I play on average 7 to 10 albums a week. I purchased the turntable last year around this time and I'm wondering if its time to replace the stylus. TLS, any advice you can share would be appreciated.
It depends on a number of factors.
First the quality of the diamond. Cheaper cartridges have softer diamonds, generally.
The tracking force, being correct. Cartridges are best set to the upper end of their tracking force range rather then the lower end. Some cartridges especially moving coils require a higher tracking force, and this shortens like a bit.
The quality of the pickup arm. A well balanced arm like those from SME help prevent one side of the stylus, getting excessive ware.
Very careful turntable set up, so that tracking error is minimized, tracking force is optimal, vertical and azimuth tracking angles are optimal, and the lateral balance of the arm also being properly set. Skating force also needs to be compensated. Many arms do not allow for all of these adjustments.
The final and important issue is the condition of the discs. Scratched dirty discs really shorten stylus life.
Under optimal conditions, playing clean discs in good condition, with a high quality cartridge, in a good arm properly set up, at tracking forces around 1.5 GM or a little less, should have a life of at least 2000 disc playings and often more.
On the other hand, poor disc quality on an inferior poorly setup low quality turntable, can and does, reduce it to 500 disc playings or less.
The problem is that by the time a stylus has enough ware to sound bad, irreparable damage is done to the discs. Therefore regular stylus inspections are important. This service is hard to obtain these days. I keep a good operating microscope on hand for the purpose of stylus inspection.
