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Do You Play Or Save Your Best Cartridges

I suspect I am like many here, I have a small collection of cartridges. Until recently I would keep a casual playing cartridge set up and I would save my "good" cartridges for evening listening sessions where I am focusing on listening to music at the listening chair. I always had a casual cartridge mounted on an arm, maybe an Audio Technica OC9 III or something along those lines. These days its either an Ortofon MC3000 II or MC5000. 

 

Earlier this year I finally decided to use the DAC in my Trinov pre amp, and this involved getting a subscription to Roon, and hardwiring the computer and preamp to the router with CAT 6 ethernet cable. The sound is remarkably good, to the point where this can easily be my casual listening format. 

I almost wonder if its necessary to have a casual cartridge. Or should I just play my best ones as often as I want and bite the bullet and know I am getting a new diamond fitted every few years. 

 

Anyone else go through this kind of decision process?

neonknight

Showing 2 responses by neonknight

neonknight OP
339 posts
 

The last couple of years I work from home, so I am able to listen to the stereo for 1.5 hours to 2 hours before work starts, and as a general rule 2 to 3 hours in the evening. So that is 3.5 to 5 hours a day. That adds up to a lot of time on a cartridge in years period.

In the past I would play vinyl in the morning, but the digital is so good I can use it for morning play. That way I am looking at about 2 hours a night on vinyl. That is still 700 hours a year on a cartridge or a bit more. So that is 2 years on a diamond as a rule of thumb before it is out for service.

I could rotate between two of my best cartridges on one table if i really wanted to. But I do have a second table with two arms, and one cartridge is currently installed on each table, with a third arm on the second table in which I keep a third cartridge.

As I was thinking about this process, I believe I have sussed out my solution. I have two Ortofon MC2000 cartridges, one with OEM cantilever the second I damaged last year. It has been fitted with a boron cantilever and diamond. Sounds quite nice actually. I think I will set the arm up for the OEM MC2000 and then also install the second cartridge on a different headshell. I wont change VTA settings but rather have that one as the casual cartridge, That way I don’t have to change SUT or anything else. That should be good enough for a casual cartridge, and meet my desire for good sound. A slight VTA variacne isnt going to be the end of the world. Who knows perhaps if I pick the right thickness of headshell everything will line up without any issues.

neonknight OP
339 posts
 

I guess an explanation is necessary.

How and why does a habit develop? I have played vinyl since my teens, so this is not new. There was a time when my digital collection was physical, and then later ripped files on a hard drive. However, they did not mirror my record collection, I typically bought distinctly different albums. Yes there is some overlap, but not a great percentage. So at that time digital could not be a casual format playing the same type of music I had on vinyl. Streaming changes that.

So if I wanted to listen casually, let us say I am at the computer, reading a book, or playing on the phone, why would you burn up the hours on your best cartridge? There is an argument for having a lesser cartridge for just casual listening.

I have two decent cartridges, a Transfiguration Audio Proteus and an Ortofon Verismo that are cartridges 1A and B for me. I listen to them quite a bit. But I have a casual cartridge installed on another arm, an Ortofon MC3000 II or 5000 that I can also play. I am considering eliminating them because I can now stream digital and it sound remarkably good.

 

So that is the reasoning behind the thread.

 

I was just curious what others do.

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