Not if you're Albert Porter. He tracks exactly how much time he has on each cartridge
Even if he does...how does he know?
Lyra Atlas Pics
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Even if he does...how does he know?
Since the hi end showcasers and infomercial audiophiles conduct a coronation and anointment ceremony every 6 months or so for the next greatest cartridge, who is worrying about needle time?
Sort of like Harry Pearson syndrome, why worry about hours the cartridges will never accumulate before they are moved on to audiogon or its ilk after the de-throning down the road?
Maybe the diaper shows the dark shavings that indicate the needle has turned into a cutter rather than a player.
Sort of like Harry Pearson syndrome, why worry about hours the cartridges will never accumulate before they are moved on to audiogon or its ilk after the de-throning down the road?
Maybe the diaper shows the dark shavings that indicate the needle has turned into a cutter rather than a player.
I don't know about the Anna, but the A-90 was certainly given the full monte with Fremerization and adulation, only to be a disappointment to several who eventually heard or bought it. One can attribute a certain amount to synergies, but early adoption seems to be a bad course for expensive cartridges. I prefer to let the beta testing go on for at least 8 months to a year and avoid the initial fanfares. I suppose with analog, anything you do sounds different, but it takes a long time to actually determine if it sounds better. Cartridges don't even settle in until a couple of months of heavy play.
You may find this post by Jonathan Carr on certain stylus profiles and expected life expectancy enlightening...
Unfortunately not every weekend and thinking about it, maybe a few of those I only play one side
HI All,
Your estimates of stylus life are nothing but anecdotal. What you need is an actual purpose designed stylus microscope that will show the wear state of the stylus. Such microscopes were once pretty common in high end stores. Now, they are rare and expensive when they do become available for sale. The last one I saw on ebay went for over $500. I own two stylus microscopes. The one that I have used for over 30 years is the Shure SEK-2. This is an excellent unit but, as I said, hard to find.
The second is a DIY microscope I designed specifically because the Shure unit is so hard to find. It works as well or better than the Shure but both are fully adequate for the job. The DIY scope project is fully detailed on the Audio Karma forum at:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225960
I can't believe that you all are willing to spend multi-thousands of dollars on these wonderful cartridges yet are willing to settle for no instrumentation to determine he actual state of your styli. The DIY scope project is relatively inexpensive and works like a champ. It is certainly less expensive than your record collections and your fine cartridges. I strongly suggest that you check it out.
One possibility is to build the DIY scope for your audio club and have it available for all to use at club meetings. You will not be sorry. Take it from someone who has checked thousands of styli under my scopes both for personal use and professionally.
Sparky
Your estimates of stylus life are nothing but anecdotal. What you need is an actual purpose designed stylus microscope that will show the wear state of the stylus. Such microscopes were once pretty common in high end stores. Now, they are rare and expensive when they do become available for sale. The last one I saw on ebay went for over $500. I own two stylus microscopes. The one that I have used for over 30 years is the Shure SEK-2. This is an excellent unit but, as I said, hard to find.
The second is a DIY microscope I designed specifically because the Shure unit is so hard to find. It works as well or better than the Shure but both are fully adequate for the job. The DIY scope project is fully detailed on the Audio Karma forum at:
http://www.audiokarma.org/forums/showthread.php?t=225960
I can't believe that you all are willing to spend multi-thousands of dollars on these wonderful cartridges yet are willing to settle for no instrumentation to determine he actual state of your styli. The DIY scope project is relatively inexpensive and works like a champ. It is certainly less expensive than your record collections and your fine cartridges. I strongly suggest that you check it out.
One possibility is to build the DIY scope for your audio club and have it available for all to use at club meetings. You will not be sorry. Take it from someone who has checked thousands of styli under my scopes both for personal use and professionally.
Sparky
i've also got a blue-bodied Parnassus that i would like to convert into an Olympos SL or Olympos Mono.
Myles, i'm guessing here, but i don't think all Parnassus(i?) came with those unobtanium magnets that Lyra needed to salvage to make the Olympus. When I took advantage of the offer to 'give back' my Parnassus I think they had to verify that it had the special magnets.
Or I could be completely wrong, and the Flat is referring to a very obscure run made in Kentucky during Derby time.
there are 2 versions of the Parnassus.
the blue-bodied version contains the plat-iron magnets required for a donor Olympos cart.
the later version - known as Parnassus DCT - came with a grey-body & does not have the plat-iron magnets.
Ok had both, just never just thought of them that way
The Olympos is a lovely sounding cartridge and would live to hear it up against the Atlas!
One long term observation of the Atlas is the extremely fantastic tracking the cartridge has from the beginning to the more challenging end of lp's..
The only similar cartridge I have found with similar tracking is my Dyna XV-1s. Interestingly both use Ongara line contact stylus - they are slightly different on the absolute specs thou.
They both easily have the longest stylus life, making the admission price better value long term.
Still loving the cartridge.
The only similar cartridge I have found with similar tracking is my Dyna XV-1s. Interestingly both use Ongara line contact stylus - they are slightly different on the absolute specs thou.
They both easily have the longest stylus life, making the admission price better value long term.
Still loving the cartridge.
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