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Alright folks, the stylus' on my last decks lasted the entirety i had them and never noticed any degradation... However, i brought a pair of ST.150's about 6 months ago which came with 2x Stanton 680HP's and one Shure M44-7 (he broke the other one aparently.. hmm). Anyway i was using one 680HP for a while and one M44-7, i've not soo long ago swapped the M44-7 as it wasn't quite balanced (Left and Right wise it was uneven on sound levels). I've started to notice that my tracks are either too Bass heavy, or not quite enough. It's not the mixer because that was serviced about a year ago, it's not my headphones because they're relatively new.

My speakers are absolute shite for testing sound quality so that's out the door, but i'm spinning on wax and tunes are sounding a lot better through headphones + speakers from my PC through a standard headphone jack then they are through my decks + mixer - headphones+ speakers.

So i'm wondering what's a good way of trying to do a test as to when you need new stylus? The decks are about 2 and a half years old so the stylus would be, however he used the M44-7's for a while and said he didn't use the decks hugely intensely but enough to be "used regularly". I've given them a good clean with the little brush that come with the M44-7's and i'm maybe thinking it might be time to get a new pair of carts/stylus..

any help would be great =)

i'm not an audiophile so i replace mine when they flat out break.

suppose if your budget will allow it you could just buy some new ones and then test them against the old ones, if there's not much difference leave the old ones on for a bit...?

every 6 months

laurent__duval wrote:i'm not an audiophile so i replace mine when they flat out break.

suppose if your budget will allow it you could just buy some new ones and then test them against the old ones, if there's not much difference leave the old ones on for a bit...?

thats the way i do it tbh

depends on how much you wear on them. i use concorde style and replace my tips every 3 months, the contacts every 6

Jesus these are well due then.

I rinse most days of the week for a minimum 30 minutes

Don't wana ruin my vinyl so will start saving over the next few weeks for some new ones.. cheers guys

pkay wrote: i use concorde style and replace my tips every 3 months, the contacts every 6

I wince every time I have to buy new concorde needles..... Bye bye £100

yooamatwa wrote:

pkay wrote: i use concorde style and replace my tips every 3 months, the contacts every 6

I wince every time I have to buy new concorde needles..... Bye bye £100

yeah expensive taste

lol... I still have the technic carts, wonder how old they are????

do ya notice much difference wen using timecoded vinyls?

!!chea

Sirius wrote:lol... I still have the technic carts, wonder how old they are????

Word to this, I have zero clue how old mine even are lol

Sirius wrote:lol... I still have the technic carts, wonder how old they are????

do ya notice much difference wen using timecoded vinyls?

Not sure if this is aimed at me? But i don't use timecodes, strictly vinyl

bolsty wrote:

Sirius wrote:lol... I still have the technic carts, wonder how old they are????

do ya notice much difference wen using timecoded vinyls?

Not sure if this is aimed at me? But i don't use timecodes, strictly vinyl

i was just throwing it out there... wondering about the effect on quality of sound from old needles on em.

I jumped on the traktor scratch duo, since it was soooo cheap like.
still waiting on the delivery day tho....hurrah please!!ahahah

!!chea

When they break, which in my case isn't a long wait

my mate had some that were so old when you played records it changed the shade of the groove. We changed them pretty soon after that, that cannot be healthy...

Sirius wrote:lol... I still have the technic carts, wonder how old they are????

do ya notice much difference wen using timecoded vinyls?

!!chea

the sound quality isn't affected by the needle on time code vinyl, as long as the program picks the signal up even a little bit it'll come through clear as. you can use 'em till the wheels fall off and its all good.

laurent__duval wrote:

Sirius wrote:lol... I still have the technic carts, wonder how old they are????

do ya notice much difference wen using timecoded vinyls?

!!chea

the sound quality isn't affected by the needle on time code vinyl, as long as the program picks the signal up even a little bit it'll come through clear as. you can use 'em till the wheels fall off and its all good.

FUCK YEA!! that's what I was hoping.

!!chea

south3rn wrote:every 6 months

twice a year for me as well, unless kitty breaks em first

for some reason she loves sitting on the tables and the only thing i've got covering em is a quilt... pretty sure she's the cause of the mysterious bent styli,,, probably be cheaper for me to invest in some sort of cover now that i think about it

Thanks, again I'm just going to buy some M44G carts and stylus' instead, exchange rate with the US is fantastic from AUD atm.

I use time coded vinyl. I have a pair of Otrofon digitraks (got them cheap no way i'd pay full price) also a some stanton 500 somethings as backup.
Theres really no difference when you're playing time coded vinyl, the digitraks are alot louder and they sound better than the 500's when playing straight up vinyl.

Time coded vinyl do wear out, so I don't let my needles get to fucked before I replace them.