MM vs MI vs MC

[Thomas_A]

I managed to get hold of the Clearaudio TRS1007 test record copy and compared this to my Elipson test record for frequency response measurements. Both records are run through my RIAA stage, and post-adjusted with their recorded characteristics. Cartridge below is the Shure V15Vx with JICO SAS Boron at 130 pF and 47 kOhm. Below is the response shown from 1 kHz-20 kHz. Difference between the records are mainly in the 4-8 kHz range with a difference of max 0.7 dB

Looking from 20 Hz and up, the Elipson has a bit more slope in total, and although the TRS1007 appears a notch more accurate, both records seem quite fine for measurements, at least for use in adjusting loading.

Below is a comparison with 47 vs 33 kOhm loading and the Clearaudio record. If you have a Shure V15Vx and JICO SAS Boron, you could try any loading between 33-47 kOhm to get a reasonable response.

 

[antennaguru]

Thankfully there are great SAS (Micro-Ridge) replacement styli available for the Shure V15 series and also for the Technics EPC-205C Moving Magnet cartridges from Jico, and a variety of great replacement styli available for the Grace F9 Moving Magnet cartridge from SoundSmith.

BTW, the newish Jico Kurogaki (Morita) stylus with a nude conical stylus thru a Black Persimmon Wood cantilever is very nice as well on a Shure V15, at around half the price of the SAS.

The Stanton line has only moderate quality aftermarket replacement styli availability for their Moving Iron 681 EEE and their Moving Magnet 881 S, so with those two great MI/MM cartridges the NOS original Stanton styli still seem the best option. Sometimes I have been lucky buying those, in that they really were NOS and the suspensions were fine.

The bodies for all of the above can easily be checked with a modern multimeter by ohming out each coil to make sure they are good, and a replacement stylus brings with it a new suspension.

 

[JP]

As the copyright holder is allowing the video, I'll share here. This is a recent needle drop I did. The only processing on this is manual de-clicking as the pressing quality was pretty bad.

 

[JP]

So the rumors are true then; ASR folks don't listen to music

 

[Thomas_A]

I did!

 

[USER]

Another cartridge measurement:

Audio Technica AT71E, which was for a long while a popular budget option with an elliptical stylus and alloy tube cantilever.

 

[MakeMineVinyl]

Wow, that's quite a spray of distortion in the high end.

 

[JP]

Normal.

 

[watchnerd]

Another cartridge measurement:

Audio Technica AT71E, which was for a long while a popular budget option with an elliptical stylus and alloy tube cantilever.
View attachment 162277

I recently bought a used AT7V from Japan.

I don't know how similar it is to this one.

 

[analogSurviver]

I recently bought a used AT7V from Japan.

I don't know how similar it is to this one.

Q: What is the difference between Antonio Vivaldi and Audio Technica ?

A: None whatsoever. Vivaldi wrote 4 ( in a word : four ) concertos in 3000 variations each, AT made 4 cartridge design in 3000 variations each.

For both the number of variations it may vary - depending on how one counts.

 

[USER]

Another one:

Denon DL-301: an interesting medium compliance MC cartridge from the classic Denon era.

As with all my graphs, the bumps at around 5k and 13-18k are record artefacts. Consider them smooth (and the latter's peaks down about a dB).

 

[watchnerd]

Another one:

Denon DL-301: an interesting medium compliance MC cartridge from the classic Denon era.

View attachment 165407

I thought these were out of production, but apparently you can get them again.

 

[USER]

I thought these were out of production, but apparently you can get them again.

They are still out of production. I just found one in pretty good condition on eBay.

 

[USER]

I updated some of my graphs above. JP and I found that one of the Audacity anti-RIAA filters that we were using is faulty.

Please do not use the 44.1 nyquist prompt file linked to on this site. The 96k one is a tiny bit off--it slopes a bit at around 19k--but it is good enough.

 

[USER]

Two more cool ones. (Cool to me at least.)

1. Realistic RXT5. This one was sold in Radio Shack in the late 1980s. It is based on the Shure M111HE and is compatible with the N97xE stylus line. Unfortunately this copy is using the R5X elliptical stylus, which wasn't the top end option then, even for Radio Shack. The recommended loading is 200-300pF, so there is room to play and improve. Regardless, it is pretty damn nice! Likely ±1dB set up properly. A keeper. I think it deserves a stylus upgrade and follow up.

As with all my graphs, the bumps at around 5k and 13-18k are record artefacts. Consider them smooth (and the latter's peaks down about a dB).

Addition: Shure M111HE proper with R8X biradial elliptical stylus (0.2 x 0.7 mil instead of 0.4 x 0.7 mil of R5X):

As with all my graphs, the bumps at around 5k and 13-18k are record artefacts. Consider them smooth (and the latter's peaks down about a dB).


2. Grado Prestige Blue (Original Version). Another popular cartridge. There wasn't much info regarding recommended loading, so I went low. Clearly it can be better loaded and is likely in the 200-300pF range like the cartridge above. Not too bad--it dips enough to have a warm sound--though clearly Radio Shack was the way to go.

 

[VinyLuke]

Hi,
I'm trying to plot my measurments, but I get this message:

File "C:\TEMP\TEST2.PY", line 166, in <module>
ampout = signal.filtfilt(b,a,ampout)
File "C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\scipy\signal\signaltools.py", line 4054, in filtfilt
edge, ext = _validate_pad(padtype, padlen, x, axis,
File "C:\ProgramData\Anaconda3\lib\site-packages\scipy\signal\signaltools.py", line 4104, in _validate_pad
raise ValueError("The length of the input vector x must be greater "
ValueError: The length of the input vector x must be greater than padlen, which is 12.

I'm using Anaconda on Windows 10.
Is it a problem with my file?
It is a HFN frequency sweep downgraded to mono with inverse riaa applied in Audacity.
I've attached it - could someone check is working?
Thanks

 

[JP]

You have dead space at the beginning and end of the file - there must be constant f throughout. You also left the 1k reference level at the end of the file and I'm not sure how it'll try to handle that. Last it appears RIAA is applied as you've +20dB rise from 1k to 17k.

 

[VinyLuke]

Ok I've separated channels in Audacity, deleted one and didn't use inverted RIAA filter:

This is what I've got so far

Second script with three plots doesn't work - I get this error:

File "D:\pomiary\plot\test2.py", line 200, in <module>
plt.figtext(.17, .13, info_line + "\n" + \
NameError: name 'info_line' is not defined

 

[JP]

Your line numbers are oddly off - that line should be around line 330. Regardless it doesn't have anything to do with which plot style is chosen.

 

[VinyLuke]

Yeah, looking back at the plots done by other members, I agree - something is wrong.
I use HF News Test Record -20Hz to 20kHz frequency sweep- through my phono preamplifier into Audacity.
I'll try to redone the test with 44.1kHz 16bit settings in Audacity - without further convertions from hi res.