Set-Up Tips

Perspective?

Mickey, Im assuming this is the trailing edge of the stylus?

Being that the stylus is 'dragged' through the groove... It'd be interesting to see how much the leading edge of the stylus has worn. Though it'd be next to impossible to get that view without removing the cartrdridge - unless you can set up a mirror behind the stylus?

Does this wear correllate with any problems you are hearing with your Lyra?

Even though the images are not perfect, it adds some justification to the purchase of a USB cam.

Michael does the left (inside) side of the stylus usually wear out because of the clockwise rotation? what is the usual wear? does that change for different stylus shapes?

I have the bad habit of often letting the stylus ride in the run-out area longer than I should before hopping up to get it!  Wondering if I'm getting some uneven wear on my Benz as a result...

I was wondering if this might be due to anti-skating issues that may not be detected upon listening?

The right side shows a steeper angle up to the shank and more of the tip gone on that side, too. Isn't the right-side (as we're looking at it head-on) more worn -- worn away?

Hi Mikey,

Not sure what this image really shows. It does look like one side is warn but there is so much croma noise in the image is may be blurring the edge definition.

As the Titan has a contact-line profile diamond I would be looking at it from the sides to determine the wear, no? It also appears that the stylus is not dead-centre in the cantilever too but the image quality may be deceiving here too.

I have access to a 400x Olympus scope (cart off of course) and have seen many mis-manufactured styli/carts over the years being a dealer. I've an Ortofon Cadenza Bronze here where the tip is not dead-centre within the diamond's width  so not dead-centre to the cantilever either resulting in one edge being longer than the other although the angles are still equal.

If it really is worn that much on one side it suggests to me the bias is way off and has been for a long time.

K

The sad part is who is going to know, but at any price it should be a give that QC wound catch such defects. At $500 or more I would be pretty upset if a mismounted  one would reach the sales shelf. I can understand higher prices if many styli were thrown out, but if not that is a very bad thing. 

Over the years MF has visited the likes of SoundSmith and perhaps others and seen what it takes to make or retip a cartridge. And a few months ago in a review it was revealed the Titan? Atlas? wasn't actually put together with the precision one would expect, although I've already forgotten the situation there.

The quick-'n-dirty question is, "To what degree do these hand made things get QC'd?"

Affordable (or at least available) new-gen USB microscopes are allowing customers to do their own QC for things such as seeing if stylus rake angle is similar to the cartridge body's rake angle (which would make things MUCH easier).

Kinda sorta makes one wonder if the manufcturers use something similar or if they just eyeball it.

All of which is to say I agree, Jim.

Could we see more comparison photos of worn vs new carts? Both sides of the cart above look warn to me-the slighly  concave. thanks