If you like the Shure, you can get a new V15 VxR for $US230 at J and R in New York. They export worldwide. An M97 is only $US80-ish.
www.jandr.com
Shure also have a message board on their site with archive questions, or you can post a new one, that will answer specific questions about availability of older stylii etc. Members of their staff answer the questions. I think you can also trade your old cart in for a new one. Again ask on the Shure site.
If you want to try a moving coil, and you have enough gain for it, how abour a classic Denon DL103 from Phonophono in Germany for about E230
www.phonophono.de
Another source for carts in the US is www.garage-a-records.com
Generally cheaper than the Needle Doctor. I've had great service from them.
HTH
Brett
www.jandr.com
Shure also have a message board on their site with archive questions, or you can post a new one, that will answer specific questions about availability of older stylii etc. Members of their staff answer the questions. I think you can also trade your old cart in for a new one. Again ask on the Shure site.
If you want to try a moving coil, and you have enough gain for it, how abour a classic Denon DL103 from Phonophono in Germany for about E230
www.phonophono.de
Another source for carts in the US is www.garage-a-records.com
Generally cheaper than the Needle Doctor. I've had great service from them.
HTH
Brett
Carl,
cannot heap scorn on the famed V15V, never had it in my own tonearm. But i heard it at other places and i frequently read complaints concerning lack of transparency, detail resolution and macrodynamics on the German vinyl_lebt mailing list. From my own impressions i second that fully, to me the V15V is a lame job.
Gabe,
although i doubt the tonearm on the 146 supports an MC cartridge like the adult Ortofon ones, I am with you.
I'd like to be more specific, i prefer the Ortofon Rohmann, i call it the poor man's Koetsu Urushi. Also the Ortofon SPU Royal is gorgeous.
Carl again,
if your Thorens 146 has the original tonearm, better stay with high compliant MM cartridges. The AudioTechnica 440 ML might be a good recommendation.
cannot heap scorn on the famed V15V, never had it in my own tonearm. But i heard it at other places and i frequently read complaints concerning lack of transparency, detail resolution and macrodynamics on the German vinyl_lebt mailing list. From my own impressions i second that fully, to me the V15V is a lame job.
Gabe,
although i doubt the tonearm on the 146 supports an MC cartridge like the adult Ortofon ones, I am with you.
I'd like to be more specific, i prefer the Ortofon Rohmann, i call it the poor man's Koetsu Urushi. Also the Ortofon SPU Royal is gorgeous.
Carl again,
if your Thorens 146 has the original tonearm, better stay with high compliant MM cartridges. The AudioTechnica 440 ML might be a good recommendation.
Dice45,
I thought both the V15 type IV and the M97 were moving magnet
I got the Ortofon MM (three moderate level models from $80 to $200 USD. Mine is the middle priced one). Not the most expensive, but compared the the V15 I have and the Audio Technica microline I have, it blows them away by leaps and bounds.
I can only imagine how much better the more costly ones and the MC ones sound.
Gabe
I thought both the V15 type IV and the M97 were moving magnet
I got the Ortofon MM (three moderate level models from $80 to $200 USD. Mine is the middle priced one). Not the most expensive, but compared the the V15 I have and the Audio Technica microline I have, it blows them away by leaps and bounds.
I can only imagine how much better the more costly ones and the MC ones sound.
Gabe
Gabe,
thanks for setting me straight, i was not aware Ortofon is to be considered concerning current MM carts.
You ought to follow my glueing cartridge thread, Ortofon MMs are easy to glue and afterwards they sing! just gorgeous.
Stylus plugin costs about 70% of the complete cartridge. Sonics improve so much that it is easy worth to dump those 30% if you need a new stylus. Provided you do not mess up the stylus on glueing.
But with Ortofon, i see no big danger.
thanks for setting me straight, i was not aware Ortofon is to be considered concerning current MM carts.
You ought to follow my glueing cartridge thread, Ortofon MMs are easy to glue and afterwards they sing!
just gorgeous.Stylus plugin costs about 70% of the complete cartridge. Sonics improve so much that it is easy worth to dump those 30% if you need a new stylus. Provided you do not mess up the stylus on glueing.
But with Ortofon, i see no big danger.
This thread caught my eye because I used to live about five miles from Shure and could go over there to get new styli if I needed them. I even discovered the price was half if you went to the parts department instead of the main office.
