I'm about to lose interest in record players

[radiotvnut]

Mainly due to the bad luck I've been having with cartridges/needles.

In the past, I'd always try to find NOS cartridges for my record player repairs and I quickly got fed up with just about every NOS cartridge having some sort of age related problem. So, I made my mind up to stick with current production cartridges.

Evidently, the new ones are often s**t, as well. I recently picked up a '63 Westinghouse console that used a variant of the Garrard autoslim changer, fitted with a Euphonics U8 ceramic cartridge. The original cartridge was bad; so, I replaced it with a Pfanstiehl P228 (Varco TN8) cartridge. When I tested it with a polystyrene 45, it instantly wrecked the grooves with one play. There's nothing like hearing "pppsssttt-pppsssttt" coming out of the speakers, along with the grooves visibly being wrecked. I made sure the cartridge was seated correctly and tried it at various tracking forces; but, no change. The only thing that worked was using a half used up needle out of some kiddie player. I ordered another new pfanstiehl needle and it also wrecked the record. I know these cartridges are not very gentle; but, they should not destroy a record on first play. Hell, even a modern crosley is not that brutal.

Then, we move to the '65 Magnavox. I replaced the needle in it's original EV cartridge and thought all was well, until I listened closer and discovered the left channel was weak. It turned out to be a bad cartridge and I replaced it with a current Tetrad cartridge. Well, guess what? The changer has no tracking force adjustment and it was tracking too light. I bent the spring a little and now I think it's too heavy. It's also gouging polystyrene 45's; which, may be due to the tracking weight. It did not gouge 45's with the original cartridge.

I know that I'm tired of spending money on cartridges, only to end up with crap that does not work well and I'm about to the point of losing interest in record players. I need to do what all the serious audio guys advise and stick to magnetic cartridge equipped turntables and stop wastng money on all this other junk. I might feel different if someone actually made ceramic cartridges that were worth a flip.

I know the best solution would be to convert to a magnetic cartridge; but, that can sometimes get quite expensive and some of those old changers won't work well with a magnetic cartridge.