Show us your cartridges and/or tonearms!

[Trekkie4]

You are correct. I guess the headshell design is a dead give-away

Yup, exactly! I was just looking at Yamaha table the other day, model number TT400 (which has the same arm, or at least same headshell) & was considering to pick it up for around 25$. Not because I need one, I'm more than happy with my LP120, but primarily because it seemed promising & would make a perfect candidate for restoration

 

[ear4audio]

Shure V15 Type III

 

[Audiofreak71]

Denon dL-304 , sweet sounding cart .

Audiofreak71

 

[ear4audio]

Shure V15 Type II (Improved)

 

[Stanton681EEES]

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Thanks for posting that now I know what an astrion looks like up close.

 

[ear4audio]

 

[DeeCee]

VPI JMW-9 tonearm with Benz Micro Wood SL cartridge

 

[ear4audio]

ADC Model 25. The cartridge came with 3 different stylus shapes. I'm using an elliptical with a wide frontal radius; this causes the stylus to ride high in the record groove. The thought was that this shape would contact the part of the groove wall that rarely gets played. Only low-mass tonearms are compatible with this ultra high compliance/ultra low tracking cartridge. Unfortunately I don't have this type of tonearm. Tracking at 1 gram causes the cantilever to retract into the cartridge body. Tracking at 1/2 gram causes the tonearm to bounce around the record with even the slightest warp. I'm tracking at 3/4 gram as a compromise but my tonearm just isn't light enough and I still have to tip-toe around the room to avoid having the tonearm skip out of the record groove.

 

[SoundsAlike]

Technics 310MC.

If you're unfamiliar with this cartridge, I'll write up some info but you can find the specs for it yourself.

It's a Technics P-mount that came standard on the SL-10 turntable. It's probably one of the lowest mass cartridges produced, but that validity I'm unsure of.. It sports a .002x.007 elliptical needle attached to a boron pipe cantilever -- yes, a micro size boron pipe. No other manufacturer made a boron pipe cantilever, the objective to reduce mass.

I speculate they took a micro thin sheet of boron and then twisted or rolled it up to make the pipe... OR some how did a micro-extrusion technique. Cool cartridges and they sound fantastic. .3mv output

 

[SoundsAlike]

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What did you use to get the pic of the cantilever/needle closeup? And what's the cantilever material?

 

[elcoholic]

ADC Model 25. The cartridge came with 3 different stylus shapes. I'm using an elliptical with a wide frontal radius; this causes the stylus to ride high in the record groove. The thought was that this shape would contact the part of the groove wall that rarely gets played. Only low-mass tonearms are compatible with this ultra high compliance/ultra low tracking cartridge. Unfortunately I don't have this type of tonearm. Tracking at 1 gram causes the cantilever to retract into the cartridge body. Tracking at 1/2 gram causes the tonearm to bounce around the record with even the slightest warp. I'm tracking at 3/4 gram as a compromise but my tonearm just isn't light enough and I still have to tip-toe around the room to avoid having the tonearm skip out of the record groove.
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Send it over and I’ll give it a go on my Grace 707

 

[Trekkie4]

ADC Model 25. The cartridge came with 3 different stylus shapes. I'm using an elliptical with a wide frontal radius; this causes the stylus to ride high in the record groove. The thought was that this shape would contact the part of the groove wall that rarely gets played. Only low-mass tonearms are compatible with this ultra high compliance/ultra low tracking cartridge. Unfortunately I don't have this type of tonearm. Tracking at 1 gram causes the cantilever to retract into the cartridge body. Tracking at 1/2 gram causes the tonearm to bounce around the record with even the slightest warp. I'm tracking at 3/4 gram as a compromise but my tonearm just isn't light enough and I still have to tip-toe around the room to avoid having the tonearm skip out of the record groove.
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Jeez! Now I'm curious, just how many carts do you have?

 

[ear4audio]

What did you use to get the pic of the cantilever/needle closeup? And what's the cantilever material?

I used a 50x magnification microscope with a usb eyepiece. The Astrion cartridge had a sapphire cantilever with a hyperelliptical diamond stylus.

 

[ear4audio]

First generation ADC XLM.

ADC recommended .6 grams for the VTF, but the tonearm is more stable at .75 grams.

 

[drrsutliff]

Ortophon Cadenza Black mounted on OL Illustrious mk3c

 

[ear4audio]

Ortofon M15E Super

 

[JP]

Technics 310MC.

If you're unfamiliar with this cartridge, I'll write up some info but you can find the specs for it yourself.

It's a Technics P-mount that came standard on the SL-10 turntable. It's probably one of the lowest mass cartridges produced, but that validity I'm unsure of.. It sports a .002x.007 elliptical needle attached to a boron pipe cantilever -- yes, a micro size boron pipe. No other manufacturer made a boron pipe cantilever, the objective to reduce mass.

I speculate they took a micro thin sheet of boron and then twisted or rolled it up to make the pipe... OR some how did a micro-extrusion technique. Cool cartridges and they sound fantastic. .3mv output

View attachment 1238197

Vapor deposited, and not the only mfg to use boron pipe.

 

[ear4audio]

Audio Technica AT112SX with Shibata tip.

 

[ear4audio]

Pickering XV-15/1200E. As Pickering said: "This cartridge is for the sophistic -- one who processes components of such superlative quality that the superiority of the XV-15/1200E is a requirement." They sure weren't thinking of me when they wrote that.

 

[Evonimos]