14 replies to this topic

[savwar]

I was just wondering this...
i have a set of ortofon qberts and a set of shures here with me, the needles are goin on both, it has been about 3-4 years since i replaced the stylus on the shures and i've never replaced the qbert styli since i won them in a dmc in like 2007 or something...

so i'm gonna get some 447 needles as they're much cheaper, but I was just wondering, have you ever replaced your carts (447s particularly...)? aside from breaking completely or being robbed.
did you notice anything happenning to the sound or what?

i've had to replace the little wires before.
and back in ireland i had 2 set of shures so i used to rotate their usage quite often...

whats the life on the carts??

[Jimmy]

i've been thinking this, as mine generally both only come out of out speaker (other times they are fine). luckily i just push the mono button on my mixer, but after testing everything else in my set up im pretty convinced its the carts or the little wires.

[savwar]

yeah, i'm also thinkin about the connections on the headshells too actually...
i know licking them works, but it harms them over time constantly doin that... like your balls ya know?

[Vekked]

my one cart just started acting funny, like 3 years old tho and heavy use

[d00ban]

my one cart just started acting funny, like 3 years old tho and heavy use

Yeah I've had that, channel drop outs and such

[Pub Tropicana]

I've had this problem on my Shure White Labels. It's an old wives' tale but licking the needles or just kind of giving them a little kiss at the point where it connects with the headshell seems to fix it in 90% of cases.

[Symatic]

dont lick your frikkin needles!!!!

get some isopropyl alchohol from the chemist for a couple of quid, dip an ear bud (q-tip) into it, and clean the contacts with that.

dont lick them!

as for stylus age, after a year or two theyre probably gonna need to be replaced.

ive managed to get more out of them but eventually you grind them down to a pretty wonky shape which doesnt sit in the groove evenly, causing damage to the records.

[Pub Tropicana]

sorry not the needles just the sort of nubs where the headhsell meets the tonearm. just a little kiss.

[Symatic]

i didnt mean to come across like a douche but yeah those contacts is what im on about too. if you kiss em or lick em or generally put any form of organic mank on them it will have a corrosive effect. alchohol will clean through the existing gunk and help the contacts. putting saliva or oil off your lips might help in the short term but speeds up the corrosion long-term.

[jam]

if yr constantly juggling and cuttin and want the best sound and performance outta yr stylus, every 6months

[Pub Tropicana]

Replace CARTS every 6 months or needles?

[jam]

sorry, needles, but thats only my preference and only if u cut juggle lots...

[Pub Tropicana]

oh OK. I don't reallly but that's good advice

i didnt mean to come across like a douche but yeah those contacts is what im on about too. if you kiss em or lick em or generally put any form of organic mank on them it will have a corrosive effect. alchohol will clean through the existing gunk and help the contacts. putting saliva or oil off your lips might help in the short term but speeds up the corrosion long-term.

Thanks man

[Symatic]

needles wear out with USE, and yeah for absolute best performance you should replace them every 6 months to a year if you use them a lot.
cartridges wear out with TIME, so even if you bought a brand new one and left it in a box unopened, it would eventually wear out anyway, but this takes many years.

[djdiggla]

^^Thats my understanding. If you use them reasonably then 6 mo to 1 yr.