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Turntable advice requested, please!

mike70

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Something I think is good to remember ... finer stylus cut needs more care in setup and tonearm capabilities. VTA / azimuth / compliance have more impact.

Many times I saw people complaining about a fine line stylus and they don't use a protractor. In that way you're wasting money.

The EN stylus is the "sweet spot", spectacular price / performance. See it on some serious YouTube channels with decent analog systems ... that cartridge is a beast.

 

Golf

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Could also make sense to produce the cartridge bodies just there, where the styli are produced.

Anyway, looking at the prices for replacement styli could make you believe that they are by far the most expensive factor in the system, compared to the cartridge bodies. See this chart I set up based on prices found on AT’s german website:

1667219560229.png
 
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mike70

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As it is elliptical, just like my VM95E, I would really hesitate to invest that extra money. Naked or not :)

From my experience ... it worth it. Very much. Like the Ortofon Red and Blue, the only difference is that the Blue is nude.
And yes, bodies are almost free ... maybe you need to check the labour invested in a stylus and that ... are diamonds ... not plastic with tiny copper coils / magnets.
 
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Strumbringer

Strumbringer

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I have heard back from the folks at Soundsmith and much to my disappointment, they do not feel the Grace RS-9EB will be a suitable drop-in replacement. They don't offer any return policy, so not worth the risk of buying it to see if it fits.

My original stylus from Sanyo was the ST-35D, which is the same as the Audio Technica AT-952. Is there a slide-in replacement that's a step up? Otherwise, I would need to consider a replacement stylus and cart and I'm leaning towards the AT-VM95E.

My current stylus:
m1UACra.jpg
 
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spiral scratch

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I know it's a lot to take in, but I think dlaloum already explained that your body is compatible with the AT95 line of stylii, so any of those we've discussed should be swappable with your body. Just search the through the thread, plenty of advise has been given on the various stylii. I think the AT-VM95EN has been mentioned several times as an excellent performer and the AT-VMN95EN is the model # for just the stylus. Otherwise get the AT-VMN95E stylus for your body to have the same AT-VM95E cartridge you mentioned.
 
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Strumbringer

Strumbringer

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I know it's a lot to take in, but I think dlaloum already explained that your body is compatible with the AT95 line of stylii, so any of those we've discussed should be swappable with your body. Just search the through the thread, plenty of advise has been given on the various stylii. I think the AT-VM95EN has been mentioned several times as an excellent performer and the AT-VMN95EN is the model # for just the stylus. Otherwise get the AT-VMN95E stylus for your body to have the same AT-VM95E cartridge you mentioned.
Got it- thanks!
 

dlaloum

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I know it's a lot to take in, but I think dlaloum already explained that your body is compatible with the AT95 line of stylii, so any of those we've discussed should be swappable with your body. Just search the through the thread, plenty of advise has been given on the various stylii. I think the AT-VM95EN has been mentioned several times as an excellent performer and the AT-VMN95EN is the model # for just the stylus. Otherwise get the AT-VMN95E stylus for your body to have the same AT-VM95E cartridge you mentioned.
No I corrected myself - the AT96 / VM95 series are a VM design the AT952 is not a VM design... (with the two magnets on the ring surround ) instead it has the magnets inside a diamond shank....

an upmarket replacement that should slide straight in is to be found here:


or


Direct like for like replacement (readily available from many sellers - under the various compatible identifiers):



Like I said, 10 years ago you could find these in various different profiles and grades, today we seem to be down to 2 options - the Jico SAS (microline nude needle on boron cantilever - a high end option) - or the direct replacement for the original spherical stylus.

I do have a couple of Jico SAS styli which I use on Shure cartridges and they are excellent.
 
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Strumbringer

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Thank you all for your kind guidance. I’m definitely a TT novice and learning along the way. I just decided to take my head shell off for a proper look and it turns out I do not have the Sanyo cartridge that the manual had specified, but rather a Shure RM91OED, which means my stylus is an M91.

q30JeVy.jpg


I did a quick search and came up with these possible choices, as drop-in stylus replacements while keeping the same cartridge:


The third choice (SAS) is likely “too good” for my TT, unless someone thinks otherwise.
 

Bob from Florida

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Thank you all for your kind guidance. I’m definitely a TT novice and learning along the way. I just decided to take my head shell off for a proper look and it turns out I do not have the Sanyo cartridge that the manual had specified, but rather a Shure RM91OED, which means my stylus is an M91.

q30JeVy.jpg


I did a quick search and came up with these possible choices, as drop-in stylus replacements while keeping the same cartridge:


The third choice (SAS) is likely “too good” for my TT, unless someone thinks otherwise.
Get the SAS,
 

dlaloum

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Thank you all for your kind guidance. I’m definitely a TT novice and learning along the way. I just decided to take my head shell off for a proper look and it turns out I do not have the Sanyo cartridge that the manual had specified, but rather a Shure RM91OED, which means my stylus is an M91.

q30JeVy.jpg


I did a quick search and came up with these possible choices, as drop-in stylus replacements while keeping the same cartridge:


The third choice (SAS) is likely “too good” for my TT, unless someone thinks otherwise.
No none of these are "too good"

The ED is a basic eliptical - it will track high frequencies better, due to the narrower side/horizontal contact patch (so it can get into vinyl corrugations that are closer together ie: high frequencies) - because it tracks them better (mistracks less often), it causes less damage - but (swings and roundabouts) it has a smaller total surface area of contact - and therefore applies greater pressure/wear... estimated life at optimal performance is around 200 hrs (after which distortion levels increase... lifetime before it causes damage to the vinyl is much longer)

The VL is a basic line contact needle - it is one of multiple names for this type of needle shape (HE/HyperEliptical, Line Contact, Vivid Line, etc...) - contact patch is vertically extended, and horizontally narrow - this allows it to track the high frequencies while also have substantial surface area to spread the tracking force over, reducing wear to the needle as well as the vinyl - estimated life at optimal performance is probably circa 400hrs.

