Unless you have the Beach Boys Pet Sounds in mono, you don't have a record collection... yet.
I've got it in both mono and stereo. (And there were two different cover shots.)
But so far, looking good.
For all you guys with turntables, as you may know, OEM replacement stylii are almost impossible, but there are some great aftermarket stylii by a Japanese company called JICO. Not many years back I would have said nothing but OEM, real Shure, etc.
http://www.export-japan.com/marketing/stylus/
Also, check your cartridge... some share the same cart body, but with different grades of stylii, and being labeled differently. You can many times use the next higher grade of stylii for a good improvement. An example, using the Shure N99E stylus, or N111E on an M92E cart body. Most of the sound quality is in the stylus, not the cartridge itself.
These are also good cartridge/stylii shops.
http://www.lpgear.com/ LP Gear... also replacements for belt drive turntables. Good look up chart.
http://www.turntableneedles.com/ Ditto, carts, stylii, belts.
http://www.needledoctor.com/Online-Store/Shure-Phono-Cartridges
This guy, Ed Saunders, has some good Shure replacement stylii and often has good cartridges.
http://www.ewsaunders.com/
Trust me on this.
I'm open to questions about turntables and cartridges. Don't know it all, but know where to look.
If you're a newby to turntables my advice is to buy a Technics semiauto turntable, I prefer direct drive, but belt drive is OK.
And for a good value cartridge, Shure is a good bet. For cheap/good, the M92E is a good start, and easy to upgrade with better stylii. The M97xE is a good step up. Or you can use the N97xE stylus on the M92 cart body.
I've done extensive testing on cartridges and stylii... the sound follows the stylus, not the cart body. Do this, buy the Shure M92E cartridge.
http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=SHEC06&Category_Code=S15
.. and save the stylus for parties, or playing questionable LP's. For the good stuff, plug in this replacement stylus from LPGear. It is labeled as for the Radio Shack RXT6, which was in reality, a rebranded Shure M111E. This was the second cartridge down from the famous top line V15 back whenever. So, you have near V15 sound for well under $100.
http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=RSR16X
or
http://www.lpgear.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=LG&Product_Code=SHSM0111HE
It is actually made for LPGear by JICO.
DO NOT BUY anything "DJ", turntable or cartridge, for good records. Won't go into details but that DJ crap will destroy good records.
Trust me on this.