Cartridge recommendation please...

No need to replace styli from vintage carts in my opinion. Get a great deal on an NOS under $1000 and just play it. When it's done, sell it and have someone else retip but not with original stylus of course. Pull the next vintage cart from the museum and press play. 

pickering’s published specs say life 250-300 hours for their stereohedron stylus which is more in keeping with other specs, it is an ’advanced elliptical’ in my opinion.

Pickering never published less than 1000 hrs life span for Stereohedron stylus, I have all original manuals for many different models in my collection, read this. They do recommend to inspect stylus every 250 hrs at least.

Stereohedron is NOT an elliptical. There you go. Remember Quadrahedron stylus ?

Pickering introduced the second American-made CD-4 cartridge, preceded only by their sister company, Stanton Magnetics. Experience and continuing research with these very special cartridges led to the design of the remarkable XSV/4000 with its Stereohedron stylus (modified stereo version of the previous cd-4 Quadrahedron stylus). This XSV/4000 cartridge appeared to be superior version of the XSV/3000 (and its predecessor the XUV/4500Q). Pickering’s new XSV/4000 is a remarkable development.

The problem (and it’s a serious one) is buying NOS replacement styli for those great old MM cartridges. Because they all eventually wear out and need replacement! Those Pickering/Stanton Stereohedron styli are going to be particularly difficult to replace!

Don’t know what’s your problem. Original styli are still available NOS, at least I bought many. You can read more in my sold listing for NOS D3000 stylus.

One of the most dramatic developments of cartridge performance was the introduction of the Pickering XSV/3000 series (in the 70’s). It offered the consumer a first generation of cartridges, combining both high tracking ability and superb frequency response. It utilized a new concept in stylus design - Stereohedron, coupled with an exotic samarium cobalt moving magnet. The "SP" versions appeared on the market later when Pickering offered a top-of-the-line Stereohedron cartridge, the XSV/4000 with wider frequency response, higher compliance and smaller effective tip mass. That was one of the best MM cartridges in the 80’s.

For those who don’t know:

The manufacturer of Stereohedron back in the day was The Expert Stylus & Co in UK, this company is still active and they can re-tip every Stanton/Pickering with their own patented Paratrace stylus (one of the best profiles you can buy today). Actually Expert Stylus can retip every cartridge, people often retiping Decca MI with Paratrace.

Now please explain me why anyone should think about re-tip if a cartridge is NOS and minimum lifespan is 1000 hrs ??? I just don’t understand it ? Try to play music for 1000 hrs first and see how many years it will take.

If the cost for Pickering XSV/3000 is just $350 (NOS) then why do you think you have to retip it ? Just buy another NOS cartridge for $350 or find ore expensive XSV/4000 or XSV/5000 if you want to upgrade.

Read more about Pickering in my sold listing here.

Pickering XSV/3000 is equal to Stanton 881s (both are high compliance design) with outstanding trackability and neutral sound closer to the mastertape.  

P.S. If everyone would like to read only about new Nagaoka in every post then why asking about recommendations ? Nagaoka is a low compliance cartridge (nothing special). 

For about $400, and with a little luck or patience it may be $300ish, Soundsmith Otello is a good one. I have no idea how it compares to almost anything else, though.

I’d personally check out brands like Nagaoka, Goldring, and Grado. Good luck! 

Agree with the Otello probably being a good deal. It comes in two compliance’s though, a medium (22) and high (28). So would have to make sure which would work on that arm. Downside, it still has to be sent in for a re-tip.

You could hardly go wrong with the Nagaoka MP 150 IMO. A compliance of 18 should work on most arms, and has a replaceable stylus. Even though the Nag’s had a price increase, they still seem well regarded for their cost.

Or the Grado Gold. I liked my Grado, but beware of the Grado hummmmm