:scratch2:
Have purchased a Yamaha YP-B2(B) with Shure M70EJ Cartridge. Had ugly sound. Checked the manual and made adjustments. By the way, the player is immaculate (exception is the cover, a big wide scratch). A lil better. Checked the stylus. Know it's not supposed to look like that.

Also found out that it is a MONO CARTRIDGE!

Will be auditioning some of my dad's vast record collection. Mostly Motown stuff. Has 33 1/3 and 45s. (Oh yes, gotta Olympic with 16 !, 33 1/3. 45, 78).

Please equate these speeds, sizes, and their relation to stereo and monophonic playback with a spin towards cartridge selection in a Nutshell. My preamp, Yammie C-4, has several provisions for all types of Cartridges, MM & MC, + ....

Oh yes, How do you differentiate if they don't tell?

Should I have different tables for different recordings, say one for monaural vs stereophonic or different headshells/cartriidges?

Please recommend a MC Cartridge/Stylus for the Low Low for stereophonic playback.

Make something like this a sticky also for the uninformed and naive :yikes: !

"How do you differentiate [MM and MC]"? Easy. If you can afford it, it's an MM cartridge! :-)

Generally, MC's are very low output and need an additional stage of preamplification OR a transformer to increast their output. There are high-output MC's, though (the Blue Point series comes to mind). There are also some MM cartridges with quite low output -- the top-end Grados come to mind, although technically they are MI (moving iron) and not MM (moving magnet) cartridges!

Interestingly, the rather high-mass arm on your Yamaha is a good match for low-compliance MC cartridges, but it would be an odd juxtaposition to put a $5000 MC cartridge on at tt that probably sold new for $198 or something like that. :-) Bear in mind that the YP-B2 would've been Yamaha's absolute entry-level model of its era.

The best bang for buck MM cartridge today (IMNSHO) is the Shure M97xe. It's a fairly high compliance cartridge, but will work well in a Japanese S-shaped arm as long as the bearings are low friction (i.e., still good, in the case of your YP-B2). I also quite like the Grado sound, although they are unshielded and can hummmmm when used on some tt's. I suspect the YP-B2 has an AC synchronous motor, so hummmmmm could be a problem with a Grado.

FWIW, I have never been a fan of the sound of the AudioTechnica (AT) MM cartridges (at least, the inexpensive/affordable ones).

Hope this helps some.

The M70EJ is a stereo cartridge. Its replacement stylus (N70EJ) has been discontinued and is listed as no longer available by Shure. An alternative, also discontinued but listed as available in limited quanitities, is the N72EJ. Both of these have .4 X .7 mil elliptical styli and track at 1 1/2 to 3 grams. Several vendors are recommending the N70B (.6 mil conical, 1 1/2 to 3 grams, $14.00) as a suitable replacement.

I'm not familiar with your Olympic multi-speed turntable, but if it uses a standard mount cartridge, then a cartridge like the Stanton 500 would be very versatile as you can get styli dedicated to modern stereo (light-tracking elliptical), older mono (1 mil conical), and 78's (2.7 mil conical). A huge variety of specialized styli for the vintage record collector is available for this cartridge body.

I use two turntables--an LP12 for most 33 1/3 lp's and a Stanton STR8-80 for 78's and 45's. I have Stanton 500 bodies for both 'tables. The Linn uses a 500E; for the STR8-80, I now have Stanton 500 bodies on three headshells: one with a stylus for 78's (this one also has an added headshell weight to achieve the higher tracking force needed without having to rebalance the arm and re-set the counterweight), one with a 1 mil stylus for older mono lp's, and another with a .7 mil DJ stylus for a variety of things, including playing records backwards if I'm so disposed.

1) Know of an MC for about $100. A friend recommended one.
2) It's mighty purdy and is pale in comparison to modern design and examples by visual inspection of technology of such the like of Denon, JVC, ....
3) Entry level, prolly. But made first. Only one I believe issued as a new model in 79. Pretty simple. Tonearm counterweight and tonearm look a bit on the cheapish side when compared too ....


4) Jumped on the website and checked b4 also and found suitable replacements on eBay, PartsExpress, .... The cheapest would be PartsExpress for $8.40 S&H!

5.) It's one of those turntable/recievers! The turntable has one of those (at least what the literature says on some turtables site), I think, cheaper plug in type MM cartridges. It has a pretty good tuner, sounds swell, looks neat, and plays all speeds! I even think it's automatic. One more thing, on its platter are the manufacturer of that turntable I believe, BSR.


Is there a way to check the cartridge before I buy that cheap stylus.

Have an SX-1250. The period match would be tops at the PL-530? It's huge. That will be bedroom system.

The reference room has period 79 geat except for tuner. Two M-4s (only one now), an M2, C-4, DVD-S1200, & T-9 (Think 81). Wanna T-1 and T-2. Oh yes, the YP-B2. To add later, attenuator for discrete output with trim and remote for main.



Why in Yammie Nomenclature is everything different for turntables. One might expect the single letter disignation as top performer class. That would follow preamps, amplifiers, cd players, tuners, ....
Maybe it wasnt a great deck compared to other offerings! Yammies seem more pro anyway! Checked out some of the P series of that time. The P-2200 looks very similar to the M-2, has similar specifications, and unbalanced inputs, size, heatsink, bottom plate, legs, toroidal transformer, .... Imagine the next model down would be very similar to the M-4.

Somehow I like the M-2 for realistic volume settings and the M-4 for causal listening.


:scratch2: But anyway, a lil history of vinyl, the speeds, sizes, ... :scratch2:

Thanks!