Stylus Cleaning / Replacement

zomgbear

zomgbear

Well-Known Member
So I'm not an audiophile by any means so please don't judge my dirty habits but i had some questions about Stylus.
In terms of how long they should last - years wise, what would you say your stylus should lasts (if you on average play a few records a week or so).

Reason why I asked is my Ortofon 2M red just started sounding distorted after 6 years. I don't ever clean my stylus (i know i know). I do clean records but sometimes I get impatient. So feeling like maybe I should improve my habits there. But was looking into cleaning it now to see if it made a difference. I tried the magic eraser thing but it didn't fix it. Is there a last ditch effort to clean stylus before dropping money on a new one?

And on the same vein. I was looking into upgrading the Ortofon eventually - the next step would be the Blue but it's more than twice the Red cost. But there's also a silver cart replacement now too that's inbetween that also fits the body of the red? I'm reading that the upgrade portion of the silver is mostly in the cart and not the stylus? Anyone have the silver and have placed it over the red? is it a noticeable upgrade? Again, not an audiophile but I did notice a huge jump when i swap to the red from default ATLP120 cart.
 
zomgbear said:
So I'm not an audiophile by any means so please don't judge my dirty habits but i had some questions about Stylus.
In terms of how long they should last - years wise, what would you say your stylus should lasts (if you on average play a few records a week or so).

Reason why I asked is my Ortofon 2M red just started sounding distorted after 6 years. I don't ever clean my stylus (i know i know). I do clean records but sometimes I get impatient. So feeling like maybe I should improve my habits there. But was looking into cleaning it now to see if it made a difference. I tried the magic eraser thing but it didn't fix it. Is there a last ditch effort to clean stylus before dropping money on a new one?

And on the same vein. I was looking into upgrading the Ortofon eventually - the next step would be the Blue but it's more than twice the Red cost. But there's also a silver cart replacement now too that's inbetween that also fits the body of the red? I'm reading that the upgrade portion of the silver is mostly in the cart and not the stylus? Anyone have the silver and have placed it over the red? is it a noticeable upgrade? Again, not an audiophile but I did notice a huge jump when i swap to the red from default ATLP120 cart.
Click to expand...
@kvetcha has the best/easy/overall answer there for ya ;)
 
zomgbear said:
So I'm not an audiophile by any means so please don't judge my dirty habits but i had some questions about Stylus.
In terms of how long they should last - years wise, what would you say your stylus should lasts (if you on average play a few records a week or so).

Reason why I asked is my Ortofon 2M red just started sounding distorted after 6 years. I don't ever clean my stylus (i know i know). I do clean records but sometimes I get impatient. So feeling like maybe I should improve my habits there. But was looking into cleaning it now to see if it made a difference. I tried the magic eraser thing but it didn't fix it. Is there a last ditch effort to clean stylus before dropping money on a new one?

And on the same vein. I was looking into upgrading the Ortofon eventually - the next step would be the Blue but it's more than twice the Red cost. But there's also a silver cart replacement now too that's inbetween that also fits the body of the red? I'm reading that the upgrade portion of the silver is mostly in the cart and not the stylus? Anyone have the silver and have placed it over the red? is it a noticeable upgrade? Again, not an audiophile but I did notice a huge jump when i swap to the red from default ATLP120 cart.
Click to expand...

800-1000 hours. Dirty records will reduce that. I’m not a stickler for cleaning the stylus every time but I try to remember to give it a quick brush at least every second or third listening session if I can.

The silver stylus is a red stylus on a silver piece of plastic. The cartridge has silver coated copper coils as opposed to copper coils. The red is not great cartridge so if with higher resolution would be rough. The blue actually is quite good for the knee.
 
Joe Mac said:
800-1000 hours. Dirty records will reduce that. I’m not a stickler for cleaning the stylus every time but I try to remember to give it a quick brush at least every second or third listening session if I can.

The silver stylus is a red stylus on a silver piece of plastic. The cartridge has silver coated copper coils as opposed to copper coils. The red is not great cartridge so if with higher resolution would be rough. The blue actually is quite good for the knee.
Click to expand...
Yeah i feel like if I cleaned my records / stylus with more frequency my stylus would have lasted a while longer. The weird thing about the silver is that they have just the stylus replacement that fits on the red body - but sounds like essentially that would be the same as buying the red replacement but more expensive lol. So probably not going to grab the silver.

kvetcha said:
I'd just get a Blue stylus and be done with it (easiest) or move to another cart entirely.
Click to expand...
I'm probably going to stick with ortofon for now as they have easy swap out stylus.
I'm most likely going to try the blue. The red lasted me 6 years and I'm good with the sound actually but curious about the blue for sure. Option 2 is grab a red replacement.
 
zomgbear said:
Yeah i feel like if I cleaned my records / stylus with more frequency my stylus would have lasted a while longer. The weird thing about the silver is that they have just the stylus replacement that fits on the red body - but sounds like essentially that would be the same as buying the red replacement but more expensive lol. So probably not going to grab the silver.


I'm probably going to stick with ortofon for now as they have easy swap out stylus.
I'm most likely going to try the blue. The red lasted me 6 years and I'm good with the sound actually but curious about the blue for sure. Option 2 is grab a red replacement.
Click to expand...

Oh right yeah the silver stylus replacement is the red in a silver piece of plastic. Total rip off!
 
You made the right call. Blue all the way. Had the silver, for about five minutes (came with my first table) that five minutes is all you need to know about the silver.
 
kvetcha said:
imo the Red is kind of a stinker, but I've heard nothing but good things about the Blue, especially by comparison.
Click to expand...
I'm actually surprised I've kept the Blue on my Theory as long as I have. Maybe I was just thinking it would have the same reputation as the Red; harsh, bright, unforgiving on flawed pressings, etc.

Curious now that I haven't spun a Grado in a year if I would notice the differences...
 
folsom_lives said:
I'm actually surprised I've kept the Blue on my Theory as long as I have. Maybe I was just thinking it would have the same reputation as the Red; harsh, bright, unforgiving on flawed pressings, etc.

Curious now that I haven't spun a Grado in a year if I would notice the differences...
Click to expand...
I mean, the Grado and the 2M are very different carts, I'd be shocked if you couldn't tell them apart.
 
First impression is - it's very good!
Noticeably cleaner bass and fuller mid than the red. I didn't notice anything too different about the highs but it feels slightly clearer as well. Wish I could still do a side by side. This works for me because my speakers are notably lacking low end - so I've been using a sub to fill in that mid/low end. With this change, the mid/low was a bit overwhelming so i had to retweak my sub. I got it to a point where its sounds good but I will play around with it some more. Having some fun re-listening to different albums. Trying to see if the albums i'm intimately familiar with sound any different. I'm currently listening to Autechre LP5, it sounds incredible on it
 
I am ready to replace the stylus on my Ortofon Blue. I guess it's time, I've had my Fluance for a few years now. I was thinking that buying the stylus only would be cheap-ish, but I'm seeing 200 bucks as the going rate.
 
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