Rega Nd5: hours on a Nude Elliptical diamond.
The Nd5 is catalogued as a neodymium moving magnet with a nude elliptical diamond, 1.75 g tracking force, and a 500 hour ceiling.
- Diamond
- Nude Elliptical
- Rated life
- 500 h
- Catalog tracking force
- 1.75 g
- Generator
- Neodymium Moving Magnet
Hours used against the 500 h ceiling.
How the hours are counted.
One LP side is 21 minutes, which is 0.35 h. Hours used are sides times 0.35. Wear is those hours divided by the 500 h Nude Elliptical ceiling. Below 15 percent the catalog calls the diamond fresh. From 15 percent to 70 percent it is in the tracking range. From 70 percent to 95 percent it asks for an inspection. At 95 percent and above it calls for a replacement, because a worn facet can chisel the inner groove.
Worked example, same formula: 400 LP sides are 140.0 h, which is 28.0 percent of this 500 h ceiling, with 360.0 h and 1028 sides left.
Nd5 questions
Where does the 500 hour ceiling for the Rega Nd5 come from?
StrobeHz groups diamonds by profile: bonded elliptical 300 hours, conical 400 hours, nude elliptical 500 hours, and MicroLine 800 hours. The Rega Nd5 is mapped to Nude Elliptical in the StrobeHzCore catalog that ships with the iOS app (Neodymium Moving Magnet, catalog tracking force 1.75 g). That mapping is the ceiling this page uses. It is a groove-risk budget, not a promise that every diamond fails on that hour.
Does every record on the Nd5 count as 21 minutes?
The 21 minute figure is the catalog average for one 12-inch LP side. A full LP is two sides, 42 minutes. A 7-inch single is usually shorter. If you know the minutes, divide by 21 and enter that many sides. The calculator does not know tracking force, dirt, or how hot the groove was cut.