Replacing a stylus

I have a few questions related to the use and replacement of the stylus on my Pro-Ject turntable:

1. How often should I replace the stylus? I've had the current stylus for about two years of light to moderate use (the majority of my music is on CD). Is there any way of knowing when it is time for a change?

2. Looking online I can see that the Ortofon OMB 5e (my current stylus) is presented as either the actual stylus itself or the stylus and cartridge combined. Which would I need to get?

3. Do I need to replace the stylus with a straight like-for-like swap? Or can I buy another stylus?

As you can tell, I know very little about audio hardware so any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

The rule of thumb here is 1000 hours and then get a new stylus.

 

The stylus is the bit that the needle is attached to. The cartridge is the box that holds the stylus. You can replace only the stylus if you're happy with the sound. Some cartridges support upgraded stylii also. For example, my Nagaoka MP110 cartridge will support stylii all the way up to the range topping MP500. In that configuration it's a compromise, but technically not a problem.

For light hours like your system has probably had, you shouldn't worry about the stylus much. Go buy more records.

 

I replace my stylus once a year, but I don't have a crazy expensive set up. If the stylus was hundreds of dollars I'd probably push more for that 1000 hours out of it.

 

One of the easiest ways to upgrade the sound from your turntable is by upgrading the stylus but keeping the same cartridge. Your OM body will accept a variety of better styli.
An OM-10 is a bit of an upgrade, but not much; a 20 or 30, however, should make a considerable difference.

OTOH, you may not need a new stylus just yet. If you're satisfied with the sound now, I'd wait a while before replacing it.

Happy trails,
Larry B.

 

I recently upgraded from OM10 to OM20 stylus, easy to do and the sound quality improved considerably.

 

I wonder if someone has a cartridge / stylus upgrade grid posted on the 'net. There has to be some sort of diminishing returns curve for mismatched cart/stylus arrangements, like the stylus is eventually capable of way more than the cartridge, in which case you'd want to upgrade both.

 

Got a stylus situation. I lost mine today after I played my new Neil Young, "EKTIN" lp. I was putting on the cartridge cover or protector and I accidentally clip the stylus with the cover and it went popped out and flew. Been looking for it on the carpet with no avail. I was looking at the cartridge closely, I see the hole where it was connected. Doesn't look like it broke, just snaps in I think. Never had one do that before. Any solutions for the problem? I called Soundsmith, they were closed.

 

Certain Ortofons use the same cart for different styli. I had the 2M red and just switched to the blue, kept the same cart. can't do that with bronze/black, they share a different cart. And I've also heard that when you switch styli/carts, you need to recalibrate the tonearm.

 

I should have texted here first, mine is a Bang & Olufsen Beogram 3404, cartridge MMC 20CL.

 

Those MMC carts are special little guys unfortunately. You may get lucky and get a standalone stylus for it, but chances are you'll be replacing the entire assembly. Nature of the beast on those.

 

The B&O MMC series cartridges does not have a user replaceable stylus, retip yours or replace entire cartridge only.

 

This is why I NEVER use my stylus protector. Just keep the lid down. Helps that I have no children or pets. Sorry about your loss

 

I think the OM10 stylus was more than a slight upgrade from an OM5e, and they can be had on Ebay for around $35. The OM20 will be a much bigger jump, just a bit more costly.

For keeping track of hours played just buy a counter device on Amazon, they're only $5-$8. I bought ones with a base that sits by my tables. Just click with each side, estimate an average of 20 minutes per side and do the math, about 3000 album sides is 1000 hours of use.

 

Is this an Ortofon brand, the OM-10 or OM-5e stylus? On these you can replace the stylus or retip it? Reason I ask, I'm planning to upgrade to a higher end TT in the near future. Is the majority of the higher end turntables on the market, I would have the freedom to replace the stylus or tip's on most cartridges?

 

Yes, the Ortofon OM 5e is what shipped on my U-Turn Orbit Plus which I use in a secondary system. I replaced it with an Ortofon OM10 stylus found on Ebay at about half price. I honestly wasn't expecting as much of a sonic difference as I got, but was pleasantly surprised. There are also third party offerings from Japan available at a lower cost that fit the cartridge body, if I recall correctly Needle Doctor carries them. I'll likely throw an OM20 on sooner rather than later since its a relatively inexpensive upgrade.

 

Me as well. Unless it is the flip down kind (e.g. At 440MLa), I only use the stylus guard when removing, installing or storing the cartridge.

 

The OM 10 stylus upgrade is the most noticeable from an OM 5. And cost effective. And it's a relative bargain. From there, you gain refinement to a degree.

 

Nagaoka has the same swapping abilities with their carts and stylii but there's some model where you hit a wall and need to upgrade the cart to go further. But the MP-110 will accept more expensive stylii as well, to a point.

 

It is hard to work off just the number of hours of use or some other like guidelines. First, there is a vast difference in life span based on the type of stylus and the quality of the diamond used. The more expensive cartridges using high grade diamonds last MUCH longer. I had a Lyra Helikon that is now in a friend's system. It has 2,000+ hours on it and still sounds good. I've heard other cartridges that were clearly in need of the stylus being replaced at 400 hours or so. Life span is also affected by the cleanliness of the records being played; dirt is pretty abrasive for a stylus. Finally, it might very well be the suspension that supports the cantilever that goes and not wear on the stylus itself that determines its life span. The suspension has rubber parts to dampen the movement of the cantilever and these can harden and go bad over time. That means that even if you hardly use a cartridge, the suspension can be aging.

The best answer to how to tell when a stylus needs replacing is to listen for signs of mistracking. This is most easily heard when a vocalist, particularly a female vocalist gets too close to the mike and hits a note fairly hard. This sort of demanding passage would cause a cartridge that is beginning to go bad to mis-track with the result being that the sound breaks up. This tends to happen more in one channel, another indication of a problem. A test record with increasingly loud passages of the same music or test signal is particularly useful for this purpose. If the sound starts to break up at a particular level when the cartridge is new, it will break up at a lower level when it is worn.

 

It depends on the stylus. The more sophisticated the stylus profile, the longer it will last. And that's assuming that you have the stylus aligned, have been using it at the proper tracking weight, and the bearings in your tonearm have been functioning properly.

A conical stylus may last about 500 hours of play. An elliptical 1000 or more hours. The more sophisticated styli profiles such as the Gyger, Micro-Ridge, or Shibata may last 2000 hours before needing replacement.

You want to have a good magnifier (or someone else have one) so you can look at see the stylus wear.

 

All also good points.