anyone else running vintage Empire carts?

It seems to be the same, what I need is someone to move a small magnet along the tube from the rear forward towards the stylus end and the moment it sticks to the tube mark it with a pen and measure from the rear forward and from the front of the tube backwards. The Stanton tune protrudes a few mm out of the mount which may or may not be an issue re coil positions. I would be able to cut the rear of the tube if needed to allow the tube to go right into the cart if this is what is needed to align the coils correctly and resoldering tie wire would not be an issue. LP gear do not use tie wire and they still sound great (I use one on my 681) cutting the rear of the tube on lp gear stylus would be really simple with no soldering needed. It is likely the iron is "good enough" position wise but it would be nice to be able to know for sure and this info here will help others try this mod which even without any cutting sounds great.
CHris

I don’t have any of those to begin to attempt to measure; even if I did I don’t think I have the skills or tools to measure such a request. Heck, I have a hard enough time just trying to measure a countertop or cabinets when I redo the kitchen!
 
I don’t have any of those to begin to attempt to measure; even if I did I don’t think I have the skills or tools to measure such a request. Heck, I have a hard enough time just trying to measure a countertop or cabinets when I redo the kitchen!
A ruler would be probably good enough but someone with a vernier would be better.
Chris
 
I found this posted by someone named Richard on the Lenco forum:

Benz Micro sold Empire approximately 1986 to Trans Atlantic Electronics (TAE), of New York. TAE had been an aftermarket needle manufacturer who had just purchased another aftermarket needle company, Walco, and was in the process of folding Walco's existing products into TAE's inventory. Upon bying Empire, TAE changed their own name to Empire, and began selling all their own inventory under that name.

Most of Empire's sales were via "private label" products, each of which was specially-numbered for individual chains of stereo stores. Their styli were never printed with numbers, and the company lost track of which needle went with which cartridge. When a customer would come to me in need of a stylus for their Empire cartridge, I would give them two choices: pay me per minute to try to research which needle they needed, or I would install a new Stanton cartridge for them. I would then take their Empire cartridge and grind it under my shoe.

After TAE bought Empire, the situation grew even worse. If a customer had an Empire cartridge, an "official" Empire package might contain any of these things:
- An original Empire stylus of original quality.
- An inferior TAE imitation.
- A Walco imitation that contained an excellent Japanese sub-assembly. This could be better than the Empire original.

Empire's product designations could be seriously stupid. I have, for example, an excellent Walco replacement stylus for most, but not all, Empire 999 cartridges. Empire gave that designation to two different cartridge bodies! And these were standard, not private-label models. I'll sell this needle pretty inexpensively.

TAE's catalog (which became Empire's catalog) was never very helpful. But it wasn't as bad as the worst stylus catalog that I have ever seen, which was from the French company, Zafira.

Empire's original products were perfectly fine. And some excellent Benz cartridges were sold here under the Empire name. Meanwhile, The TAE family sold all of their phono products to a liquidator, and re-birthed themselves in the cell phone battery business.

The liquidator or TAE must have sold the Empire name and assets to Russell/EVG later on.
 
I found this posted by someone named Richard on the Lenco forum:

Benz Micro sold Empire approximately 1986 to Trans Atlantic Electronics (TAE), of New York. TAE had been an aftermarket needle manufacturer who had just purchased another aftermarket needle company, Walco, and was in the process of folding Walco's existing products into TAE's inventory. Upon bying Empire, TAE changed their own name to Empire, and began selling all their own inventory under that name.

Most of Empire's sales were via "private label" products, each of which was specially-numbered for individual chains of stereo stores. Their styli were never printed with numbers, and the company lost track of which needle went with which cartridge. When a customer would come to me in need of a stylus for their Empire cartridge, I would give them two choices: pay me per minute to try to research which needle they needed, or I would install a new Stanton cartridge for them. I would then take their Empire cartridge and grind it under my shoe.

After TAE bought Empire, the situation grew even worse. If a customer had an Empire cartridge, an "official" Empire package might contain any of these things:
- An original Empire stylus of original quality.
- An inferior TAE imitation.
- A Walco imitation that contained an excellent Japanese sub-assembly. This could be better than the Empire original.

Empire's product designations could be seriously stupid. I have, for example, an excellent Walco replacement stylus for most, but not all, Empire 999 cartridges. Empire gave that designation to two different cartridge bodies! And these were standard, not private-label models. I'll sell this needle pretty inexpensively.

TAE's catalog (which became Empire's catalog) was never very helpful. But it wasn't as bad as the worst stylus catalog that I have ever seen, which was from the French company, Zafira.

