormack DNA-1 upgraded to the top level by Steve McCormack just a few years before I got the 20-year-old Hovland Radia (the only non-tube amp Hovland ever made). When I first compared the amps switching them out quickly, I liked my McCormack. It seemed more musical, throwing a wall of sound that was wide and deep. I was just about ready to sell the Hovland but something nagged at me.
I listened to the amps for a good three weeks, leaving one in for a day or two and then putting the other in my system. Slowly I realized that the Hovland was providing a lot more inner detail and air between the instruments. The McCormack's wall of sound was comforting and pleasing, but as I became used to the Hovland's "sound I liked the air in its soundstage. Once I was able to hear that--in other words, my ear was a limiting factor--there was no question that the Hovland which was much more expensive than the McCormack was a much better amp.
If I get a windfall, like a work bonus or an inheritance, I might decide to look into upgrading my system. Otherwise I don't buy equipment until something seems wrong. My ear has developed so that I can hear a lack in my system. I am a big fan of ARC's phono preamp and for years I owned the PH-3. One day it dawned on me that something was missing. I listened to a few solid state preamps that were well reviewed, but I like the ARC sound. I could not afford $9K for a new Ph-9, so I began looking in the used marked and found a PH-7 at a dealer in Canada. (I called every ARC dealer in the U.S. and Ph-7s were impossible to find.) I bought it and I think it's a terrific phono preamp.
I guess my point is that upgrading a system is not only a question of money (although it definitely is) but also of how educated one's ear has become. I avoid listening to very expensive equipment I can't afford. The only reason I was able to purchase $18K Sonus Fabers was that I received a large inheritance, so my wife agreed to my splurge. I love the speakers.
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unreceivedogma, I think air versus analytical instrument placement against a black background is one of the major breaks in the audiophile community. I go to live jazz and classical concerts and air is everything. A sax hovering in air, drums pounding out air. Like you, this is what I like. And I will be sending my cartridge in for analysis and probable retipping. Thanks.
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301oil, did you send your EMT cartridge back to Switzerland to have it refurbished? My online dealer gives a 20% discount for trade-in. I wonder if that would be just as good a deal, since I don't have to pay shipping both ways. Thanks.
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The guy at Phono Cartridge Retipping, a retipping place suggested by mofimadness, said that he would retip my EMT which has a "super fine line" stylus with a "medium fine line" stylus. He said, however, that the word "super" is subjective and his "medium" fine line would be better than what EMT calls a "super" fine line cartridge. Any comments?
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ghdprentice, what brand of streamers and DACs would you recommend to compare to analogue? I owned a Moon CD player that was fairly expensive and I did not like it at all. It exaggerated the midrange, sounding pretty good at first. It took me a little while to recognize the distortions.
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whart, I wish I could warm to digital. Perhaps I have not spent enough $ on it. I recently bought the least expensive Moon (280D) streamer with DAC. I compared it against a $9K Linn and hardly heard any difference.
When I put on a record (varying by recordings, of course) it is so much more present than even the best digital. I think the best digital recording I have heard is Patricia Barber's "Clique." It's at least 192 sampling and sounds damn good, but it just doesn't come from an envelope of air the way vinyl does, at least in my system. Again, though, I have put much more money into my analogue front end.
One thing I do like about digital is that it is smoother, but music, as I'm sure you know, is not always smooth. You said you played the French horn. Saturday I heard Dudamel conduct Mahler's Fifth. Man, that French horn jumped out at me. From my experience, I can only come close to that kind of sound on vinyl.
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whart, 12,000 is a whole heaping lot of records! I can understand why you thinned them out. I have about a tenth that many, and that's a lot. Like most people, I will go back to certain records many times before I play a more obscure record. Some will never get played again. I think I played them all at least once when I first acquired them.
The more I think about it, my Moon 280D doesn't really sound "digital" to me, unless you mean by "digital" smoothing off rough edges. For example, I have a vinyl set of Starker playing the Bach Cello Suites and he attacks the strings with an aggressiveness that can be heard on analogue. On digital the vibration of the bow against the strings is not so "there."
On certain digital recordings with a very high sampling rate, digital recordings are almost like analogue. And, of course, not every analogue recording is great. Some are tinny and compressed. But with the best of both worlds, a very good digital recording at a high sampling rate and a very good analogue recording are extremely close even with my relatively inexpensive Moon 280D.
I think in order to be significantly better than the Moon, a digital front end would have to cost significantly more. I was running my computer into a Chord Qutest DAC, and when I compared it to my Moon 280D, the Qutest sounded much darker and less lively. I loved the Qutest when I first heard it, but I think having all the parts in one integrated box reduces jitter. And I'm guessing a DDC might have helped the Qutest.
But I play analogue and digital for different reasons. I write sitting in front of my Sonus Faber speakers. I play records while writing for a number of reasons. To my ear they sound better, but also having to turn them over forces me to get up every 20 to 30 minutes. Sitting too long is not good for my old body. In the afternoons when I am reading or writing things like this post, I play digital. I like exploring new recordings and new artists. I am listening to Dvorak's 7th Symphony which I also have on record, but this version is with Dudamel conducting.
In the end, as I think you suggested earlier, what matters most is having and fulfilling the interest in music. It's a very important part of my life. And I've enjoyed listening to recordings from my first Sears Silvertone portable stereo in college, through so many different pieces of gear I can't remember them all. The only constant is that I have continued to expend more $ as I have earned more money and my wife allows. Pretty standard, I'm sure.
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Thank you. I'll look for it on Quobuz and/or Tidal. I'm testing them one against the other to see which one I want to keep.
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