The SAS is an extreme line contact design, it is both narrower horizontally than the VL (better High Frequency tracking) and typically substantially longer vertically than the VL/HE/LC types - this results in further reduced wear on both needle and vinyl - typically 500hrs+ at optimal performance (measured as point at which distortion starts to rise.... Jico has an article describing how they measured this and compared their various stylus types)

Base stylus life can further be extended by meticulous vinyl cleaning, and vinyl lubrication (yes some of the treatments are lubricants as well).

Many of us have run extreme line contacts types for 2000hrs without perceptible issues.

The other thing to consider, is that the ED, and VL are an aluminium cantilever - relatively heavy, where the SAS is a Boron cantilever, which will have lower effective mass - lower mass = better tracking... and all mistracking involves increased wear to the vinyl (in addition to increased distortion, etc...)

Those people who complain of sibilance on their records, are frequently identifying mistracking... which commony be caused by cartridge/stylus compliance mismatch with the arm mass....

This is where you need to be careful - the Jico SAS N91 is a high compliance needle with optimal VTF of circa 1.3g to 1.4g


Assuming your arm is around 12g - you should be ok with the SAS - but you should try to get as low a mass headshell as possible.


Basically the Shure M91 cartridge was a high compliance design, from the years when the ultimate performance was being achieved by high compliance cartridges with low mass arms...

Your best arm / cartridge-stylus match would probably be something around 1.6 to 1.7g - the Shure is in the sub 1.5g vtf category.

It's a great little cartridge - and one for which a wide range of needles are available ! - you can also get "Fat" needles for tracking early 78rpm records

Sadly shure got out of the cartridge business - but they were one of the biggest manufacturers, and there are HEAPS of them out there, with good market support to keep them running! (as can be seen by the stylus options you have!)
 
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Strumbringer

Strumbringer

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No none of these are "too good"

The ED is a basic eliptical - it will track high frequencies better, due to the narrower side/horizontal contact patch (so it can get into vinyl corrugations that are closer together ie: high frequencies) - because it tracks them better (mistracks less often), it causes less damage - but (swings and roundabouts) it has a smaller total surface area of contact - and therefore applies greater pressure/wear... estimated life at optimal performance is around 200 hrs (after which distortion levels increase... lifetime before it causes damage to the vinyl is much longer)

The VL is a basic line contact needle - it is one of multiple names for this type of needle shape (HE/HyperEliptical, Line Contact, Vivid Line, etc...) - contact patch is vertically extended, and horizontally narrow - this allows it to track the high frequencies while also have substantial surface area to spread the tracking force over, reducing wear to the needle as well as the vinyl - estimated life at optimal performance is probably circa 400hrs.

The SAS is an extreme line contact design, it is both narrower horizontally than the VL (better High Frequency tracking) and typically substantially longer vertically than the VL/HE/LC types - this results in further reduced wear on both needle and vinyl - typically 500hrs+ at optimal performance (measured as point at which distortion starts to rise.... Jico has an article describing how they measured this and compared their various stylus types)

Base stylus life can further be extended by meticulous vinyl cleaning, and vinyl lubrication (yes some of the treatments are lubricants as well).

Many of us have run extreme line contacts types for 2000hrs without perceptible issues.

The other thing to consider, is that the ED, and VL are an aluminium cantilever - relatively heavy, where the SAS is a Boron cantilever, which will have lower effective mass - lower mass = better tracking... and all mistracking involves increased wear to the vinyl (in addition to increased distortion, etc...)

Those people who complain of sibilance on their records, are frequently identifying mistracking... which commony be caused by cartridge/stylus compliance mismatch with the arm mass....

This is where you need to be careful - the Jico SAS N91 is a high compliance needle with optimal VTF of circa 1.3g to 1.4g


Assuming your arm is around 12g - you should be ok with the SAS - but you should try to get as low a mass headshell as possible.


Basically the Shure M91 cartridge was a high compliance design, from the years when the ultimate performance was being achieved by high compliance cartridges with low mass arms...

Your best arm / cartridge-stylus match would probably be something around 1.6 to 1.7g - the Shure is in the sub 1.5g vtf category.

It's a great little cartridge - and one for which a wide range of needles are available ! - you can also get "Fat" needles for tracking early 78rpm records

Sadly shure got out of the cartridge business - but they were one of the biggest manufacturers, and there are HEAPS of them out there, with good market support to keep them running! (as can be seen by the stylus options you have!)
This is great information- thank you so much.
 
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