Advice on Shure cartridge, please

Plastic in the cartridge dried out? Never heard that one before. Usually they say it's the stylus suspension. I've got several 30-40 year old carts that sound just fine (like yours). You can always replace the stylus assembly (it may take some time to find one, but they're out there), but I sure wouldn't sweat the cartridge plastic, which will outlive us all :-) Good luck, Dave

Dear Lswlam: IMHO if like you say the cartridge performance is fine then this is of what you have to worry about not what happen if......, when the cartridge performance will be different/bad then yu have to change it.

Regards and enjoy the music.
Raul.

Shure may still have a searchable FAQ that addresses these kind of questions. When I queried it about the longevity of a M91ED it said no worries. However if memory serves, the replacement stylus for the type III was no longer available. If it's not broke don't fix it. Check out www.garage-a-records.com

Thanks to all, and especially to Rockvirgo for the reference to the Shure FAQ. I found the following response:

"Only the stylus wears out. The cartridge body has no parts that deteriorate. A new stylus returns the product to like-new condition."

So I only need to replace the stylus when needed. The type III stylus is no longer available; has anyone tried the SAS Jico replacement stylus for it? Thanks again.

I have had the Shure V15 in the past and the styli goes bad very fast. The sound is dark, rather lifeless. My advice, get the Audio Technica AT 150MLX which is a spectacular cartridge for the money, way better than the Shure in my system. They track well, and can be had for 250-300.00. They are so much more dynamic than the Shure I had, they just inject dynamics. Jallen