How does everyone keep track of their stylus hours?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by colby2415, Mar 18, 2017.

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  1. Jking3002

    Jking3002 Forum Resident

    Step 1- Estimate average hours per day (or week if you want)
    Step 2- Write on box when you mounted new stylus
    Step 3- Replace at a conservative number of estimated hours.

    Example- 1 hour per day average listening. Mounted stylus on 02/01/2015. Want to replace at 750 hours. Replace on or around 02/20/2017. Easy.
     
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  2. drjjpdc

    drjjpdc Forum Resident

    I also think that 1 hour per day is actually above average. There are days when I listen to a few hours, but then there are a lot of weeks that I may only listen to a few hours in a week. Before I retipped my van den Hul MM-1 (purchased in 1995), it was retipped in 201o. No matter how much we love our vinyl and I do very much (I have 3 TT's), there is a lot of other software I listen to during the week.
     
  3. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    Each year, I print a couple twelve month calendars, each fitting on one one page. There are websites where you can make them for free (like CalendarsThatWork.com). I spend a few minutes in Word to reformat the calendar to my liking.

    When I listen to my stereo, I log on one calendar how many hours I use my turntable. I log on another calendar how many hours I use my preamp and amp (to track hours on tubes).

    I have months when I hardly use my stereo, and months when I use it a lot, so there's no way for me to even guess hours unless I keep track. I don't worry about being exact, and I don't worry if I occasionally forget to log hours. It takes a second to jot down a number on my calendar when I turn off my equipment.

    The most interesting thing has been realizing how much I really use my stereo. It's always far off from what I'd guess by memory. When I think about whether I want to spend money on an upgrade, my calendar helps me think about how much I really use my turntable or stereo.
     
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  4. dkmonroe

    dkmonroe A completely self-taught idiot

    Location:
    Atlanta
    Plain ol' dumb estimating. I replace the stylus about every 2 years but I don't think I've ever noticed actual degradation in sound before doing so. And I've had years where I played the TT every day and some where I only touched it for an hour or two on weekends. I don't intend to wait until it sounds crappy before replacing it.
     
    Rolltide likes this.
  5. mwheelerk

    mwheelerk Sorry, I can't talk now, I'm listening to music...

    Location:
    Gilbert Arizona
    My stylist hours are on the back of her business card.
     
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  6. Salectric

    Salectric Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Whenever I get a new cartridge I keep a log of how many LP sides I play each day. I figure 3 sides equals one hour, so I have a log of how many hours the cartridge has during breakin. After I get to 100 hours or so, I stop because the logs pretty much confirm that I listen on average 30 hours per month. That average lets me estimate yearly use at roughly 350 or 1000 every 3 years. I try to replace a cartridge at 1000 hours.
     
  7. Macman

    Macman Senior Member

    A simple checkmark in a notebook for every album I play.
     
  8. eirismania

    eirismania Forum Resident

    Location:
    Berlin, Germany
    Like others, I keep a detailed log of what I listen to on the TT. So I put the date, what I am listening to and then estimate the time as follows. Every side on 33 rpm record = 20 min. So if I listen to a full album it's 40 min. Double, 80 min. One side only, 20 min. And so on. It's pretty easy to do the math later. I realise some albums vary, most being less than 40 min, some more. But I think that level of error is small enough.

    After 3-4 months you can basically estimate how many hours you listen a year. I just logged my 60th hour on the 3rd month, so for me it's roughly 20 hours a month. On that count I should be good for 2.5 years with my Goldring 1042 which starts to degrade at around 500-600 hours from my last experience.
     
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  9. DigMyGroove

    DigMyGroove Forum Resident

  10. 33na3rd

    33na3rd Forum Resident

    Location:
    SW Washington, USA
    +1

    I looked on line, and surveyed some LP's in my collection to come up with 0.383 of an hour average for a LP side. The tally counter makes this very easy. The type that @DigMyGroove linked to is especially nice to use with its built in stand.
     
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  11. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    I kept a log once where I jotted down how many LP sides I played over the course of a month- just the simple IIII/ type of marks. I multiplied the no. of LP sides played X3 to get hours per month and just use that as kind of a average ball park figure per month.
     
    Jimi Floyd likes this.
  12. Jimi Floyd

    Jimi Floyd Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pisa, Italy
    same method here. Simple and effective if you listen to LPs.
     
  13. Gibson67

    Gibson67 Life is a Magical Mystery Tour enjoy the ride

    Location:
    Diss, UK
    I downloaded a counter for my phone, every time a play a record I'll add two. I take 1 side as 20mins. I simply multiply what my counter is reading x 20, then divide by 60, this gives me a rough idea of how many hours use.
     
  14. Veltri

    Veltri ♪♫♫♪♪♫♫♪

    Location:
    Canada
    I don't know that you need to get more accurate than an estimate, so wouldn't create a spreadsheet counting to the minute.
    Like car brakes or tires they won't last an exact number of uses.
    When your estimate gets close to the recommended limit, pay more attention to the sound, get it inspected, or just replace it.
     
  15. Gibson67

    Gibson67 Life is a Magical Mystery Tour enjoy the ride

    Location:
    Diss, UK
    A quick tally up, around 93 Hrs on my current stylus
     
  16. Tom Littlefield

    Tom Littlefield Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire, USA
    I have the Falcon PSU/Roadrunner system and it keeps track of hours played automatically (-;
     
  17. Colin M

    Colin M Forum Resident

    I use Click Counter app on my phone...(a click per side) x 20 minutes is a close enough estimate I feel.
     
  18. Hubert jan

    Hubert jan Forum Resident

    Always keep an identical spare needle stnad by. If in doubt about SQ compare with the spare new needle, discard old when new needle sound perfect again.

    1000 hours/needle is a fairytale.
     
  19. Trashman

    Trashman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Wisconsin
    This is the best approach to use. Make a rough estimate of when you'll reach a certain number of hours, then plan on replacing the stylus whether you hear a change or not. (Of course, if you hear a change, then don't delay in changing it right away.) If a stylus is rated for 1000 hours, consider changing at 750 hours just to protect your vinyl. My feeling is that once you hear a change to the stylus, that indicates it is worn to the point where it is no longer accurately tracking the groove and potentially doing damage.

    I'd rather change the stylus a little ahead of time instead of having to re-buy the records that I have damaged by playing a stylus too long.
     
  20. pick-me-up

    pick-me-up Straight shooter from S/FI

    Location:
    Sweden
    I don’t … ;) But records are not my first choice, so that is not a problem.
     
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  21. timind

    timind phorum rezident

    I just replaced the laser in my cd player. It's closing in on 15 years.

    I don't listen to a lot of vinyl and haven't even considered tracking the number of hours on my stylus. I just got back into vinyl; this is thread is making wonder why.
     
  22. spaulding

    spaulding Hoi Polloi

    Location:
    The Windy City
    Oh it's not hard to do that, perhaps sadly.
    I rack up 100 hours a month on a consistent basis.
    I know this because I use this method:

    I keep that log running continuously.
    I wouldn't ever replace a stylus based solely on the hours of listening, but it helps to have that near when I begin to hear issues.
    My last Koetsu lasted 1700 hours, and I was being quite forgiving the last couple hundred hours.
    And that tally has revealed my listening habits as well. It's a great thing to get in the habit of doing.
     
  23. AllenR

    AllenR Forum Resident

    Location:
    St Paul
    I use the same method. Plenty close for monitoring stylus life.
     
  24. Barnabas Collins

    Barnabas Collins Senior Member

    Location:
    NH
    I use a stopwatch app on my iPhone and click start when the needle touches the vinyl and stop when I lift it off the vinyl. I write the total time in a notebook each day I play records.
     
  25. Catcher10

    Catcher10 I like records, and Prog...duh

    Rough estimate, no logging....Based on my listening habits figure I get about 3yrs on a stylus.
     
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