Are 500 hours too many for a used hi-end cartridge?

Records must always be played on period correct cartridges. Playing mono records with stereo cartridges can result in severe damage or even death. Also never play any record with a cartridge that costs more than the record collection. While some have reported good results with cartridges mounted on arms that cost the same it is nevertheless advisable to mount the cartridge on a turntable that cost more than the phono stage. Under no circumstances should the power cord equal the cartridge. Unless you are over 3000 records. At 10k records anything goes and you can have up to five turntables, seven arms and 15 cartridges- not counting mono of course. 

There are probably even more irrelevant audiophool dogmatic canards but it is late and, oh wait did you say JC Penney portable record player with the included ceramic cartridge from 1965? Why yes you did! Well never mind then! That is the one exception! That baby was made for the Ortofon 2M Red!

@millercarbonI don’t understand why people waste their  time writing nonsense. And worse,  I end up wasting my time reading it. And then waste more time writing about it. 

Pertaining to my situation of being a “tight budget audiophile” (if there is such a thing): If one has an inexpensive turntable with the stock tonearm — in my case a Denon DP-300F with an Ortofon 2M Red cartridge — does it make sense to put a more expensive, higher quality cartridge on that tonearm?

You can simply use better Ortofon stylus with your cartridge, you will have to replace stylus anyway so you can try better one on the same cartridge.

Modern cartridge like 2M Red is not better than most of the Vintage MM/MI cartridges you could use. For example an old inexpensive Ortofon M20FL Super with FineLine stylus is better than 2M Red and many others.

hi,
1.mostly not, i keep tracking of playing hrs of my Zyx and if i trust humans then somebody else does.
2.playing time is important, but if you use a cartridge over 30 years old then most likely the suspension would be questionable.
3. depends from tip profile, pedigree of cartridge and playing conditions
(LP's, weight, alignment....)

@chakster, I didn’t know I could fit a better stylus on the Red.  How is that listed?  Do I simply search for a replacement stylus for that cartridge and choose from among those listed?  

I would think a big issue with how these old records were played would be the heavier tracking force, that wouldn’t be adjustable on the cheaper record players back then.  Also, I didn’t hear about cleaning records until the early 70’s, when I got my first turntable and was reading about audio equipment.  I recall getting brand new records with a few pops mixed in (mostly just heard on quiet passages), which we thought was just part of the medium at the time.  And, of course, who thought of replacing a needle after so many hours of playing — those things lasted the life on the player, right!  😲

I have come across a few old records now that still sound muffled when I play them.  Do you think further cleaning would help, or are the grooves likely permanently damaged and no amount of cleaning would help?  Thanks for the info.