There is a trade off in tracking force and wear on the LP. The Shibata,micro ridge and Fritz Gyer track at lower VTF than the ellipitcal and conical. However with that being said I have never worn out a LP by playing it. And I have been in this hobby/business since 1957.
One other item to note is that prior to the fuel crisis of 1974 vinyl LP had several grams more weight to them. During the fuel crisis, vinyl, being an oil deriavtive product, was in short supply. But production numbers had to be hit. So the record companies in response to this shortage cut back on the weight of the vinyl. Take most any pre 1974 LP vinyl and feel the heft to it as opposed to post 1975 vinyl. With this came a certain amount of warpage that was due to the thinner vinyl. The record companies after the oil crisis never again produced heavy vinyl, except for certain special editions.
The Shure V15MR is a fabulous cartridge, but depending on the vinyl it can be unbearable at times. It will retrieve everything and I mean everything from the grooves, the good,the bad and the ugly. But it does have a sonic signature that has few peers in moving magnet cartridges. Actually the Shure M97xe which is similiar to the V15MR, has an ellipitical stylus with less surface noise and sounds very good indeed and price very right today.
With the new vinyl being produced today as well as used vinyl in the market place,I see no need to spend more than $400.00 on any phono cartridge. Thats just my opinion. Feel free to spend whatever you wish.
One other item to note is that prior to the fuel crisis of 1974 vinyl LP had several grams more weight to them. During the fuel crisis, vinyl, being an oil deriavtive product, was in short supply. But production numbers had to be hit. So the record companies in response to this shortage cut back on the weight of the vinyl. Take most any pre 1974 LP vinyl and feel the heft to it as opposed to post 1975 vinyl. With this came a certain amount of warpage that was due to the thinner vinyl. The record companies after the oil crisis never again produced heavy vinyl, except for certain special editions.
The Shure V15MR is a fabulous cartridge, but depending on the vinyl it can be unbearable at times. It will retrieve everything and I mean everything from the grooves, the good,the bad and the ugly. But it does have a sonic signature that has few peers in moving magnet cartridges. Actually the Shure M97xe which is similiar to the V15MR, has an ellipitical stylus with less surface noise and sounds very good indeed and price very right today.
With the new vinyl being produced today as well as used vinyl in the market place,I see no need to spend more than $400.00 on any phono cartridge. Thats just my opinion. Feel free to spend whatever you wish.