I think I paid $42 for the last stylus for my V15 IV. (Awesome cartridge, although I am partial to Grado).
The last time I called Shure, they told me no more styli, only complete cartridges.
If you find out differently, please post.
I would be wary of aftermarket styli.
Take care
Lee
I think I paid $42 for the last stylus for my V15 IV. (Awesome cartridge, although I am partial to Grado).
The last time I called Shure, they told me no more styli, only complete cartridges.
If you find out differently, please post.
I would be wary of aftermarket styli.
Take care
Lee
Gabe,
i do no glue the cartridge into the headshell, i glue the stylus/cantilever plugin into the cartrigde body. Without polluting stylus, cantilever or cantilever suspension, of course.
See
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=34245#post34245 and the whole thread.
I glued Ortofon FF15 MkII, OMB 5 and OMB 10, Shure V15 type III, several Elac MMs, Linn K5, K9, K18, several AudioTechnica, one AT180ML among them.
Linn MMs were AudioTechnica-made.Audio Technica is the most ticklish construction to glue, this is not recommended to beginners.
I see that i post pixes soon, my dig.camera is working but i have to change my workstation's OS from NT4 to Windoze2k to be fairly able to transfer pixes into my computer within reasonable time; at the moment it is sheer pain. Patience, pixes to come soon.
i do no glue the cartridge into the headshell, i glue the stylus/cantilever plugin into the cartrigde body. Without polluting stylus, cantilever or cantilever suspension, of course.
See
http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=34245#post34245 and the whole thread.
I glued Ortofon FF15 MkII, OMB 5 and OMB 10, Shure V15 type III, several Elac MMs, Linn K5, K9, K18, several AudioTechnica, one AT180ML among them.
Linn MMs were AudioTechnica-made.Audio Technica is the most ticklish construction to glue, this is not recommended to beginners.
I see that i post pixes soon, my dig.camera is working but i have to change my workstation's OS from NT4 to Windoze2k to be fairly able to transfer pixes into my computer within reasonable time; at the moment it is sheer pain. Patience, pixes to come soon.
Hi dice45,
I meant to reply yesterday. Yes, I read your posts regarding that. It makes sense to me. It eliminates the play between the stylus and the cartridge. A source of microphonics. Kewl.
I have actually, using a very small/thin screwdriver, widened the... whatever the part is called that slips into the cartridge, for more of a tight... what is it called... friction fit to eliminate or at least minimise that play. That way one can replace the stylus if one wanted to. Though as you say, the stylus is 70% of the cost of a whole new cartridge.
Have you ever demagnetized the cartridge first (without stylus inseted. Otherwise one would demagnetize the magnet!)? I have. It makes the sound more revealing and bright. Kind of like opening the curtain of a theater stage.
Of course, this only works with MM cartridges.
Gabe
I meant to reply yesterday. Yes, I read your posts regarding that. It makes sense to me. It eliminates the play between the stylus and the cartridge. A source of microphonics. Kewl.
I have actually, using a very small/thin screwdriver, widened the... whatever the part is called that slips into the cartridge, for more of a tight... what is it called... friction fit to eliminate or at least minimise that play. That way one can replace the stylus if one wanted to. Though as you say, the stylus is 70% of the cost of a whole new cartridge.
Have you ever demagnetized the cartridge first (without stylus inseted. Otherwise one would demagnetize the magnet!)? I have. It makes the sound more revealing and bright. Kind of like opening the curtain of a theater stage.
Of course, this only works with MM cartridges.
Gabe
Gabe,
yes, works only with unglued MM. So i never do it aftre glueing, but i do it before.
And i do it with all MC cartridges. Regularly. I have a commercial flux buster thing; those thingies cost up to 200 Euro over here. And what is in it? 5 components and a 9V block.
I measured it (i know now what output impedance the thing has) and found the sine wave output heavily distorted. Buddies owning a different brand reported the same. Methinks this is not an optimal demagnetizing signal.
I plan to make such a device commercially available which is handing out a pure sinewave with amplitude exponentially decaying. Basis will be an operational amplifier IC in a multiplying circuit, one input gets the sine wave input from an 8038 or a Wien bridge and the other one the decaying voltage of an RC combination on switch off.
yes, works only with unglued MM. So i never do it aftre glueing, but i do it before.
And i do it with all MC cartridges. Regularly. I have a commercial flux buster thing; those thingies cost up to 200 Euro over here. And what is in it? 5 components and a 9V block.
