OK, I'm a dummy when it comes to turntables. I got this Sansui PD-10 turntable awhile back for $5. I know it's not the best (compared to my Yorx), but it seems they're not too bad.

Here's a photo of the business end. My son says the hangey downey pointy thing is ground off. What I need to know is, how much should I replace? It's a Sansui SC80 "cartridge"(?) I believe. I plan on using it for playing old beat up albums I have.

Educate me, folks!!! Tell me what parts are what!

The hangey downey pointy thing is the cantiliver, which, in this case, should be aluminium. At the end of it, pointing down towards the record, you should be able to see, with the help of a magnifying lense, a tiny diamond tip, aka "The stylus".

If there´s no stylus, you gotta get a replacement.

You must unscrew the headshell by turnig the round screw head at the top of the headshell / arm joint. Then gently pull the headshell away, while holding the tonearm tube with your other hand, in order to avoid damaging the arm´s bearings.
You should now be able to properly inspect the red cantiliver plastic support and check for the stylus.

Then check these guys for a replacement.

Assuming the cartridge is properly aligned, you should just check the VTF ( Vertical Tracking Force ), which I´d guess to be around the 1.5 / 2.0 grams, and the antiskating force to a similar value.

Make sure to keep your TT levelled.

Under no circumstances you should play dirty records.

Have fun.

at the very least do replace the needle/stylus. that will make a big improvement in the sound quality. since it's an older turntable. I also suggest you replace the cartridge. most times when you buy a new cartridge it comes with a new needle with it.. saving you some money that way.

i have a Pioneer PL-530 turntable.. the right channel was always slightly lower in volume than the left channel. Me and my friend spent a lot of time trying to tweak the tone arm to get it to balance out. never could.

not till I replaced the cartridge and stylus did it finally balance out.. and wow.. did it ever sound great. Look into Audio Technica cartridges.. they have all price ranges.. so if you just want something basic to listen to old records.. get one for about $30 or so.

Bad needles are what a lot of people experience once they get back into this hobby of vinyl albums again.. you wouldn't put used motor oil in your car would you? Same for a turntable, the needle wears out and needs a fresh diamond.. even it it hasn't been used for 10 or 20 or more years.. replace it.

good luck and have fun spinning some albums again.

I tend to agree with Danger Boy, not knowing the condition of the cartridge I think it would be prudent to replace both cartridge and stylus. That will create a new delima, what cartridge to replace with, they all have a different sound, part of the fun of vinyl, I have apreference to Pickering XSV3000, they haven't been made in a number of years and are hard to come by, others will vote for Shure cartridges, all mentioned so far a medium priced cartridges but at this point in your vinyl adventure are probably more than you want to spend. I know Picking XV15 625 are still availible and not to unreasonable but cartridge choice is something you will need to make, we can recomend and let you know what we hear with various cartridges, emaidel is a good source of information for this also.

The next step you will need to check the cartridge set up, even if you keep the current cartridge and replace the stylus I would check the set up do to either not having been set up correctly in the first place or out of adjustment. Here are a couple of links to information on setting up a cartridge http://www.vinylengine.com/articles.shtml and http://www.theanalogdept.com/tonearm_alignment.htm

Welcome back to the world of vinyl, set up properly you will be amazed at the sound and be very happy.

Jim