your shure cartridges should have come with a brush to clean the needles with, mine did.

your shure cartridges should have come with a brush to clean the needles with, mine did. Also, if your needles are picking up dirt real fast then you might to adjust the wieght and height on your tonearms. I know alot of DJs that just turn the weight backwards and put it all the way down... THAT'S THE WRONG WAY TO DO IT!!

Actually, if your needles are picking up dirt fast YOU SHOULD CONSIDER CLEANING YOUR DAMN RECORDS MORE OFTEN lol....


And, don't use your finger to clean needles. Use the brush that came with them or get yourself a new one.

the weight and height are perfectly adjusted for the 44-7's someone said that i may be having issues with static, but i figured that if i was using the other needles that i'd have a similar problem with them too... but thats not the case.

With the 44-7's clean, and a newly dusted off record... I may be able to get through 4 songs before it's so clogged that the song will start cutting out and it may even quit

ortofon digitrax ftw. I have used the same stylus (no sixxx baby) for over a year.

maybe you could tell me what makes these carts so specifically suited to time coded records?

It's probably a higher output BUT honestly, any needle will work with Serato. It's the tracking on the actual vinyl that a scratch DJ should be after.

i want to hear the science bit re: digitracks.

cant find any 'real' explanation anywhere :/

Im not too good at explaining the specifics. All i know is I use shure 44 and digitrax and I dont hear a difference in sound quality and my digitrax are solid and dont wear.

You're not going to ever hear a difference as the needle is just TRACKING better. It's probably gonna show up as a bigger/better circle scope in the set up screen.

Same thing happens when you use a knockoff 44 needle from Radio Shack... circle is smaller than if you use the Shure one. :)

Remember these?
www.djdeals.com

[rant]
so there is no science behind the digitracks then.

as i suspected. ortofon made a cart just to appeal to the 'buy all related equipment' SL nerds most of us are.... charge a fortune, dont back it up with any real tech evidence its going to make SSL work better in any way.

i have been a m447 faithful for years now but has anyone else noticed the stylii are bending and breaking way more than they used to?

I just want stong, sturdy carts and stylii that have a big output, track well and dont cost the earth :/

[/rant]

Nope. My Shure carts are still the same after all these years. No difference. Maybe you gained some weight. lol

:P