Turntable cartridges options

[Bare]

Thank you guys.

But a AT92ECD for $ 29.90 on eBay is really a bargain!
What's wrong if you use this cartridge with the Jelco 50-S arm? . Sorry, I did not understand the question of "lower mass arm".

Antonio

Amazon has the AT92ecd for 20$ Dunno about shippings to BA tho.
IMO it will meet ALL your expectations.
It's Very Cheap but definitely not junk.
One can add wee weights to a headshell if masses need fiddling to suit.
Many places even sell such things.. verifying it's a fairly common adaptation path.
A v easy diy Should you actually feel the need.
G'luck

 

[rongon]

I've never heard these AT cartridges, so I'm tempted to get one just to try. I followed recommendations about the Shure M35X and tried that one out, but found that it's not very good (in my opinion). Kind of slow and sleepy sounding in my SL1200mkII.

Can you guys tell me how the sound from the AT92ECD or AT95 variants compares to a Denon DL-110? The DL-110 used to be a screaming deal when you could get them for only $85, but they're now $200+, which is not so great a deal.

thanks, and sorry If I'm veering off-topic.
--

 

[Sgrilli AD]

Thanks again.

I don´t thought this would be simple, then I asked for help to the expert in this Forun.

Explanations of "rogon" were perfect and now I fully understand the differences between the cartridge and agree that there is much difference.

Honestly, I have no alignment protractor cartridge at the time. I have a Sony vintage turntable wich I use now and was in line for my son, but I do not know what protactor he used. This Polyvox turntable which we are talking about I bought recently and needs to be revised.

What protactor do you recommend?

Yes, this Jelco SA-50 is the tonearm, sorry for the confusion. I saw the following information in the manual:
"suitable self-weight of the cartridge is under:
- Withou sub-weight 4gr to 12 gr
- With sub-weight 9gr to 17gr"
Is it help in something?

Well, with the sub-weight I believe AT92ECD will even be better choice.

Thanks
Antonio

 

[sreten]

Hi sreten, thanks for the comprehensive reply above, you are probably right about my budget, I should probably increase it and go for something a bit better.
But, I really did only post in one thread, this one, I can only think that some sort of forum hiccup made it appear in a different thread as well.

Clive

Hi,

Some sort of mix up then, my apologies. FWIW phono sound quality
depends on the turntable first, then the arm and finally the cartridge.

A point Linn always laboured. A point often missed in evaluating
cartridges is how long the tip will last, and how the sound quality
will degrade over the effective life of the stylus. Line contacts
last ages, but generally sound no better than new ellipticals.

What they offer is long life with relatively minimal degradation.

I'd go for the AT440mlb @ $200 or the AT95VL @ $100.
The microridge tip of the AT440 is even better than LC.

Both are great choices at their price points.

rgds, sreten.

If you go for the AT95VL I'd forgo the idea of replacing
the stylus (the body is $10 more). I'd superglue the
plastic carrier to the metal body and superglue the
stylus to the metal body as well. Hardcore stuff.
the

 

[rongon]

Yes, that additional information does help.

I think an AT92ECD will work best if you do not use the sub-weight with the tonearm. (Use the tonearm without the sub-weight for these AT cartridges). You want the position of the counterweight to be as far forward as possible with the arm balanced. It's worse if the counterweight is hanging far back at the rear end of the tonearm.

For a cartridge alignment protractor:
- The purpose of this tool is to place the cartridge in the headshell so that the cartridge's stylus (needle) is in the best position to track the grooves in the record, across the entire surface of the record. This alignment is *critically important* if you use a cartridge with an elliptical needle shape (such as that used in the AT92ECD).

The least expensive alignment protractor I know of is made by Ortofon ($11 USD).
Ortofon Cartridge Alignment Gauge

There are better ones, and some are very expensive.
Cartridge Alignment Tools

There are some free ones you can download and print out, but you must make sure they print out at the correct scale (size). If your printer shrinks the size down, the alignment will be incorrect.
Free Cartridge Alignment Protractors - Vinyl Engine

Note that if you take a nice cartridge with an elliptical stylus and leave it out of alignment, the results will be worse than if you used a lower performance cartridge with spherical stylus but in perfect alignment. What I'm trying to say is that you absolutely must get the cartridge in correct alignment in the headshell to get decent performance from your record playing equipment. If the cartridge is incorrectly aligned, the results won't sound good at all (scratchy sound from mistracking).

I hope that is helpful.
--

 

[clivel]

Honestly, I have no alignment protractor cartridge at the time. I have a Sony vintage turntable wich I use now and was in line for my son, but I do not know what protactor he used. This Polyvox turntable which we are talking about I bought recently and needs to be revised.

What protactor do you recommend?

You can download a free protractor in PDF format from Free Cartridge Alignment Protractors - Vinyl Engine you will need to register though before you can download.

Trying to decide which one to use may be more difficult though, so this guide might be helpful Protractor User Guide - Aligning Cartridges with Baerwald, Loefgren & Stevenson - Vinyl Engine

Note: When printing PDF files ensure that the "Shrink oversized pages to paper size", and "Expand small pages to paper size" options are not checked in the print dialogue box. Otherwise items on the page may not be the correct size when printed.
Clive

 

[sreten]

Hi,

FWIW I can set up any arm with a simple one line radius card.
Mark on the radius 60mm, 65mm and 70mm.

Generally set up the arm for a zero point at 65mm and play
with the length in the headshell and twist to to see what
affect it has on the other zero point, which should be
around 120mm. If you can't get another zero point
try 60mm or 70mm, if it looks overall to be better.

rgds, sreten.

 

[PROMITHEAS 4]

Hi all,

Personally,i used The Guru Protractor,www.styli.co.nz,and diyAudio server HTTPS page The Music.com.

http://www.vacuumstate.com/fileupload/Guru_protractor.pdf

http://www.styli.co.nz/protractor.pdf

Free Turntable Cartridge Alignment Protractor And Speed Discs

 

[karoly7603]

Can somebody offer a good cartridge for a Technics SL-QD33 turntable? Type is P-mount, T4P system, tracking force 1.25-1.5g.
I replaced with an Ortofon OMP 10 two years ago. The sound is really very good, good bass, treble. Today I listened a SIMPLY RED album, and for fun I put back the original Technics/Panasonic EPS-30CS cartridge with its own Technics stylus to compare with the Ortofon OMP 10 cartridge with its own OMP 10 stylus.
Wow, I told myself. With the Technics cartridge the treble is much-much silky smoother with a lot of detail. The Ortofon is louder, so no need to turn up the volume on the amplifier, but with the Technics is more enjoyable, more involving the music.
Later I looked after the frequency responses: Technics 10Hz...40Khz, Ortofon 20Hz...20Khz.
Outputs are: Technics 2.5mV, Ortofon 4.0mV.

I would like to try another cartridge also for experimenting. I was thinking in AT92E, AT311EP or AT3482P. Somebody listened with Audio-Technica?

Thanks,
Karoly