Empire's original products were perfectly fine. And some excellent Benz cartridges were sold here under the Empire name. Meanwhile, The TAE family sold all of their phono products to a liquidator, and re-birthed themselves in the cell phone battery business.

The liquidator or TAE must have sold the Empire name and assets to Russell/EVG later on.
So question the stub is longer does this need cutting to align things are is it good long?
Chris
 
Meanwhile, a bit of eBay comedy. Bet you didn't know that Empire had teamed up with Shure for this skunkworks project:
Empire S912E in Shure M75CS body.jpg

boreas said:
Walt, have you noted any post-Rawn improvement in your Pinky?
Slight at best. I think this one is what it is, as us hipsters like to say.
 
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I found this posted by someone named Richard on the Lenco forum:

Benz Micro sold Empire approximately 1986 to Trans Atlantic Electronics (TAE), of New York. TAE had been an aftermarket needle manufacturer who had just purchased another aftermarket needle company, Walco, and was in the process of folding Walco's existing products into TAE's inventory. Upon bying Empire, TAE changed their own name to Empire, and began selling all their own inventory under that name.

Most of Empire's sales were via "private label" products, each of which was specially-numbered for individual chains of stereo stores. Their styli were never printed with numbers, and the company lost track of which needle went with which cartridge. When a customer would come to me in need of a stylus for their Empire cartridge, I would give them two choices: pay me per minute to try to research which needle they needed, or I would install a new Stanton cartridge for them. I would then take their Empire cartridge and grind it under my shoe.

After TAE bought Empire, the situation grew even worse. If a customer had an Empire cartridge, an "official" Empire package might contain any of these things:
- An original Empire stylus of original quality.
- An inferior TAE imitation.
- A Walco imitation that contained an excellent Japanese sub-assembly. This could be better than the Empire original.

Empire's product designations could be seriously stupid. I have, for example, an excellent Walco replacement stylus for most, but not all, Empire 999 cartridges. Empire gave that designation to two different cartridge bodies! And these were standard, not private-label models. I'll sell this needle pretty inexpensively.

TAE's catalog (which became Empire's catalog) was never very helpful. But it wasn't as bad as the worst stylus catalog that I have ever seen, which was from the French company, Zafira.

Empire's original products were perfectly fine. And some excellent Benz cartridges were sold here under the Empire name. Meanwhile, The TAE family sold all of their phono products to a liquidator, and re-birthed themselves in the cell phone battery business.

The liquidator or TAE must have sold the Empire name and assets to Russell/EVG later on.
The Richard I bet is Richard Steinfeld he knows his stuff. Thanks for posting this:thumbsup:
 
I agree. That's who it is. We differ as to his knowledge of stuff, unless that stuff is Pickerings or Stantons. Richard is the #1 Fanboy when it comes to those.

He might know his stuff but to destroy a cartridge just because it’s unknown what stylus to use is ignorant in my opinion.

Take a resistance or impedance reading; put one in and listen to it, all the simple things that you can do other than destroying a cart. Senseless.

I picked up a table and it had an unmarked cart on it. I spent a little time and found out it was a Stanton. Didn’t crush it under my heal.
 
He might know his stuff but to destroy a cartridge just because it’s unknown what stylus to use is ignorant in my opinion.

Take a resistance or impedance reading; put one in and listen to it, all the simple things that you can do other than destroying a cart. Senseless.

I picked up a table and it had an unmarked cart on it. I spent a little time and found out it was a Stanton. Didn’t crush it under my heal.

I'm not saying you're wrong about how you feel regarding the act of destroying a cartridge (with apparent glee, no less), but given the time period involved when cartridges were a dime a dozen (metaphorically speaking) and the ones spoken of were Empires of various "breeding" you can't really now admonish him for his actions.
After all, who knew that we were going to need to to hoard every OEM cartridge and stylus we could get our hands on?!
I wish now I knew what I did with the small collection I had before I decided I wasn't ever going to play a record again. 20+ years ago.
And yes, there are other regrets.
 
Mot sure what you guys are on about, the pic of the shure seems to be a joke with a bent stylus from what I can see.
The Stanton mod though actually works and well too and Empire stylus are not exactly easy to get as they are no longer made so IMO the Stanton mod is a good one. If someone could take the measurement I asked for it would be great someone here must have a magnet and a vernier caliper?
Chris
 
I'm not saying you're wrong about how you feel regarding the act of destroying a cartridge (with apparent glee, no less), but given the time period involved when cartridges were a dime a dozen (metaphorically speaking) and the ones spoken of were Empires of various "breeding" you can't really now admonish him for his actions.
After all, who knew that we were going to need to to hoard every OEM cartridge and stylus we could get our hands on?!
I wish now I knew what I did with the small collection I had before I decided I wasn't ever going to play a record again. 20+ years ago.
And yes, there are other regrets.

