My Rega Exact has about 1000 hours on it--is there any urgency to replace?

Numbers add up to nothing. When you become distracted from listing to music with thoughts of replacing your stylus, it’s time to replace the stylus.

I’m of the feeling that 2,000 is fine but if each time I play records I start doing the math discussed here or I start listening so critically for flaws it ruins my good time, I’d rather just switch.

 

I would not recommend so if you are for example a conical user.

You can always just test with a new first. Its going to be replaced at some point anyway, might as well get a back up to test with the old.

 

The Exact stylus is not user-replaceable. It might be possible to send the cartridge to Soundsmith or to Pavel in Russia for re-tipping/new cantilever, but the cost would be higher than buying a brand new Exact.

 

Did not know that one, appreciated

 

It depends entirely on the amount of visible wear on the stylus. I think it’s worth invest a few dollars in a good quality, 10X (or stronger) jewellers loupe. Good tool for analog audiophilia. Makes it easy to examine the condition of any stylus to check for unacceptable wear, chips, and partial separation from the cantilever.

 

I put at least 2,000 on a 2m Black that I pulled a year or so ago and last week I slid that stylus on a 2m blue cartridge body I have mounted on a second table. It still sounds much better than the blue that only has about 200 hours.

Not Apples to Apples but close. I don’t doubt that if I mounted the black cartridge body, bought a new stylus and compared it to the old that the difference would be noticeable. I just don’t think that at 2,000 hours the stylus is at a point of failure. It still sounds full and smooth. When they go the highs get raspy.

But my main point being is that if you are spending all your listening time thinking about if it’s time to make a change, it’s time to make a change.

No need to be cheap, they don’t last forever. Do yourself a favor and change before it becomes a distraction.

1,000 hours is kind of a good spot to make a change, you can get something new and have a backup in storage you know has good life remaining when you need it. Assuming we are replacing the entire cart.

 

What happens after some time is distortion in the music.
The typical amount accepted by companies when manufacturing is 3% at 15khz. Shibatas like your black tend to reach that threshold after 400 hours. Thats not to say that you will notice it.

I get your music over sound point though.

 

I have been using a Rega Exact for the last 7-8 years or so. I’m on my 5th one. Maybe I’m more paranoid than I should be but I replace mine when they get to around 900-1000 hours (which I track with a usage log). I start to hear degradation with solo Classical piano first. This is apparently tough music to track. Once I start to hear distortion when playing solo Classical Piano, it’s time to change. My records are too expensive to take a chance. Some can’t be easily replaced at all so why risk it?

 

You hear degradation after 1000 hours? That seems so low to me. These things should last much longer than that.

 

Wow I’m at about 4000 hours on my exact and I just started noticing occxasional static

 

The only way to know if your stylus is any good is to check it through some kind of magnification that will clearly allow you to see your stylus. Whatever listening times and lifespans you hear about are at best just guidance. A usb microscope is pretty useful if you have the means to procure one. Sometimes your stylus can just be dirty which can affect your sound or prevents you from getting as much out of your records as possible. Its amazing how much gunk can accumulate and almost fuse itself on a stylus that you can't see with a naked eye. We've all cleaned a record and diligently used our dust brush and stylus cleaner before playing a record only to finish a side with some micro creature hanging off the stylus. Where did that come from?

Secondly, if anyone here wants to know more about how much pressure and heat is exerted on your stylus check this guys blog post out. Way too complicated for me but it helps understand stylus wear and how crap can just fuse itself to your needle.

Physics 111: Fundamental Physics I: The Physics Behind The Turntable Stylus

And to maybe answer your question I'd say not to worry too much about your stylus. You are probably savoy enough of a music listener to notice any impactful degradation of your stylus. A cheap and beneficial exercise would be to listen to your favourite album then use your stylus cleaner and brush and really give it a good (gentle) back to front clean. Like clean it like you've never cleaned it before. Then see if you notice anything. Worst case you have a super clean stylus and you just listened to your favourite album twice.

 

Generally, a Fine Line like on the exact will increase distortion by 3% at 15khz after every 400 hours, given optimal circumstances. If you can hear it or not depends a lot on you as a listener.

 

But all this time, pretty much you'd say it sounds cool? That's impressive, man.

 

Oh yes. Only the last 10-20 hours I’ve had a few issues but not sure if it’s Records or dust build up.

I’ve been traveling on and off for the last theee weeks for work and have been playing Records for five hours akready today and everything sounds fantastic So .....????

 

You probably do some kind of ritual already, I'm sure, but one of the easiest things to prolong life is to use something like the Zerodust gel whenever you finish a listening session. Some people will do it after every side of an album, but that's just a tad OCD.

 

We’re also older now than we’ve ever been.

 

Very true, which is why YMMV. I think Im still able to hear as good as I ever used to though, but I get better at listening every day.

 

All I do is use a 40 plus year old Discwasher®️ and slide to remove any crap (no liquid) before I play each record . And I do have a small Project® stylus brush to remove gobs of dust

I’ve never washed an LP or used an anti static zapper.

I handle my Records fairly carefully

 

After every album side, I make a tick mark on a sheet of paper to count number of sides played. I figure sides are 20 minutes on average, so having an accumulated total I know how many hours my needles have under their belts.

 

I played my Rega almost 9 straight hours today.

It adds up but why have it if you don’t use it.

 

Id say only about 2 for me, Ive been busy cleaning a lot of records this past week however.

 

These figures presuppose relativistic rpm's while ignoring losses to Hawking radiation. Your vta must be off

 

Love that band. Whooo ammm iiii?

 

I click the counter when I play an LP — well... not always... but most of the time.

I have a ballpark figure of how much time is on my stylus.

 

I agree, it sounds a bit lower than I would have expected given the stylus profile and the cost of the thing! To clarify a bit, I first hear degradation when playing solo Classical piano. When the Exact is new, it tracks everything perfectly but as it ages and wears, highly dynamic solo piano is the first thing to show stylus wear.

One example is on my Wilhelm Kempff recordings of Beethoven sonatas. These recordings are shockingly dynamic and apparently difficult to track. When the playing gets intense, I start to hear mistracking on the transients if the cartridge is over 800-900 hours. At this same point, I usually hear no distortion or mistracking on Jazz or Rock records.

I listen to a lot of Classical recordings so these are my benchmark. If I only listened to less dynamic recordings, I could probably get more time out of an Exact. I just don't want to risk damaging my records, many of which I can't easily replace. For the cost of the Exact vs. the cost of my record collection, it's an easy decision. I budget for that cost about every 18 months.