I measured it (i know now what output impedance the thing has) and found the sine wave output heavily distorted. Buddies owning a different brand reported the same. Methinks this is not an optimal demagnetizing signal.
I plan to make such a device commercially available which is handing out a pure sinewave with amplitude exponentially decaying. Basis will be an operational amplifier IC in a multiplying circuit, one input gets the sine wave input from an 8038 or a Wien bridge and the other one the decaying voltage of an RC combination on switch off.
Hi Dice45
I once saw a demagnetizing thingie used for small mechnical parts (watches) that was generating a decaying sinusoidal magnetic field.
The construction was very simple (in fact primitive):
There was a simple small mains transformer with a single secondary winding of low voltage.
To this a rectifier bridge was connected. In idle state a capacitor was fed from the rectifier via a toggle switch and therefore charged to a DC voltage. When the toggle switch was pushed the "hot" end of the capacitor was switched away from the rectifier and switched to the demagnetizing coil instead, forming a parallel resonant circuit. And there you had your naturally decaying sinusoidal magnetic field !!!!
I don't remember who was the inventor/seller of this but I could imagine the lifetime of the patent has already exceeded.
Regards
Charles
I once saw a demagnetizing thingie used for small mechnical parts (watches) that was generating a decaying sinusoidal magnetic field.
The construction was very simple (in fact primitive):
There was a simple small mains transformer with a single secondary winding of low voltage.
To this a rectifier bridge was connected. In idle state a capacitor was fed from the rectifier via a toggle switch and therefore charged to a DC voltage. When the toggle switch was pushed the "hot" end of the capacitor was switched away from the rectifier and switched to the demagnetizing coil instead, forming a parallel resonant circuit. And there you had your naturally decaying sinusoidal magnetic field !!!!
I don't remember who was the inventor/seller of this but I could imagine the lifetime of the patent has already exceeded.
Regards
Charles
Phase_accurate,
my thingie is almost as simple as the one you described. An oscillator with two BJTs fed by a 9V battery. If supply voltage is switched off, oscillator output decays. Advantage: you insert a few seconds of full amplitude swing to. ensure demagnituing and then decay ensures no accidental re-magnetizing happens. The thing has been tested on an Audionote IO and on a fancy HO MC using 10µm coil wire. But output is far from being a sine wave.
What i like with my opamp idea: outputZ is controlled, sine wave is perfect, damaging of the delicate MC coils is impossible. I like Einstein's saying: make anything as simple as possible but not simpler and what i described above is too simple IMO.
my thingie is almost as simple as the one you described. An oscillator with two BJTs fed by a 9V battery. If supply voltage is switched off, oscillator output decays. Advantage: you insert a few seconds of full amplitude swing to. ensure demagnituing and then decay ensures no accidental re-magnetizing happens. The thing has been tested on an Audionote IO and on a fancy HO MC using 10µm coil wire. But output is far from being a sine wave.
What i like with my opamp idea: outputZ is controlled, sine wave is perfect, damaging of the delicate MC coils is impossible. I like Einstein's saying: make anything as simple as possible but not simpler and what i described above is too simple IMO.
Hi Dice45
I am not shure if some distortion on a demagnetizing signal matters but I don't think so. My feeling is that it is sufficient if you have signal that is not too far from a sinusoid and that it really decays to zero.
Maybe your (push-pull ??) LC oscillator is too simple but only just a little bit (BTW: I like this statement by A.E. too !!). Maybe just a little tweaking of the bias point would increase the signal quality by great lengths. I assume that during the time when it really counts, i.e. when the signal is decaying then it is a perfect sinusoid, isn't it ?
What is the main reason for building an OP-AMP circuit ? Is it because output would be adjustable ?
How do you generate the decay ?
Regards
Charles
I am not shure if some distortion on a demagnetizing signal matters but I don't think so. My feeling is that it is sufficient if you have signal that is not too far from a sinusoid and that it really decays to zero.
Maybe your (push-pull ??) LC oscillator is too simple but only just a little bit (BTW: I like this statement by A.E. too !!). Maybe just a little tweaking of the bias point would increase the signal quality by great lengths. I assume that during the time when it really counts, i.e. when the signal is decaying then it is a perfect sinusoid, isn't it ?
What is the main reason for building an OP-AMP circuit ? Is it because output would be adjustable ?
How do you generate the decay ?
Regards
Charles
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