Any idea which Shure cartridge this is?
- Thread starter EastPoint
- Start date
malden
Addicted Member
ETI_5000
Super Member
The ML140HE was Shure's second-best cartridge from the mid-1980's behind the V15 Type V - a great cartridge.
According to the designer, fellow AK member and occasional contributor Les Watts, his brief in designing it was to create a half-price V15 Type V. It's got a laminated core, and a nude hyperelliptical line contact, MASAR-polished stylus on a tubular beryllium cantilever. There are three magazine reviews of it (also a fourth by Australian Hi-fi's Stereo Buyer's Guide Turntables 1985 that I've got, which agrees largely with what the other three say - that it wasn't quite as good as the V15 Type V, but was a much lower price) available for it here:
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=17706 (Stereo Review)
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=36952 (Gramophone)
Also the Hi-fi Classic review linked above.
You need to be logged in to see the vinylengine reviews.
According to the review by Stereo Review, over the 40Hz to 20kHz limits of the test record they used for measurement, it was +0.5db, -1dB with a 225pF load, so it had an exceptionally flat frequency response, and Gramophone found it ±1dB 20Hz – 20kHz with a 150pF load (probably better than that, but due to the 5dB graduations, hard to say how much better) - they both mentioned that it was largely insensitive to capacitance changes, and that's because it has a relatively low (for a MM) 360mH inductance.
As you'd expect, the trackability was also very good, and in typical Shure top-end fashion, it was one of the best-sounding MM's - there wouldn't be any currently made which are as good.
Shure didn't mention the equivalent moving mass of the stylus assembly, except to say it was very low, but the Ultra 400, which was the same cartridge upgraded with a microridge stylus, had moving mass of 0.19mg, and it's probable that the ML140HE was similar. For reference, here's a list of Shure's best cartridges ranked by equivalent moving mass, best first:
0.165mg Ultra 500
0.17mg V15 Type V/V-MR, V15VxMR, Ultra VST-V
0.19mg Ultra 400 (and probably ML140HE?)
? VST-III, V15 Pro and Realistic V15-RS - probably much better than the V15 Type IV due to their beryllium cantilevers, but below the Ultra 400 and ML140HE, based on Shure's trackability figures
0.29mg V15 Type IV, MV30HE
0.3mg Ultra 300 (and probably ML120HE)
0.33mg V15 Type III
0.37mg M97xE
Based on the near-identical trackability when you extrapolate the ML140HE's mid and high frequency trackability figures to the higher tracking force that the Ultra 400's trackability is specified at, it's almost certain that the only difference between them, apart from their names, is the MR stylus tip on the Ultra 400 instead of the ML140HE's HE stylus. The moving mass is probably identical.
The Shure VST-III, V15 Pro and Realistic V15-RS probably are somewhere closer to the ML140HE and Ultra 400, and much better than the V15 Type IV.
However, genuine styli are hard to find, although the Ultra 400s and Ultra 300S (the Ultra 300 is the ML140HE's 'little brother' ML120HE upgraded with an MR stylus), are still available at some sellers, such as LPGear, as they were still being produced until midway through last decade http://www.lpgear.com/product/SHSULTRA400.html .
The best styli for it are, in order, best first: Ultra 400S (Be cantilever, MR tip), N140HE (Be cantilever, HE tip), Ultra 300S (telescopic aluminium alloy cantilever, MR tip), N120HE (telescopic aluminium alloy cantilever, HE tip). Note that all four of these cartridges (Ultra 400, Ultra 300, ML140HE, ML120HE) have the same internals and body exterior - the only real difference is the stylus that's fitted.
According to the designer, fellow AK member and occasional contributor Les Watts, his brief in designing it was to create a half-price V15 Type V. It's got a laminated core, and a nude hyperelliptical line contact, MASAR-polished stylus on a tubular beryllium cantilever. There are three magazine reviews of it (also a fourth by Australian Hi-fi's Stereo Buyer's Guide Turntables 1985 that I've got, which agrees largely with what the other three say - that it wasn't quite as good as the V15 Type V, but was a much lower price) available for it here:
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=17706 (Stereo Review)
https://www.vinylengine.com/turntable_forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=36952 (Gramophone)
Also the Hi-fi Classic review linked above.
You need to be logged in to see the vinylengine reviews.
According to the review by Stereo Review, over the 40Hz to 20kHz limits of the test record they used for measurement, it was +0.5db, -1dB with a 225pF load, so it had an exceptionally flat frequency response, and Gramophone found it ±1dB 20Hz – 20kHz with a 150pF load (probably better than that, but due to the 5dB graduations, hard to say how much better) - they both mentioned that it was largely insensitive to capacitance changes, and that's because it has a relatively low (for a MM) 360mH inductance.
As you'd expect, the trackability was also very good, and in typical Shure top-end fashion, it was one of the best-sounding MM's - there wouldn't be any currently made which are as good.
Shure didn't mention the equivalent moving mass of the stylus assembly, except to say it was very low, but the Ultra 400, which was the same cartridge upgraded with a microridge stylus, had moving mass of 0.19mg, and it's probable that the ML140HE was similar. For reference, here's a list of Shure's best cartridges ranked by equivalent moving mass, best first:
0.165mg Ultra 500
0.17mg V15 Type V/V-MR, V15VxMR, Ultra VST-V
0.19mg Ultra 400 (and probably ML140HE?)
? VST-III, V15 Pro and Realistic V15-RS - probably much better than the V15 Type IV due to their beryllium cantilevers, but below the Ultra 400 and ML140HE, based on Shure's trackability figures
0.29mg V15 Type IV, MV30HE
0.3mg Ultra 300 (and probably ML120HE)
0.33mg V15 Type III
0.37mg M97xE
Based on the near-identical trackability when you extrapolate the ML140HE's mid and high frequency trackability figures to the higher tracking force that the Ultra 400's trackability is specified at, it's almost certain that the only difference between them, apart from their names, is the MR stylus tip on the Ultra 400 instead of the ML140HE's HE stylus. The moving mass is probably identical.
The Shure VST-III, V15 Pro and Realistic V15-RS probably are somewhere closer to the ML140HE and Ultra 400, and much better than the V15 Type IV.
However, genuine styli are hard to find, although the Ultra 400s and Ultra 300S (the Ultra 300 is the ML140HE's 'little brother' ML120HE upgraded with an MR stylus), are still available at some sellers, such as LPGear, as they were still being produced until midway through last decade http://www.lpgear.com/product/SHSULTRA400.html .
The best styli for it are, in order, best first: Ultra 400S (Be cantilever, MR tip), N140HE (Be cantilever, HE tip), Ultra 300S (telescopic aluminium alloy cantilever, MR tip), N120HE (telescopic aluminium alloy cantilever, HE tip). Note that all four of these cartridges (Ultra 400, Ultra 300, ML140HE, ML120HE) have the same internals and body exterior - the only real difference is the stylus that's fitted.
Last edited:
