The only used cart I ever bought was when starting to assemble my first high end system and looking to save money, being fresh out of college.
It was a Spectral cart (anyone remember those) that i bought on Audiomart newsletter and the entire assembly was tilted. The seller didn’t want to return the money and I think settled on refunding half after I got the owner of audiomart involved. My bank had told me incorrectly that a bank check (or certified, I forget) could be cancelled. I confirmed it several times and was always told yes. When I tried to cancel the check, of course it wasn’t- but my bank paid off anyway since I had people’s names that told me the wrong info.
never bought a used phono cart again, but also bought many used high end gear and never had an issue other than that once.
incidentally my strain gauge cart has many thousands of hours and now I want to have it checked . Sounsmith was quoted saying a strain gauge owner put 6000 hours on listening to vinyl all day long, and after sending back to Peter to look at under a microscope, the stylus still was not worn out. Sounds crazy, but Tam henderson from reference recordings claims he plays test lacquers with the cart and they don’t wear out!
It was a Spectral cart (anyone remember those) that i bought on Audiomart newsletter and the entire assembly was tilted. The seller didn’t want to return the money and I think settled on refunding half after I got the owner of audiomart involved. My bank had told me incorrectly that a bank check (or certified, I forget) could be cancelled. I confirmed it several times and was always told yes. When I tried to cancel the check, of course it wasn’t- but my bank paid off anyway since I had people’s names that told me the wrong info.
never bought a used phono cart again, but also bought many used high end gear and never had an issue other than that once.
incidentally my strain gauge cart has many thousands of hours and now I want to have it checked . Sounsmith was quoted saying a strain gauge owner put 6000 hours on listening to vinyl all day long, and after sending back to Peter to look at under a microscope, the stylus still was not worn out. Sounds crazy, but Tam henderson from reference recordings claims he plays test lacquers with the cart and they don’t wear out!