It depends upon the storage environment and suspension composition. High ozone like in L.A. attacks rubber fast. I live on an island off MA and the air is clean. We have salt air which attacks other things like metal. I have a lot of vintage cartridges and they are as good as new-30 years later!
typical "shelf-life" of phono cartridges?
Just wondering if there's a rule-of-thumb for the useful shelf life of phono cartridges.. I bought an fairly inexpensive Grado model PZE+(?) P-mount MM cartridge about 7 or 8 years ago which has seen very light use. It still sounds fine to my ears, but can the age alone degrade the sound? and to what degree? Thanks, jz