NOS cartridges

A lot of may have to do with the temperature and humidity they were stored at. Preferably cooler temps and lower humidity I think would keep them in better condition longer.

Dear Rickmac: I agree with the other people posts. Don't worry about. I already buy over 60+ second handa and NOS vintage carrtridges and only one of them with a suspension problem.

Do you think that your Grace 707 tonearm performs in good condition afeter all those years that when manufactured? are you sure that its bearing and internal wire are like " new " in quality performance?, but performs very well: right?

regards and enjoy the music,
Raul.

Big Difference between wire, bearings, and rubber elastomers. I have stated this before. Experts before, in the age of vinyl nirvana, in the 1980's always recommended that cartridges be replaced every 18 months regardless of useage, including NOS, never used. This is due to the oxidation that occurs naturally. This happens to Pinch Rollers, Belts, etc...on tape decks as well. But these are much easier treated with rubber cleaner/conditioner to restore the rubber. This is not easy, and almost impossible to do with the damper in a cartridge. Its definately risky buying old, NOS cartridges for this reason. its human nature, gonna happen, you cant change that. so, much safer to buy New Cartridges that are within proper date. i know that many of you post here whatever Raul says, but thats his opinion, and he is entitled to it. But doesn't make it right. Id be wary of NOS cartridges, unless you can buy new quality replacement stylii, like those from JICO. Then its a different story. Ray

I hardly think that I belong to Raul's posse considering the disagreements we have had in the past. As I said I use older cartridges all the time, in a recent test in HIFICRITIC a 18 year old Shure V-15, put in as a reference, outscored several NEW MCs and MMs, some by a large margin. Although I use MCs myself and have since the 70s older MMs can work well. I recently bought a Grace F9E on a used Linn, worked fine and I sold it to a MM user. Took me back to my Grace dealer days. I thought changing your cartridge every 18 months was intended to sell you a new cartridge, it may have applied to el cheapo cartridges but no one I knew paid any attention to it. Nor was it in the dealer lit in the days when there was such a thing. Some of the most respected reviewers talk about cartridges they have used for years, I have never read of one discarding a cartridge because it was old.

Hi Stan,
I have exchanged posts with you in the past, regarding VPI and SME. You tolld me that you were pretty well lost in todays audio, since you gave up business many years ago. I have the source of the writings of this info, regarding cartridge life, and being on the safe side, in replacing cartridges, after certain amounts of usage. As for NOS in a box, it mentioned 18 months, as for usage, some recommend 500-700-1000 hours of usage, depending. Its not something as easy as looking at the stylus tip under high magnification, that can show serious problems, but not really a gauge for replacement. There is a book, that you may well want to invest in, it has many of the experts in Turntables, as well as cartridges as contributors. Its called "Good Sound" by Laura Dearborn....Im not at all looking for an arguement, but posting recommendations from sources far more knowledgeable in this field than myself. Kind of like getting your car oil changed every 3,000 miles. Others will argue that they have gone farther without changing their oil. Thats fine, but much safer, for the guy who follows a schedule, and the 3,000 mile methosd thats been around for years. This was not an attempt to sell more cartridges, but I can see how there are those people out there that would have that be the first thing that pops into their head. I believe that you may not recall reading this, but maybe its something that you missed, after all, this advice was given during the Heydays of Vinyl and Turntables, along with the best of cartridges....the 1980's....Ray