Totally agree. Wasn’t trying to speak ill of him; just saying that I wouldn’t post anything like that even if I did it too. Seems to dislike Empire because well.. Empire.

I hate to see anything destroyed out of spite. And yes I wish I never packed up anything with my vinyl because it would have prevented a bunch of albums and tables from being damaged. Win some lose some. I’m hoping that it was just hyperbole. Imagine a 2008 getting crushed under his heal! Ouch. Pure gold that one.

Empire? Yes they are a pain in the shorts but they can give you some excellent results once you figure out what they like.

Nothing is so prevalent, takes time to make, is useful etc. that it should be destroyed. How hard would it be to build your own cart? Maybe give it to someone else that would be happy to have a working cart? Just saying.

I’m always impressed by how decent most carts can sound with the right stylus and setup, regardless of the brand. I’m a MI fan and there’s newer models that can top them... still get some excellent sound from my 2000z. And now I’ve stumbled into something old that brings life into the lonely 2000e/iii thanks to people here on AK.

Seems to me that the styli make the cart. Especially if they are MI and halfway engineered to be acceptable.
 
Hey, any of you Empire fans want to suggest the best currently available replacement stylus for a NOS Empire 66QE/X body? Will the 2000V, 2000X or 4000 series styli work well in them? I am concerned that all the 66EX replacement clones might not be capable of reproducing the musical nuances.
 
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Hey, any of you Empire fans want to suggest the best currently available replacement stylus for a NOS Empire 66QE/X body? Will the 2000V, 2000X or 4000 series styli work well in them? I am concerned that all the 66EX replacement clones might not be capable of reproducing the musical nuances.

For your consideration;
E pray item...UPGRADE-Empire-2000-Cartridge-w-Empire-S66QE-X-ERD-2-x-7-Mil-Elliptical-Stylus

Also check over at VOM, for possible candidates.....
 
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Hey, any of you Empire fans want to suggest the best currently available replacement stylus for a NOS Empire 66QE/X body? Will the 2000V, 2000X or 4000 series styli work well in them? I am concerned that all the 66EX replacement clones might not be capable of reproducing the musical nuances.

I posted on here awhile back on the 66. I like the black EVG from VOM out of all the aftermarket that I have tried. The original Empires seem to be better balanced with frequency dynamics.

Mind you this is thru some studio headphones and it changed drastically when using speakers. With the EVG I have to adjust the treble down a little bit and this changes as it breaks in for the better. The bass is there with this set up and I prefer the 66 over the 2000e/iii unless I find an original Empire..

Bottom line is that the original Empire always comes out on top so far for me. Your experience may vary.
 
For your consideration;
E pray item...UPGRADE-Empire-2000-Cartridge-w-Empire-S66QE-X-ERD-2-x-7-Mil-Elliptical-Stylus

Also check over at VOM, for possible candidates.....

Did you notice that the cantilever of the "upgrade" S912E is kinked and, although it's electrically incompatible with the Empire 2000 body he's selling it with, the S912E is the best stylus Empire offered for the 66 series cartridges and is likely to be better than any aftermarket alternative. That's what I'd be looking out for.

@sanlanman The S2000X and the S4000 styli would be closer electrically but these, especially the S2000X, are nearly impossible to find and hugely expensive when they surface. As far as I know, there is no 2000V although there are so many obscure Empire numbers, usually as private label versions of existing models, I could easily be mistaken.
 
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Did you notice that the cantilever of the "upgrade" S912E is kinked and, although it's electrically incompatible with the Empire 2000 body he's selling it with, the S912E is the best stylus Empire offered for the 66 series cartridges and is likely to be better than any aftermarket alternative. That's what I'd be looking out for.

@sanlanman The S2000X and the S4000 styli would be close electrically but these, especially the S2000X, are nearly impossible to find and hugely expensive when they surface. As far as I know, there is no 2000V although there are so many obscure Empire numbers, usually as private label versions of existing models, I could easily be mistaken.

I saw the kink and don’t know how worn out the diamond may be. E pray.
 
John/DR......I also notice the oddities in the 2000 listing, but the purple S912E is indeed the one to get IMHO. I have the solid purple version with a "kink", that plays beautifully. A few questions to seller may reduce some of the risk. And it never hurts to ask the selller, if they will accept less.
 
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