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How I can usually tell is that my good condition records start sounding like the bad condition ones - and those sound even worse.
More here - which has the usual advice to just change a stylus on secondhand stuff with unknown use: https://blog.discogs.com/en/how-often-change-turntable-stylus/
Not familiar with the cartridge/stylus, but you can’t replace the stylus yourself - but Rega can: https://www.rega.co.uk/products/exact
how do you know when it is time to replace your stylus? it's a second hand deck so I don't know how many hours are on it. and can you simply replace the little stylus itself or do you have to replace the whole card ? it's a rega exact